Unidentified fish disease!!!

User avatar
Gingerlove05
Forum Guru
Forum Guru
Posts: 6854
Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2018 20:21 pm
Has liked: 5424 times
Been liked: 2667 times

It is soft according to the source (80mg/l and ph of 6.2!). I agree it could be too soft for the mollies which could be causing you the issue, so the tap water maybe better for them, but it wont be better long term for Roger as he would prefer the softer water. But as mentioned you would have to change the hardness gradually so you dont shock the fish.
To the tune of “the saints go marching in”:
Oh fluffy sheep! Oh fluffy sheep! Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful, they’re white Welsh and fluffy! Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful!
Image
rebeccakatie1131
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:17 am

Thankyou so much as i mentioned before i have minimal experience with fish keeping so I appreciate the advice, i wasnt sure about using bottled water actually in the beginning as i assumed the water would be too ‘clean’ if that makes sense and my fish had been living with conditioned tap water without any health problems. So i will start to slowly change the water back to tap and use the correct products. Is there any advice for the photos of the fish i attatched previously? Since the water change last night my mollies seem to be more alert, swimming around more but still they are not eating just nibbling and this is not normal behaviour for them!!!! So currently in my tank there are 6 mollys and my common pleco roger who is around 10 months old, he is acting as normal and eating as well so i do not think he is stressed. THanks in advance wrote: Hello, & welcome to the forum.

Have you been using only bottled water in the tank? If so, I'm sorry to say, I wonder if that might be the problem.

Looking at the label of your water bottle, it is listing calcium as 10 ppm. In fishkeeping, we usually talking in terms of General or Germany degrees of hardness (dGH), and 10ppm calcium converts to approximately 0.56 dGH. Your fish really need hard water - something in excess of 10dGH at least. I understand that hardwater fish kept in soft water can be especially prone to fungus and fin rot and other osmotic problems, so I wonder if that is at least part of the problem here? It doesn't seem very good advice from the fish store  :(

Wait and see what others think, but I'm wondering whether your fish would benefit from being kept in your tap water instead, although the changeover would need to be very gradual. Do you have any other fish in the tank?
rebeccakatie1131
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:17 am

So how do you suggest i should change back to tap as roger has been in bottled water since we have got him, perhaps i could do a half half of bottled and tap to suit all the fish? Would that be ok? And and for medicines to use is there anything i should try?if it is the water that caused this i assume this would have happened anlong tome ago however it has been a matter of weeks?thanksGingerlove05 wrote: It is soft according to the source (80mg/l and ph of 6.2!). I agree it could be too soft for the mollies which could be causing you the issue, so the tap water maybe better for them, but it wont be better long term for Roger as he would prefer the softer water. But as mentioned you would have to change the hardness gradually so you dont shock the fish.
User avatar
Gingerlove05
Forum Guru
Forum Guru
Posts: 6854
Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2018 20:21 pm
Has liked: 5424 times
Been liked: 2667 times

If i have calculated it correctly your water is around 10dgh (degrees german hardness) which isnt too bad, having a bit more of a read around common plecos are not as sensitive to hardness as some other catfish. But that would be much better for the mollies long term and would possibly solve some of your issues or at least help them to recover.
To change the water back to tap water i would do weekly changes of around 10-15% with conditioned/dechlorinated tap water and monitor your levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate ph etc) as the bacteria in your filter also need to adjust as well as the fish. You may have to do extra changes if you get any spikes in ammonia or nitrite as they are both toxic to fish.
The fish may be ok for a while, issues can take some time to show as things take effect, then you notice all the symptoms at once.
To the tune of “the saints go marching in”:
Oh fluffy sheep! Oh fluffy sheep! Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful, they’re white Welsh and fluffy! Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful!
Image
rebeccakatie1131
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:17 am

Okay i will do the gradual change back to tap water and moniter the fish and see what happens with them, they had a little bit of food last night and actually ate something which they havent done all week so thats a good sign at least, hopefully the beginning of there recovery!!!! Thanks 
Gingerlove05 wrote: If i have calculated it correctly your water is around 10dgh (degrees german hardness) which isnt too bad, having a bit more of a read around common plecos are not as sensitive to hardness as some other catfish. But that would be much better for the mollies long term and would possibly solve some of your issues or at least help them to recover.
To change the water back to tap water i would do weekly changes of around 10-15% with conditioned/dechlorinated tap water and monitor your levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate ph etc) as the bacteria in your filter also need to adjust as well as the fish. You may have to do extra changes if you get any spikes in ammonia or nitrite as they are both toxic to fish.
The fish may be ok for a while, issues can take some time to show as things take effect, then you notice all the symptoms at once.
rebeccakatie1131
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:17 am

[attachment=1978][attachment=1977][attachment=1976]
So as an update, one of my molly fish is still swimming bertical on occassion im not sure if this is the same fish that has been doing this for a couple of months now (we treated for swim bladder with no changes, and if it was swim bloat they would of died a long time ago surely?) and another molly is just laying around the bottom of the tank... colour has changed it almost looks like he is losing some scales... im not sure what is going on... a couple of the mollies have small white anus’s which i have never noticed before.. i tried to take a photo but you can imagine how hard this is!!!!! Tonight i will do a 25% water change (With tap) i have researched internal parasites which are usually hanging from the anus but its literally a white pinpoint so im not sure if thT could be it? 

Any advice? I dont think my molly will make it through the night....
User avatar
PJN
Posting Legend
Posts: 2439
Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2018 19:15 pm
Location: Probably Looking at my Fish Tank
Has liked: 2 times
Been liked: 1 time

When you do a water change with tap water, are you adding dechlorinator?
User avatar
plankton
Super Mod
Super Mod
Posts: 12204
Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2018 17:02 pm
Location: S. Derbyshire
Has liked: 5030 times
Been liked: 3395 times

I'd give all the mollies a daily salt bath (half teaspoon of marine salt in 5l old tankwater in a small tank/jug, replace the tankwater with fresh) for 20 minutes.
If at first you don't succeed....
...get someone else to do it! :D

Enjoy your fish, shrimps and snails!
Ian
rebeccakatie1131
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:17 am

[quote=[attachment=1979]Yes of course, i have a dechlorinator, bio -boost & a clear water liquid everytime.today all my molly fish are ok... acting much better swimming around socialising! Has anyone experienced these white anus’s as a sign of pregnancy? As we had suspisions a couple of our fish were pregnant a couple of months ago.. but all of the males have died now... roger appears to have some markings on his skin today.. its just on one side and he is eating / drinking / behaving as normalthanks pid='15060' dateline='1537251845']When you do a water change with tap water, are you adding dechlorinator?[/quote]
rebeccakatie1131
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:17 am

Good idea... im gonna try that when im back from the pet shop!thanks plankton
I'd give all the mollies a daily salt bath (half teaspoon of marine salt in 5l old tankwater in a small tank/jug, replace the tankwater with fresh) for 20 minutes.
Post Reply