# Dalmatian Molly swimming issues.



## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

I have just recently gotten a five gallon fish tank and put a Betta and two Dalmatian Mollys in there. They had been in there for about three and my little female died. So I was left with the male Molly and Betta. They had to go on a road trip to my house for the weekend and when I came back to college everything was fine, until early this morning. My male molly is having issues swimming correctly now. He can swim, but not always in the correct position. Sometimes his tale will float above his head and no matter how much he tries he floats to the top of the tank. Is there anything I can do to fix this? 

I have kept a close watch on the male, his new girlfriend, and my Betta and they are all happy together with no one picking on each other. I have noticed however that when he is floating in one place he doesn't move his tail at all like the female moves hers. Could this be the problem, if so can I fix this?


----------



## Trout (Mar 16, 2011)

sounds like he doesn't have long for this world  The same kind of thing happened to all of my leopard Danios. They just died one by one, and they gave me a refund because that happened to all of the Leopard Danios in the store, too. I would wait until your store has a new shipment of Mollies and then get a replacement, if he dies.


----------



## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

One of my roommates bought out of the same group and all 3 of them are fine. He is swimming and eating fine, he just cant stay on the bottom the tank for very long before he floats to the top.


----------



## baileysup (Nov 25, 2009)

does that mean he's constipated , and has gas? i really don't know much about this type of thing, but i've heard of it before. i think you can try feeding him peas or fasting him. i'm not sure which one to do first though. i hope someone knows what's wrong with him, and helps out. sorry


----------



## Glimpze (Sep 10, 2010)

sounds like they might have swim bladder.. with my experience all of the fish ive ever had that did this died sadly


----------



## baileysup (Nov 25, 2009)

Glimpze said:


> sounds like they might have swim bladder.. with my experience all of the fish ive ever had that did this died sadly


what exactly is swim bladder? is it from the fish swallowing air?


----------



## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

baileysup: I don't know for sure. I did try feeding him a pea last night and he ate some of it. But he is about the same this morning and is still not moving his tail much at all.

Glimpze: How long does it take them to die? I feel really bad for him right now because I don't know what to do for him nor if it was something I did to cause him to have this problem.


----------



## baileysup (Nov 25, 2009)

i doubt it was anything you did. no matter what happens it sounds like there's not much that you can do, but hope for the best.


----------



## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

Thanks. My roommate is having the same issue with one of hers that came from the same group. Her fish just started floating and refusing food this morning.


----------



## Glimpze (Sep 10, 2010)

kittykatydid08 said:


> baileysup: I don't know for sure. I did try feeding him a pea last night and he ate some of it. But he is about the same this morning and is still not moving his tail much at all.
> 
> Glimpze: How long does it take them to die? I feel really bad for him right now because I don't know what to do for him nor if it was something I did to cause him to have this problem.


Honestly for all of the fish that i've had like this they didnt last longer than a day or two. I'm not sure its necessarily anything that you have done or why this occurs really. I just kno that this has happened to me about 3 or 4 times from getting new fish and putting them in the an established tank with healthy fish that have been in there for months. Heres a vid of a fish with swim bladder disease tho. A lot of people say to try to feed it peas. I just dont really understand how the fish can look okay at the petstore and then it suddenly has swim bladder a day or two after getting it but im no expert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6PG3VFPtD4

and bailey to answer ur question the swim bladder controls the buoyancy of the fish or the control of its swimming the right way.


----------



## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

Glimpze: Thanks for the video, that is pretty much what happens to my fish, but he doesn't flip upside down completely. I put him back in the tank last night and he was and is swimming in circles or swimming vertically. 

My roommate and I took both fish back to Petsmart and they said it could be worms or something because both fish are pooping clear. So they told us to put them back in the tank and treat it with antibiotics for 5 days.


----------



## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

Just thought I would let ya'll know that he died last night, but thanks for all the help.


----------



## Glimpze (Sep 10, 2010)

kittykatydid08 said:


> Just thought I would let ya'll know that he died last night, but thanks for all the help.


hey sorry to hear that.. unfortunately i have the same luck when it comes to that


----------

