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My Balloon-Belly Molly has begun to swim with her head facing down and her tail up. She can right herself, but at times becomes disoriented and rolls over.

All water parameters are acceptable as I am changing her water every other day due to the smaller size of her hospital tank (5gals). I am also treating her with Maroxy as I was told the condition was probably a bacterial infection and could be cleared up by using that product.

Just prior to her swimming this way, she had a small growth on her stomach but that went away.

Please help, my g/f breaks down and cries every time we lose a fish...Thanks!

it sounds like she has swimbladder disese i have a female guppy with it, im not sure how much more time she has. how long has she had it? mine has had it for a few weeks, but still manages to swim and eat just fine as far as i know, there is no cure

Hi Gilbert and welcome to Fishprofiles

Maroxy is more for true fungus infections. In any event, it is best for things external. If the fish has an infection, it would be best to try something like Fungus Clear Tank Buddies, Furan-2, or Furacyn. Furan-2 should really be used in an isolation tank and may not be safe for scaleless fish. These involve nitrofurans which are more readily absorbed through the skin, into the bloodstream.

If this has been going on for some time, then lets first try to see if it is diet related. You can deshell a frozen pea (pop the two pea halves out of the round shell) and cut them into bite size pieces. Feed one or two pieces at a time. If it is constipation, it will help break it loose.

Is the molly a male or female?


Last edited by Cory_Di at 27-Mar-2005 22:12

Thanks for your reply Cory...

She is a female molly. I don't believe she is constipated as I have seen her poop regularly. So I have not given her peas.

I will try and find the medicine you recommend and see if that helps the poor fish.

Morning Gilbert and Welcome to FP

I would first give her some peas to eat, just grab a bag of frozen ones at the grocery store, and defrost a couple in your hand, and mush them into the tank slowly...

Then if she is still having problems with her rear end floating try the meds, but first let's make sure that it isn't the "gas" problem.

Heidi

Sorry everyone, for some reason my computer decided for me that this should be posted 5 timesand now it's down to 4, do believe that it is time for bed

Last edited by heidi at 28-Mar-2005 01:17

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Heidi

Five laughs for you, hun

I agree with the peas. Or, an even better thing is the Seaweed Selects or similar. This is sea algae, but can be used for freswhater herbivores/omnivores. It is better than a pea in dealing with clearing intestines because it just soaks in water to the point of becoming like a gel. Between the bulk and the added fluid, it helps flush them out.

Here is one example, and another would be Julian Sprung's Sea Veggies or SeaWeed Salad by SF Bay.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ON-SSGW&Category_Code=Veggies

YOu may have best luck finding them in the Marine Fish food section. Just put a small strip on a veggie clip or even cut it up into tiny pieces the size of regular flake food. Only put a few pieces in until he finds them, then put more in and let the soak up the water.

Guppies and mollies gotta like it if they are algae eaters.

Being a female, is there any chance she is in a bad pregnancy?

Last edited by Cory_Di at 28-Mar-2005 10:16

Last edited by Cory_Di at 28-Mar-2005 10:17

Hi Gilbert and welcome

Sorry I'm coming in on this so late. It sounds like your Molly does have swim-bladder. I hope she's doing better but if not, I thought I'd pop in and share some sage advice which was passed on to me that worked for my Molly.

Reducing the volume of water in her surroundings will reduce the pressure on her body and this may assist her to swim in a more natural position and thus heal.

When my Molly was diagnosed with swim-bladder, I moved her into a large glass bowl (probably not quite a gallon). I didn't feed her anything different and only used a touch of MelaFix just to help reduce some of the stress. After a few days, she appeared to be swimming in a more natural position so I moved her to a 10 gallon tank which I only partially filled to start.

It is now 9 months later, she is happy and healthy. Oh and about 4 months after her ordeal she graced me with having over 50 fry (and she was alone in the tank)!!

Good luck and let us know how it's going.