White Molly Shimmying...Reason?

LyzzaRyzz

White Molly Shimmying - YouTube

So, its only my female white molly that does it, and shes been doing it alot more today. Shes done it for the past few days, probably this is the third day.

I have isolated her in the breeder. Shes still active and eating well, swiming around and pooping. There are not marks on her body, or film, fungus, cottony stuff, her gills arent inflamed. I have tried to get a good look on the sides of her body, to check for ick, and as far as i can see there are no grains of salt, but, she is white.

Like i said, no other fish are showing symptoms.

Ive read of a few reasons behind these symptoms:

Low temperature. I do not have a heater in this tank, as my bedroom is pretty much the attic, and it is always hot up here. The temperature is usually 74 during the day and 73-72 at night.

Calcium/mineral deficiency. I already put in pieces of calcium block for my ghost shrimp and apple snails. What other minerals could they be lacking? My water is already hard.

Lack of salt in the water. I have read it adds electrolytes into the water, though i know guppies and mollies can handle it, [may even be ideal?] but there are also ghost shrimps in the tank. The salt will affect them? I may be able to move them out, im working on it now.

Birthing. This is why i have her isolated, as two days ago, i found babies inthe tank, only seven that i could count, two i saved, the rest were eaten by the ghosties. Today i found another fry most likely a Guppy fry, but maybe not? the two fry from the day before look different. im assuming they are mollies. Whats the longest a molly has ever birthed before? Could she have been giving birth steadily, but slowly the past two days, and all the fry are just being eaten?

Id appreciate any advise or experiences you guys have had!

LyzzaRyzz

On an extremely closer look, it seems on her right side, there seem to be some scales that are not completely white. they have a yellow/gold tint to it. only in one spot, and its rather faint.
Ive been looking at other sites and googling, and i cant seem to find any bacteria, fungus, or other illness that would cause this?

Maybe hes has non white genetics somewhere? would that cause the yellow spot?

Im going to see if i can get a picture of it...

Meanwhile, shes still shimmying away...=[

LyzzaRyzz

So, i did a massive 60% w/c and added my heater back in.
I took out the large peices of plants, and let one float, as there seemed to be alot of food and poo stuck underneath them.

I removed the white molly from isolation, since she didnt need any more stress.
I also took out the shrimp, so if my the morning, she isnt acting right, or the other fish have symptoms, i can add salt.
Im hoping by bumping the temp and doing a w/c can slow and hopefully stop whatevers going on here.

id really like some insight!

Fishpunk

Your water is too cold, and if fish are shimmying, the water is probably too soft. Yes, go ahead and gradually ramp up the salinity. Don't worry about the shrimp, I keep ghost (aka glass) shrimp in 1.005 brackish water no problem. For temperature, you probably want to target around 78 degrees.

LyzzaRyzz

The heat is at 77, with the heater in and the yellow spot wasn't jut her scales. It's now a slight bump, and fuzzy? It's only noticeable if you stare at her. She's not shimmying as much, but still sometimes.
My towns water is hard, my parents got it tested. I am adding calcium to the water, what else should I add? I have boiled shells, I'm just afraid to put them in since there's been trouble.
No other fish have symptoms.
When you say salt, do you mean aquarium salt or marine salt? I'd like to avoid marine salt, as I'm not ready to take the brackish route just yet. If its aquarium salt, it's a teaspoon per ten gallons right? The AQ salt doesn't dissipate, does it? How long should I add salt? With every water change?

I'm not seperating the white Molly, as I'd like to treat the whole tank, and stop any other fish from getting sick as well. Is this correct?

And to remove AQ salt from the tank..just water changes? Or something more?

Also..apple snails, good or bad in AQ salt?

Fishpunk

You should remove the fish and treat in a quarantine tank. It could be fungus or bacterial infection. Hard to say without seeing the fish, but treat soon or you will lose it. With a bump, my best guess would be bacterial.

LyzzaRyzz

The bump is bigger today. I do not have another tank ready, but could i use a gallon Goldfish bowl, with an airstone? I can do as many w/c as neccesary to keep ammonia levels from rising.

Should i use AQ salt, or a medicine?

The medicine i have is called Betta Revive, and is claims it prevents and controls protozoan, bacterial an d fungal diseases. What is your experience with this?
[the ingredients listed are as follows; water, neomycin sulfate <10%, methylene blue <5%, proprietary polymer mixture, buffers, EDTA, Malachite green chloride<.01%, cyanocobalamin and electrolytes]

I will try and get a good picture of this bump asap

Fishpunk

If you do use a Goldfish bowl, make sure you get some ammo chips and put them into a filter bag hung over the airstone. It will help keep the ammonia levels down.

I have no experience at all with that medicine. It seems like a catch-all, but I didn't see any antibiotic. I'm not a vet so I can only give suggestions, not advice. Go with what you think is right, and if it doesn't work, try something else. Either you will cure the fish or it will eventually die. Learn what you can from the experience either way.

LyzzaRyzz

Here is a video from yesterday that shows the spot.

Shimmying Molly with Spot? - YouTube

Its not the best, but you can definitely see it. It is behind her fin...

I dont have ammo chips, what are they? Is there something else i can do?
If i cant get these, how often should i do a w/c?

Fishpunk

Which fin? I don't see a spot.

Get the ammo chips at Petco or Petsmart. I would get as small a container you can find because they really should only be used in quarantine tanks or for shipping fish. Bad practice otherwise. They charge like $10 for a half-gallon sized carton, which is way too much of the stuff. It is also called zeolite, and I recently bought a smaller package of that at Petco for $5.

I would continue to do a daily 50% water change even with the zeolite. Those chips are just in the water to give you a safety net.

PetSmart sells cloth filter bags for like 88 cents. They are extremely useful for many things. Put a quarter size scoop of ammo chips into the bag. BTW, ammo chips can be "recharged" Easy to google that for the procedure.