# Balloon Molly's gills are raising and she is losing her color...



## mandi85710 (Feb 19, 2012)

_*My balloon molly is sick. Here are symptoms. *__*Her scales are lifting up and she looks like her lips are pealing off like she has really dry chapped lips. She also is losing color in her eyes they are turning whitish and she has white stripes down her tail. I know it's not ick b/c I know what that looks like and these are not spots they are longish stripes. She used to be really gold also and has lost most of her color other than just what I had mentioned. She is also just staying on the bottom of the tank and not moving very much. I put her in my nursing tank for now and got on here right away for help. 

I have had my aquarium set up for a year. All of my levels are normal but ph was a little higher than normal at 7.4. It usually runs between 6.8 and 7.0. I have a brackish tank. She was quarantined when I got her and have had her for 3 months. She is in a 30G brackish tank with a top fin 30 whisper filter and also a 100W heater. Water temp is 80F due to 90F outside temps today so it was hot. Usually is about 76F. No sunlight hits my tank at all. I do weekly partial water changes due to water here and it is needed. Last one was last week and actually due for it today but I didn't want to mess with anything yet. Her food schedule is Tetra Color Plus tropical flakes twice a day every other day and then on the opposite days she gets frozen brine fish. I have had the pack that I have now for 3 weeks so I know it is hopefully nothing from that but they are always frozen so I wouldn't think so. Also in the tank there is a bubble curtain and some plastic plants. Her tank mates are 2 f silver mollies, 2 F dalmatian mollies and a M black and a M balloon molly. Also a pleco.


She dropped her fry 3 days ago and all were dead. I watch so I know this. A lot of them were not formed all the way and the ones that were were dead. None of my other fish seem sick or have any markings on them at all. I did notice when she was in labor her lips looked as I said a little chapped is the best way I can describe it but nothing bad just slightly. Then today when I got up she was horrible. I have several pictures I will attach as well to help a little not sure how well you can really tell on the pictures about her scales but you can see she is losing her color and the stripes on her tail. 

I went to my fish guy and he said put aquarium salt in. Well my tanks are brackish so that was not a helpful solution so then he said it sounds like a parasite but it is very hard to find parasite meds for fish and they didn't sell it anymore b/c it never sold and expired so they lost money. So now I am going to look at stores online b/c checked petsmart and petco and they don't have anything. Everyone has stuff for bacterial and fungal infections but not parasites. I am not going to buy anything until someone can hopefully tell me what it is though. Just going to look and see if I can find anything in case that is in fact what it is I know where to go and get it right away before she dies. OK I will attach pictures. She was very gold before and now she is really light. Please help I do not want to lose her. Thanks in advance for coming in and reading this to see if you can help!!!
*_


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## kitten_penang (Mar 26, 2008)

she has bloat.you'll have to read up on it as i'm not sure how to treat it.good luck


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## fishy goings on (Mar 31, 2012)

Does sound like bloat, but this can be caused by several issues. 

I would 1st make sure she is not just constipated and feed her a boiled and shelled (make sure you remove the shell) pea. Just use a frozen pea, boil it then wait till it cools and then remove the shell. This should have a laxetive effect and "flush" her out. It would not hurt to put 1 grain of epsom salt inside the pea (peice of pea)you feed her. 
This is cheap and easy (solong as she is still eating), so worth a try.

If that doesn't fix it then;

Because she was pregenent and something went wrong (she aborted) I'd suggest there's possibly an internal infection, from left over fry decomposing. A product called "Maracyn-2" should clear this up and is friendly on your cycle, so you won't need to stress her by moving her to a quaranteen tank.
If you can't get Maracyn-2 then try for "Nitrofuran" or Furan (brand name), but you will need to use a quaranteen tank as this will kill off your good bacteria and destroy your tank's cycle.

3rdly if it is what your LFS guy suggested, you will need an antibiotic like "Octozin" or common old "Flagyl".

It sounds like the second option to me as she was pregenent, something went wrong and now she's getting an infection. 

Best of luck with it all.


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