help my fish!

caseopia

caseopia

AC Members
Sep 16, 2004
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Southwest Florida
My gold dust molly, who used to be very active, is laying at the bottom of the tank and appears to be "breathing" rapidly. As far as I can tell there are no visible symptoms, except for a dark spot on the top of his head which I can't recall if it was there before or not... he is also not eating

I just finished treating for a case of Ich which the gold dust molly did not have, and all the other fish seem to be fine.

I did a large water change (75%) on monday night, to clear the salt from the water which had been treating the ich, and treated the water with chlor-out. The pH is 6.8, ammonia is at 0, and temp is 78.

any ideas???????
 
Mollies can thrive in FW, no salt needed. They do prefer harder water, though, and salt is one way to get this. With a low pH, it's likely that your water is fairly soft and this can cause problems in the long run. However--it usually affects all the mollies in a system, not just one of them.

How long did you treat for ich? His symptoms sound very much like ish, even if there are not visible spots on the fish. Ich preferentially attaches to the gills, where we can't easily see them.
 
Thanks for the help.... I added salt at 1tbs/5 gallons and am slowing raising the temp to retreat for ich, just in case. If he improves I will keep it up for a couple weeks to be sure to get rid of it all.

i hope he makes it... i hate to lose fish :(
 
I think you're on the right track getting the water back to what it should be. While heavy breathing can be a sign of parasites in the gills, it is also a symptom of shock. I'm thinking it is just a result of the heavy water change. Smaller, frequent changes are better.
 
i'm a terrible mom :(

So I added salt and upped the temp last night. all were alive this morning, tho the gold dust molly was still acting the same way.... but i just got home from work to a dead molly and a dead bala shark. The shark was FINE this morning... i'm so sad :sad
 
Sorry for your loss. It's hard not to blame yourself, but look at it this way. Sometimes there was just a low resistance to begin with. The other guys should continue to do fine, don't you think?
 
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