balloon molly swimming head up

janetdc1

janetdc1

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Aug 25, 2007
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I have a sweet male balloon molly- "Phinnigan" who I have grown quite attached to over the last 2 months. He is the clown of the tank. He is in there with another balloon molly,"dot"- there are 3 other mollies in there and they always stick together, swimming around happily. tonight, when I went to turn off the light, I notice "phinny" was verticle -He could swim normally, chase his girlfriend molly normally, and then while resting his head would go straight up toward the surface- perpindiular to the way he usually swims-
Is this some type of swim bladder problem? He looks to have no health issues, doesn't seem to be struggling to breath, I can't figure it out but it is distressing to see him this way- I remember somewhere reading I should try to feed him peas?
any ideas will be appreciated!
all parameters are good- 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, nitrates are about 1...ph is 7.4-
I did put melafix in there yesterday because my black molly looked like she had been nipped a little- would that affect him? I have a 30 gallon tank, with a 70 gallon power filter on there.(Cause mollys poop an awful lot!LOL!)
thanks!
Janet
 
What test kit are you using? How often do you feed them? Tank maintenance regimen? No need for Melafix. I would certainly stick to doing plenty of water changes for wounds and tattered fins.
 
I am using the Api liquid test kit, do regular water changes, (once a week)about 25%,and all the other fishies are healthy -even the black molly looks so much better today- but I agree, I don't think I will try the melafix again- I'm not big on using all the chemicals...I have about 10 fry in there too- so will need to get another tank! LOL!
but what do you think about my vertical molly?
(my tank is 3 months old and I haven't had any probs til now.)
 
Swim bladder problems are common in some fancy goldfish due to the highly distorted body shape (golfball with fins) the balloon mollies are simply proving that it's an issue not unique to goldfish.
 
Well, I've done some research and it does seem to make sense that these balloon mollies would have some swim bladder issues seeing as their cartoonish shape is so compact-today, Phinny is swimming normally- I have read on countless sites that fasting the fish for a day or two is sometimes helpful- also if fed flake food all the time they are prone to this? anyway, he is fine today and my fat mollys could use a fast so I will skip the feeding today, and go to my LFS and see what other healthy morsels I can feed them to vary their diet a bit. occasionally I give them frozen brine shrimp which they seem to love....
anyway it's definitely some type of equilibrium problem, but he looks great today! Healthy as ever! I am so glad- I really have become attached to the cute little guy!
J
 
This is a common ailment in goldfish, ballon mollies and even bettas (gouramis too).

The issue seems to be revolved around their propencity to gulp air during feeding, or in the case our bettas and gouramis, during other activities as well.

Not feeding will certainly help. Shutting off the lights for a day (to reduce activity and thus reduce their behavior) will help too. Also, I find that feeding a high fiber diet and sinking foods will usually mitigate this, but nothing works as well as simply stopping the feedings.

In the future, vary the diet from flakes to sinking foods and this will generally prevent this. I have had this happen in my Bettas, Mollies and Gouramis. In each case I shut the lights off for 2 days and stopped feeding. Every time this has happened, after this method, they were fine afterwards.
 
ct-death said:
This is a common ailment in goldfish, ballon mollies and even bettas (gouramis too).


In the future, vary the diet from flakes to sinking foods and this will generally prevent this. I have had this happen in my Bettas, Mollies and Gouramis. In each case I shut the lights off for 2 days and stopped feeding. Every time this has happened, after this method, they were fine afterwards.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this! A very encouraging post. I will definitely follow through with your recommendations!
J
 
I have a male baloon molly too - Stu, as in Disco lol - definately my fav fish, and he's done the same thing from time to time and I think above advice - swallowing air and a predispostion to bladder issues is correct, but I was wondering, do you and any salt? Mine really seem healthier and more active since I moved my pleco so I could start introducing it, and I don't think he's done the off-kilter swimming thing since then either, but I couldn't swear to it.

Mine will also pick at zucchini (cut it thin and score it) especially if I rub a little garlic on it. Also goes absolutely crazy for live blackworms. Took him awhile to realize they were food, now he (and the girls) go insane when I drop a few in the tank. Just be sure to turn the filter off or you'll have a nasty bunch of dead worms in there.
 
You know I had a dalmation molly doing that a few days ago accept she was floating tail up and couldn't upright herself, I was afraid it was tuburculosis since she had some but not all of the symptons so I had no choice but to keep her in the tank but I got a small breeder net to keep her in so she could relax and now a few days later she's back in the general population just fine but it turns out she has ich so now I'm treating the tank for that but again I was worried I may have to put her down but so far she's pulling through.
 
"Phinny" is still fine- :-)Tike 19, yes, I add salt- but I am glad you reminded me because I didn't with the last water change- they do seem to like it quite a bit! Plus I haven't had trouble with ich since I added the salt and keep the temp at 80-82 F- Kidin the hall I hope your molly recovers fully!
I was looking and looking for a dalmation molly at my LFS and they kept saying they would get some in...then they got the balloon mollies and I got Phinny and "dot"who is a balloon dalmation-so cute- so of course now that my tank is full my LFS has dalmations-LOL! But it is okay because I have "dot" -
they(the mollies) are having babies left and right!
I am thinking of separating the males and females -
J
 
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