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I have a dalmation molly that is pregnant and I just transfered it to a small to have its fry in, and when I placed it into the smaller tank I noticed that it seems to have pop-eye in one eye. How do I treat this with fry on the way?

Quite simply there isnt a safe way. Unless your nitrates are very high( In which case a few water changes will alleviate the problem), pop-eye will probably be down to a bacterial or fungal infection, with bacteria being the most likely. Fry will always be a degree more susceptible to the effects of meds than the mother, but in my opinion prioritise the health of the mother over that of the fry,- she may be able to breed again, and the loss of a few fry is less significant than the loss or the disablement of the mother.

You can try the less toxic meds at low doses like melafix , pimafix ,and maybe tetra fungistop at low doses to try and arrest the symptoms in the mother for the short term, and then seperate the newborn fry from her immediately before she either infects them with the same complaint or begins to get worse herself. Once seperated you can then treat her with a more effective med like maracyn, and full strength antifungals. As previously stated, pop eye can be caused by fungi or bacteria, so it might require trying a number of meds before you hit an effective cure.

This species has no real parental care to speak of, so seperating the fry will do them no harm, but keeping the fry with an infected mother, or in water full of meds might well be the death of them.

Its just an unfortunate turn of events.Just do the best you can. Save the mother first, worry about the fry later. If you lose the fry, then so be it. Hopefully you might get lucky and some may survive.

Good luck!

The molly was in a 55gal tank..fairly new but cycled. Its now in a 10 gal tank with new water...not cycled but it had to be done because I wanted to save the fry, and then like I said I realized she has pop-eye so either way she would've had to be moved. Do you think just the new water will help the problem?

Should I do a water change in the 55? Medicate the 55?

I'll medicate the 10gal but when the fry come I won't be able to put them into a different tank, unless I put them in the 55, where they definitely won't survive.

Also would a higher temp. help anything? I didn't put a heater in the 55 because like I said its fairly new and when I got it the weather was nice and springy and I thought it was here to stay but the temp. has been dipping into the cold temps. lately. I put a heater in the 10gal today, just not in the 55. Spring should realllly be here to stay any day now!

Oh by the way I think I have some Melafix or Primafix, but its in a bedroom right now where someone is sound asleep for the night so it will have to wait til morning.

If the new 10 gal isnt cycled , technically you wont save the fry - they wont survive in uncycled water. It may conceivably make the mothers eye problem worse too. Personally I might treat the mother in situ in her 55, and get that 10 gal cycled for the next time you get babies.

Perhaps just treat the mom and not worry about the fry this time round, unless you set up a breeding net in the 55 and just put the fry in there and see if they can survive the meds. I dont think the fry have a lot of options at this point unless you can use materials like filter media, gravel, and water from the 55 to create a new cycled 10 gal.

Water from the 55, hmm didn't think about that. But if the 55 does have high nitrates (havent checked yet) and if that caused the problem then wouldn't it not be a good idea to add the 55gal tank water to the 10gal? Also if I medicate the 55, first off it will take more med. unecessarily and also won't it turn the sealant blue? It did on my other tank. And if I do regular water changes on the 10gal. won't they be okay without it cyling?

It wil probably work if you split it with 50% fresh treated water. Better some nitrate than uncycled water.The think that will help the most is transferring mulm to the filter in the 10 gal.

The meds probably will dye the seals but the staining wears off eventually, and id rather have live fish and dyed seals.

Regular water changes in uncycled tanks wont save fry. It might help adults get through a bad water quality patch, but youngsters will be hard pressed to live in an environment with so many changes and lack of stability.

Ok now one of my platys have ick it seems like. So do I treat the whole 55 for Ick and for pop-eye with two different medications? Cure-Ich, and Melafix is what I have on hand. Or do I put them both in the 10gal and treat the 10 gal. Or put one in the 10 and treat it for one problem and treat the 55 gal for the other problem?

Just thought I'd mention I have some tetra in the 55gal. also.

Treat in situ in the 55, both complaints are very contagious, most of the fish will have contracted them and youll see the symptoms in the next few days. Up the temps to about 80-82 f and lower the light levels. In addition to the meds this will help stop the diseases becoming too severe too quickly. Only up the temps after the ich cure has gone in.

Id also seriously suggest giving the 55 a good cleanup and some water changes.Sounds like your experiencing some hygeine problems for these two conditions to be breaking out. Might be worth moving bogwood and plants and checking for trapped detritus that might be sending the nitrates high.

So I can put both medications in at the same time? And with the tetra in the tank? One of the bottles says it can be used with tetra but at a lower dosage.

And how much of a water change should I do in a 55? Do the water change then put the medication in the new water right?

It looks like the Nitrates is somewhere between 5-10mg/L

Melafix is only tea tree oil really, it should be ok for use with other meds at the same time. The primary consideration should be the effect on the fish's metabolism and personal resistances. Dont overdose and these particular meds should work out ok even when mixed.

Be cautious using meds other than melafix with other medications though.

Though the nitrate is acceptable, it might be worth checking that there isnt uneaten food or faeces collecting anywhere, it doesnt always peak out the nitrates depending on the setup you have . You might just have a hidden bacterial breeding ground there somewhere. Some bacteria produce hydrogen sulphide and will weaken fish but not show on a test kit. Not all decompositional bacteria contribute directly to the ammonia cycle, some respire in completely different ways and extract different nutrition from dead matter. Sometimes even a single decoration may have a layer of bacterial scum on it that will contribute to the problem,and yet the test kit may show nothing.

also,when my blue acara got popeye,it wasnt from bad water or my parameters werent out,she banged her eye shooing away other fish,i just used a multicure,it took about 2 weeks,and she was all good again

Ok so it seems like my molly's problem is fixed by itself, or my eyes are playing tricks on me haha. But I went ahead and put both meds. in the big tank with all the fish in it. I also found a few babies in the tank but I guess they won't survive the meds

Oddly enough hokese, now you mention it, one of my acara females has a swollen eye due to a bite , and shes guarding aggs. Never happens at conveinient times does it? lol.

yeah man you are dead write,mine was also garding fry,(thats why she was shooing away tankmates)when she banged her eye,i had to sacrfice all the fry to treat the popeye,but she lived on to have plenty more babies.ive also herd,if its from water parametrs being incorrect,both eyes are more e to be popped rather than 1.

The meds. say to repeat every 24hrs and after the treatments do a water change...that means after all 3 or so days of treatment are done? So the dosage would be 3 or so times the amount put in on day 1?

what meds are using

Oh I had stated earlier that I was using Melafix and CureIck