Molly "chasing tail" and doing backflips? No Joke!

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FallenAngel

FallenAngel

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Sep 11, 2010
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I know this sounds pretty strange, but I'm serious. One of my female molly fish has been spinning around in circles and doing backflips around the tank, for no apparent reason. I personally cannot see and sign of infection or disease, it's just strange. I've dealt with ICH in the past and it is nothing like the "scratching" that the fish tend to do when they have it. It's just simply spinning around and doing backflips, it's crazy!

I first noticed this yesterday, and ever since, non-stop (while I've been awake to witness it), it has just been spinning and flipping. I would have thought that she would have gotten so tired that she just stopped, but so far, or at least what I've seen, she hasn't stopped spinning. I've separated her into a rather large net thing as well, to keep her out of the way of other fish that may have caused her distress. I have no idea what's going on, I can't find any other symptoms like this on the internet. It's the only fish in the tank doing it and the only fish I've ever seen doing it. I did a 50% water change and treated the tank with melafix yesterday shortly after noticing what was happening.

Here is a short video to give you an idea on what I'm dealing with (it's not doing the backflips in the video like I described):

[video=youtube;6dwIUl-aNgM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwIUl-aNgM&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Help? Please...?
 
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excuzzzeme

excuzzzeme

Stroke Survivor '05
Mar 29, 2007
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100 miles from water and 2 feet from Hell
Sounds like whirling disease. So named due to the actions of the fish being as you described. Whirling disease usually affects salmonoid species:

Whirling disease is caused by the Myxobolus cerebralis parasite effecting fish like salmon, trout and other similar species. The disease usually causes neurological damage to young fish causing the effected fish to "whirl" in a cork screw pattern.
When infected fish dies millions of whirling disease spores get released into to the water, where it then infects other fish. Whirling disease is very resistant to damage it can withstand extreme temperatures, and can usually survive for at least 20 years in the water. Whirling disease is common in 22 states including New Jersey, New York, Ohio, just to name a few. It's also found in numerous European countries and New Zealand.
Click to expand...
There doesn't appear to be any treatment for it if that's the case. I would QT and treat with an anti-parasitic medication.
 
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X

XanAvaloni

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Nov 13, 2009
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what ex said, with emphasis on the QT. Get her into separate water, stat. That net/basket thing will not be of any help at all if she dies, if the quote is correct about "When infected fish dies millions of whirling disease spores get released into to the water, where it then infects other fish. " Of course there is no mention of how or whether spores are shed while fish is still alive, although most infectious agents can spread in exactly that situation. So out, out, asap. Same with any other fish that start to exhibit same symptoms.

And while you don't mention where you got the fish originally, I would not buy from the same source again. How long ago did you get this particular mollie, and did you get any other fish at the same time from the same place? Would keep an eye on them as well. If this disorder is as widespread as Ex's quote suggests it can't be that virulent or it would have decimated the entire fish hobby by this time. But you are not in the business of conducting epidemiological investigations, just protecting your own stock. :)
 
FallenAngel

FallenAngel

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Yeah exactly, the last thing I want is to have my biggest tank completely wiped out, so after reading (and panicking about) what ex explained, I set up a quarantine tank immediately and it's not looking so good (predictable, I guess).

As for where I got it from, it was actually bred from my original few mollies last March, one of the last surviving ones actually. It's been perfectly fine and has even had babies once or twice during it's life, so I'm not sure what's happening really. So I'm not sure what's gone wrong. The newest fish to the thank was my long-finned bristlenose, which unfortunately also died. However, I didn't notice it doing any "spinning" or "whirling" before it died, I just found it not moving at the bottom of the tank one day - quite out of the blue. So I don't think (I could be mistaken) that that fish brought the disease with it. And the LFS that I bought it from is where I get most of my fish from and it's very trustworthy, I've never had any problems with fish from there.

And so far there is no more signs of the disease on my other fish (touch wood), which is good.

Thanks for all of the help guys!
 
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