Whats wronge with my molly now?

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nvan2

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Mar 1, 2005
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Well, my tank is still cycling, and the nitrites have been off the scale for a while, but have now been fixed. I had another balloon molly that died, i figure because of the high nitrites. He has also probably been under a good amount of stress as well.

Anyway, i noticed that theres a little redness around his eye, on the outside of the gold ring around his black pupil. He also isnt eating, and his poo is white and stringy, like theres nothing to it.. but this could be bacause he hasnt eaten. He is pretty much always hanging around the top of the tank, in one of the corners. His fins are sometimes partially clamped, but it may just be because hes so close ot the surface of the water (at the same time, his rear fin isnt clamped), he has to bend the top fin down a bit. When hes not near the top, his fins are usually normal.. Does this sound like a bacterial infection, or is he just mega-stressed? right now my readings are normal, except the hardness may be off a tiny bit.
 
This might be a temp issue. See how he reacts by raising your tank's temp by a few degrees.
Some people would suggest adding salt, I do not think that might be the issue. It sounds like he is shimming, and it could be either alkalinity or temp. I place my bet on the later. Raise the temp and see how he reacts.
 
He isn't eating but still has clear to white stringy poo? Is the poo segmented at times, like a string of sausage? My guess is internal parasites. If you can get him to take food soaked in Metronidizole it might clear them out.
 
Harlock said:
He isn't eating but still has clear to white stringy poo? Is the poo segmented at times, like a string of sausage? My guess is internal parasites. If you can get him to take food soaked in Metronidizole it might clear them out.
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IF not that, try food that has been treated with Garlic or feed him Garlic. This is a great natural way of killing Internal Parasites.
 
heh, well, theres not much "body" to the poo at all... is kinda just whitish transparent stringish stuff... inda like.. a few strands of something like spiders silk. my temp is already at 80 degrees, and theres plenty of salt in there (my tank got ich a couple of weeks back).

as far as treating intestinal parasites, is feeding them garlic better than meds? Whats a good method of soaking the food? should i use the flake food, or the daphnia i have(daphnia bottle says "excelent for use during medicating as a delivery agent, and after as an intestinal cleanser". Also, will most of thoes meds mess up the bio filter like ich meds do?

He might be eating, but whenever i feed him (ive been putting in very little) he sees it, but doesnt eat it.. Im guessing it just falls to the bottom and my shrimp have a field day. Ill give my tank a few days to kinda mellow out and get the fish used to the new water im using, and see if everything fixes itself. If it doesnt fix after that, or it gets worse, ill look into treating him.
 
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Oh, and is metronidizole the brand name, or the name of the actual chemical? What are some common brands of meds that contain it?
 
nvan2 said:
Oh, and is metronidizole the brand name, or the name of the actual chemical? What are some common brands of meds that contain it?
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Metro is the generic name. Flagyl is the brand name. Not sure if it can be picked up over the counter or not, actually. A vet can probably help you out. I seem to recall someoen mentioning an over the counter product that contained it, but no idea if it is an effective dose. The garlic thing, as far as I know, is anecdotal at this point. I know it was in one magazine, but as far as scientific studies, I haven't heard of one. If someone has a link to a real study by all means link it so I can get educated and save money. Garlic is cheaper than meds. Safer too, I assume. Fasting a few days, then offering food may help induce appetite. Good luck. Once they stop eating it can be pretty difficult, so just be as patient as you can and if it gets too bad and obviously terminal, please consider euthanization to a long and lingering suffering.
 
I just got him to eat some daphnia and ground up flake food.. hes very slow and hesitant though, but at least hes eating.
 
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