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Hello,
Half an Hour ago i just lost some members of my tanks. I lost one upsidedown catfish and my last Black Molly! I am going to attach some pictures of my fish. First I will describe the problems with each.

Upsidedown Catfish:
He was experiencing a loss of balance and a extremely swollen abdomen. I ruled out dropsy because there were no protruding scales. Also (Probably Irrelevent) My Puffers were chasing this one fish in particular.

Picture of Catfish alive with swollen stomach...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i266/Gar0foli/PICT0671.jpg

I know this is sinister but I did this only as evidence... The Queezy should look away. This is The Upsidedown catfish with it's stomach open. Notice the yellow juices excreting...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i266/Gar0foli/PICT0691.jpg

Black Molly:
My Black molly was acting very strange, such as breathing at the surface or just a floppy bottom lip, Scales falling off, the scales were protruding like dropsy but no swollen abdomen and also white fuzz coming out right behind its gills. Attached is a picture of both dead fish in one piece, It is hard to see the damage on the Molly...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i266/Gar0foli/PICT0687.jpg

Please anyone tell me what is wrong with my fish, I need to know if it is contagous or what. Thank you!

Chris

I am no expert but i do have a book:
it says abdominal areas swelling=either Pisine Tuberculosis,Malawi Bloat or Other poisoning.
Malawi bloat is what i think it is says there no effective treatment
as for the molly can be Saprolegina fungus.
like i said i'm no expert just fond some stuff in my book. good luck and sory for your loss.

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Looks like a bacterial stomach infection or a protozoan stomach infection, either way it was so far progressed only proper antibiotics would have cured it, off the shelf fish meds would have done little good. The dissection really would have to go further to be sure, the smell is often indicative, and the presence of visible worms , or the lack of them often brings the odds down.

Whatever it is , you can safetly assume its contagious,since unrelated fish are affected,and with similar if not identical symptoms in the same timeframe .Perhaps some antiprotozoan meds and antibacterial protection like melafix will help. Any fish actually starting to swell will obviously need antibiotics, perhaps a general internal antiparasitic like jungle labs antiparasite food would help a great deal.

Only a path report would give you a definitive answer, but since most deaths in aquaria outside of water quality issues are usually a combination of bacterial infection and protozoan activity.

I can't see fungus causing the fish to swell like that on its own , and the bloat looks at least partially gaseous ,not necessarily in terms of a large air bubble , but in gas expansion on a microscopic level within the tissies, thus making them swell, which means bacterial tissue rot has to be present. The post death pic (which I assume was taken at most a few hours after death)showed the seepage of decomposing liquid , such rapid decomposition of the internal organs will also mean that bacterial populations in the gut and intestinal tract were in high numbers way before the actual death. I have no doubt that a bacterial infection was the actual cause of death , through inflammation, septacaemia, and tissue necrosis.

What remains is to work out if the bacteria are the primary or secondary cause of illness, treat them for definite, and if the primary infection is protozoan to treat that also. Like I said a microbiology report would tell you the cause , but its often easier (and much cheaper) to cut to the chase and treat the bacteria in anycase, and use antiprotozoan drugs pre-emptively. Most of them are pretty safe.

ps , well done about doing the brave thing and posting the pics of the fish while alive , and post mortem, it can be very revealing about the cause of death sometimes.

Thank you both very much, you both are very informative. But Longhair are you saying it could be contagious?

Chris

you can safetly assume its contagious,since unrelated fish are affected

Yes he is. So get some meds like he suggested to protect your other fish.

*Kristin*