# Balloon Molly behaviour change and poop change - help



## beano129 (Jul 26, 2012)

Morning all, 

I'll start with the conditions - excellent.
Ammonia - 0
pH - 7.4
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

7 days ago performed 35% water change in my 40 gal tank.
Contents
4 x widow tetras 
1 x Koi Angel 
1 x Marble Angel
4 x Corys 
1 x Balloon Molly

Problem with the Molly - symptoms started Friday night. Fish was lying on the bed of the tank moving very little and its usually right amongst all the action. 

Saturday, I put him in a little 9 litre hospital tank for most of the day which has 1/2 fresh water and half tank water with some stress coat and some melafix. 
Then dropped one tiny piece of food in... Initially uninterested but did eat it and did appear to look a bit better so put him back in the bigger tank.
Saturday night noticed it again hanging around in the bottom after initially looking a bit better. 

Sunday (now) fish is swimming about more but is hiding as well and has a stringy (with little blobs) poo. 
It's not white poo but thinner than usually - it looks like the regular poo (in blobs) inside the stringy poo.... I hope that makes sense 


Does anyone have any ideas for what I should do or Treat with?


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

Someone sent me to take a look here at what's going on. I'm a molly person. LOL


Let's see, there's a few problems I can see that'd be causing problems for your molly.

First one, and most likely cause is stress. You added stress zyme to his tank in the hospital tank and he perked up, yes? That will help, and it shouldn't hurt your other fish either. =)

You have the wrong group sizes going. Most tetras like to be in groups of 5-6+, mollies and cories are the same in that regard. They don't like being with less than four of their kind ESPECIALLY in a tank with fish like Angels, I'm not sure I'd trust that myself. It can get them very upset and cause messy, odd poo, loss of appetite, even loss of will to live, they get depressed and all that as well. With fish like the angels who could be seen as predators, it wont help his self-esteem any without a group to flee back to.

How is your water hardness? If the hardness is too low, this tidbit was given to me by Byron, it can cause them to become lethargic and even cause fungal infections. Mollies like nice hard water.

The other problem is that he's a balloon molly. They're naturally less hardy and very inbred, more than most mollies. They can get problems like constipation and back issues, who wouldn't? Swimbladder problems and eye problems are also high up there for them, as well as a pitiful immune system among other things(I think they're kinda cute and all, but they're the least hardy and most prone to problems of any molly I have ever owned). They also prefer brackish water over fresh, if you're able to do that for him, I'd suggest another tank set up, a nice twenty gallon and a couple girls. You may want to give him a piece of a cooked, skinless pea to eat every three-four days or so(just a small bite), I found that helped keep his system in order, they get constipated so easily! And any schooler will get depressed without tank mates. 

Before you consider more mollies for him though, if you do, check your water parameters with what they need and make sure your other fish can handle them. If everything is set for all, I would consider getting him some placid females and no other males, that may make it worse. =)


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## beano129 (Jul 26, 2012)

Hi Sylverclaws, 

Thank you for your response! Sadly he died not long after this post :-( gone but not forgotten. 

I'm actually getting a bit depressed with this particular tank and my fish keeping abilities. 

Since november (when the tank was 6 weeks old - cycled) I've bought 22 fish and yet I only have 10 left. The first fish I bought were the Tetras. I had 6 originally but 2 died (for unknown reasons). I also had 6 Cory's (again 2 died for unknown reasons) and even though I tried to replace them on many occasions to keep the numbers the same ... 4 of them just seems to be the number they are happy at... I've had 2 balloon mollies and also 2 bristle-nose algae eaters which only made it a 5 days. 

its like my tank seems to reject any fish numbers greater than 10 and even though i'm so cautious about water changes and quality... i just keep loosing fish. 

In terms of water its softer water here in Manly NSW ( I sent a water sample chart to Byron) and when I did add a bit of salt to the tank - i was quickly smacked by the rest of the forum community to remove it for the sake of the other fish. 

So i've got my 2 angels, 4 corys and 4 tetras at the moment and just don't know what to do. they aren't expensive fish but I'm sick of buying them only for other's to die... moreover it's cruel to the fish which is a thought I hate even more! 

I'm tempted to buy an extra couple of widow tetras and corys (to make them 6 each) but again i don't what to see any others die! 

I'm in a real pickle at the moment!!


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## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

That suuucks!

Don't let it get you down. I think the last couple years has just been bad with the stocks coming to shops and such. I've also had a lot of problems and even wanted to just give up a few times. There have been a lot of mixed illnesses going around lately, especially with cories, BN plecos, tetras and mollies. The only fish I have that seem to do just fine are the ones I raised myself from fish I've had over two years. Any new fish I've tried to get, no matter the type, seem to have SOME kind of problem or other. Some seemingly have nothing wrong and will die. Obviously it's something internal going around. I dunno if it's the same there, but I've heard similar reports to my issues and some like yours, happening all across the states. It's a bad year and a half, I say. lol Sometimes it just makes you feel helpless though, you do everything and they still die. It's unfortunately how it is with fish. Or any pet really. 

I hope things pick up for you, take care of what you have for now. =)

I think that you should just try going with your angels and maybe some more cories. It sounds like your angels do better, so maybe you just have things the way they like it. Look into cories that have the same water needs, and maybe tetras too.


How big is your tank? Is it the 40 gallon one? If so, it may be more that you have more than enough angels for it and it just can't support a school of tetras AND cories.


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