Sick Fish Emergency!

[pisces22]

I have a gold dust molly that seems to hav elost it "equillibreum". it floats and swims at odd angles, and cant seem to stay balanced or swim properly. It is having trouble getting food as well. Of course, this fish also happens to be my favourite :mad: Ive seen this happen to two other mollies and they ended up dying. I got the fish from a reputable LFS, their stock was very healthy and when I asked they were at a loss: it had never happened to the other mollies-they suggested mabe the fish didnt have enough vegetation in its diet, and reccomended spirulina. I bought some and have included it in their diet. All my other fish are healthy and normal, including some adorable molly fry(from a different mother). There are no male mollies in the tank to chase her, the water parems are fine aswell and the molly is young and (was) very active/healthy. I have no idea what to do and i dont want to lose her. I f anyone has advice or experience with this it would be greatly appreciated-sorry for the long post but i wanted to give all the info i could

ps: i do have a 5 g quarantine -hospital tank i could place her in , im just nervous do do so-shock ect and none of the fish are harrasing/bugging her

thanks

pps: the tank i sfully cycled and has been running since july, the molly has been in for two months at least

[SuperD]

An abnormal swimming pattern or difficulty in maintaining equilibrium may be due to: a congenitally deformed swim bladder, cancer or tuberculosis in organs adjacent to the swim bladder, constipation, poor nutrition, chilling, serious parasitic infestations, or serious bacterial infections.

If you suspect swim bladder problems in a fish you should first check and treat it for other diseases. If you have eliminated other causes, make sure that you are giving the right food and make sure that the fish is passing feces normally. If in any doubt, feed live food as roughage. Finally, check that the temperature is stable and at the right level for your fishes.

Usually for swim bladder disease you can treat with fungus eliminator, binox, or fungus clear. I hope that this helps you out.

[pisces22]

So this could possibly be just a genetic problem? If it is cancer, then there is probably no treatment, correct? What are some of they symptoms for swim bladder disease (can i find them in that "articles" corner perhaps?) im just nervous about treating the whole tank or the molly before im a 100% sure about the problem...then again i could quarantine her.....this is so stressfull!

thanks for the info

[pisces22]

Okay, so I got home from school today and the molly was still alive, and swimming a little better. However, i noticed what appears to be a white, cottony growth like fungus or something on its eye, tail, fins and body-the fish is still alive but sickly. I have no idea what this is and I am afraid it might spread to th eother fish. I dont want to euthanize the fish if there is apossibility of saving it-should i "quarantine" it in a 5 gal i have handy?

Thanks

[britta6867]

there is some anti fungus meds that u might want to try.my black molly seems to get it sometimes to and i have not figured out why.however,the other tankmates have never gotten infected with it.also try adding some aquarium salt to the tank.i also lowered the temp from 78 to 76 and that made a difference.good luck