# Sick Dalmation Lyretail Molly



## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

There seems to be something wrong with one of my mollies that I've had for a few months now. It's a female Dalmation Lyretail Molly. She swims a little odd sometimes, not always. Kinda side to side bobbing like. She also seems to have trouble seeing or something. She isn't blind, she can see the food when I put it in and goes for it, but when she tries to bite the food, she misses more than she grabs, like she can't aim. And I mean really off opposite direction kind of aim. She see's it, but then chomps in the wrong direction.

The water is good, and I keep it between 78-80 degrees in there, I have some plants, one potted and a bunch of free-floating plants. I also feed them freeze-dried bloodworms, some fresh veggies on rare occasions, and tropical fish flakes two or three times a day, and lately I've had to hold the food for her so she gets enough to eat. There are no visible marks on her anywhere either, she just seems pretty off. She will eat from my hand, so I know she should be getting enough, I make sure she gets atleast two bloodworms and three good sized flakes each mealtime, but she seems to be thin and getting thinner anyways. The other fish also leave her alone, so she isn't being picked on. But they will steal her food if I don't hold it for her because she's slow and can't get it herself.

I currently have a creamsicle molly, two silver molly, three gold dust molly, two emerald green cory, and a small breeding net with 8 healthy fry in it, none of them are having any issues. She's been a little off for about a month, but she seems to be worse over the last two days. I initially had another creamsicle and a dalmation that I bought at the same time as her about four months ago, but they died soon after purchase. Neither had an issue, and then suddenly started swimming oddly and died, maybe they all had something?

If someone can help me figure out what is going on and hopefully even fix it, I'd be greatful.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

Sylverclaws said:


> There seems to be something wrong with one of my mollies that I've had for a few months now. It's a female Dalmation Lyretail Molly. She swims a little odd sometimes, not always. Kinda side to side bobbing like. She also seems to have trouble seeing or something. She isn't blind, she can see the food when I put it in and goes for it, but when she tries to bite the food, she misses more than she grabs, like she can't aim. And I mean really off opposite direction kind of aim. She see's it, but then chomps in the wrong direction.
> 
> The water is good, and I keep it between 78-80 degrees in there, I have some plants, one potted and a bunch of free-floating plants. I also feed them freeze-dried bloodworms, some fresh veggies on rare occasions, and tropical fish flakes two or three times a day, and lately I've had to hold the food for her so she gets enough to eat. There are no visible marks on her anywhere either, she just seems pretty off. She will eat from my hand, so I know she should be getting enough, I make sure she gets atleast two bloodworms and three good sized flakes each mealtime, but she seems to be thin and getting thinner anyways. The other fish also leave her alone, so she isn't being picked on. But they will steal her food if I don't hold it for her because she's slow and can't get it herself.
> 
> ...


You say the water is good but this is an opinion that means little.
Try taking a sample of water to fish store and ask them to test it and provide number's for ammonia,nitrites,and nitrAtes and then post those number's here for those able to maybe help identify, or eliminate possible problem.
Also should note that livebearer's such as mollies,platy's, guppies, need hard alkaline water with pH between 7.6 and 8.0 and 12plus degree's of Hardness (GH) to do well in the long term.
Weekly water change of 35 to 50 percent with fresh dechlorinated water is also needed.


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

1077 said:


> You say the water is good but this is an opinion that means little.
> Try taking a sample of water to fish store and ask them to test it and provide number's for ammonia,nitrites,and nitrAtes and then post those number's here for those able to maybe help identify, or eliminate possible problem.
> Also should note that livebearer's such as mollies,platy's, guppies, need hard alkaline water with pH between 7.6 and 8.0 and 12plus degree's of Hardness (GH) to do well in the long term.
> Weekly water change of 35 to 50 percent with fresh dechlorinated water is also needed.


 
I got my water tested twice and they said it was all in normal range. They didn't give me the numbers, so I suppose I can get a kit and do it myself to put up on here. But if it is only bothering the one fish to this point, I wouldn't think that the water would be the problem, I've had all those fish aside from the babies and a gold dust molly for several months. But it can't hurt to test it myself and put up the status. Unfortunatly that could take a bit until I can get to the store and buy a kit for myself. v.v;


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

Ouh, I really did a poor, unthorough job with this, didn't I? I'm a new fish hobbiest, and still getting the ropes of the trade here, so I don't keep water test kits around, though after this fiasco I'm thinking I will do just that so if I have any further issues, I can be much more thorough. My apologies. I was reading other posts and found so much more detail than I was able to put up! I feel like a bad fish owner. v.v;

Anywho, unfortunatly my Dalmation passed away three days after I posted this. I'm pretty ashamed of myself that I wasn't thorough enough with their care and water monitoring. I did, however, find out what was going on with the poor girl. I had a gold dust molly that wasn't allowing her to rest. He was doing the same to two other females, and they started acting the same as my dalmation and hiding constantly. I had two males in my tank and the rest were female fish. Usually he left everyone alone, but after one of my gold dusts gave birth, he got extremely aggressive with my dalmation and two gold dust females. She was always a little bit frail, I assume she had been sick with something before I got her and her system was weakened, pet shops get a lot of that, but this did her in. I wish I had noticed it sooner! Just before I posted this is when my gold dust female gave birth, and he started attacking her mercilessly when I wasn't near the tank(me being near usually means food), and also kept my dalmation and the other gold dust female from eating or leaving the plants unless I kept my hand where the food was. He ended up chewing up the female that gave birth so bad I thought she would die, I never knew mollies could get so violent! I heard they were peaceful, group fish. He ripped up one of her gills and her back. =( I gave him away and my entire tank went back to being peaceful. I am hoping that was the cause, I got them together, but he never really picked at her much until this. He'd occasionally chase. As for my Gold dust that got chewed up, she's healing up and seems to be gaining weight back. I am hoping she will fully recover and get all her scales back, as of now, she doesn't seem to be that bothered by them.

Since she is injured, and none of the other fish pick at her, is there something else I should be doing for her anyways? She actually looks happy and energetic, but her back is missing several scales and her right gill looks very, very bruised, no longer bloody, but works. She has also bonded tightly with the black sail-fin male I got to replace the gold dust male. He's very gentle with her and doesn't chase which seems unusual for males that normally like nothing but breeding. ^_^ I am wondering if I should be putting something in for her ouchies though. If there is something for it. If not, I'll just be monitoring as normal for infection and bullying, since she does seem to be ok.


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