# Sick Dalmation Mollies



## tscott

Hello Everyone,
I have four dalmatian mollies, there newer, i got two about two weeks ago and two a week and a half ago. They are all from the same shipment. Within the past couple of days two of them started acting a little weird. One has lost so much weight that he looks like bones only and the other still has weight but is skinnier than the two healthy ones. They also sometimes shake there head, almost like a neurological thing. I decided this morning that they should go to another tank so i stuck the two sick ones together in there own tank. They act fine, minus the wasting away, they eat and swim around fine except when they start to shake a little they sit still(as in don't swim around, just shake a little). Do you think its fish TB or something? Also everything else in the tank is fine. 

Here is the one thats really bad:










Here is the both of them, you can see how skinny the one is:









Thanks!


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## Amie

Do you know if they are females or males? I can' tell very well from the pics. If your not sure if you could get a clearer pic I could let you know.


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## tscott

They are both females and seem to be happy in the little tank at the moment.


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## Amie

Could they be dropping fry? That would explain them getting skinny and can explain some strange behavior too.


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## tscott

I guess its possible but they didn't look pregnant, i have black mollies that are pregnant at the moment but they are quite large, It just looks like the one is wasting away. The second one seems alright, just was acting the same, I also didn't see any fry but Ill go watch them for a while. I figure if they look ok in the morning ill move them back to the main tank.


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## Gizmo

Watch their poop. If there are long white stringy poops, they are dealing with parasites. Just to be safe, you could feed them some mashed up (or diced and canned) garlic. Fish love it, especially if you get the canned and soak some flake food in the garlic juice. Long story short, garlic kills parasites, and fish love it.

I've had some of my fish do the stop-swimming-head-shake routine before, though I never knew what to make of it. They were zebra danios and one perished from it, but the other three that had it worked it out somehow.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful  Good luck!


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## tscott

Yeah I was watching there poop today(lol) it was normal and not white. I think tomorrow I will do the garlic thing either way, cant hurt. I really don't think the skinny one will make it, shes is just wasting away more and more, However she still is acting normal. The second one is still fine. She seems like she is getting better, or at least not getting worse. I haven't seen the head movement since this morning. From either of them.


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## mDust

[email protected] said:


> I've had some of my fish do the stop-swimming-head-shake routine before, though I never knew what to make of it.


My dalmatian molly sort of wiggled in place every once in a while for the first few days she was in a new tank. At first I just thought it was sort of hovering in the pump current, but my male betta was curious about it too and was sitting right next to her without being affected by any current. She stopped doing it a while ago.
Not sure about the wasting though. Maybe the other fish are gulping down most of the food before that one can get to it? Have you tried multiple types of food?


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## tscott

Yeah they are both eating and i give flakes and pellets for my bottom feeders but the molly's always eat both. That was a thought of mine also so I fed the two of them a couple of times today in the little tank. They definitely ate well today. I really couldn't tell if they were eating(I know they were, but I am not sure how much) in the other tank because there was four of them and only one really is distinctly different, the one that is the sickest has more black on him.


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## snail

How long has the tank been set up for? Is it cycled?


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## tscott

Its been setup for about three weeks, with media from a smaller tank, It is almost completely cycled. The highest the ammonia ever was in the tank was .25 and dropped to nothing the next day and the nitrite only went up to .5 and has dropped to almost nothing. The plants seemed to have helped out big time in this tank, there is a large amount of them. Its a 25 gal. All the other fish are healthy in it. and these two Dalmatians I believe were the newest ones of the four i have, and the newest addition to the tank. Oh and some of the fish came from my other tanks also.


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## Amie

How long has the fish been wasting away? 

I'm still thinking fry though. I have had some fish drop fry and look painfully thin afterwards. Also, you might not see the fry at all if the other fish have eaten them already or maybe they are hiding really good. And, if they did not have very many fry then they might not look very pregnant. But to me in explains them getting thin and sometimes they can have strange behavior with it too.


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## tscott

Well the one has been getting thinner and thinner over the past 4 days, she doesn't look like she is gonna make it today. she is just sitting at the bottom and will only move if im changing water or something. The other one seems to be fine and hasn't had any symptoms today. I think im gonna mover her back to the main tank later. I tried the garlic thing and only the one ate some. we will see later what happens.


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## tscott

So I put them back into the main tank, the thin one is in the breeder cage, she wasn't doing well at all a few hours ago, she couldn't keep herself balanced. About two hours ago she was half on her side and then out of no where she started swimming around a bit and was able to keep balanced. Now she is staying on the surface, and ate a little bit of food. I don't know whats going on with her. The other one is roaming the tank, acting a little weird but seems alright overall. Also apparently between yesterday and today my tank finished cycling completely. 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia and between 5 and 10 nitrates.


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## Amie

Try some more garlic and try to leave her alone as much as possible. Some fish get really stressed with water changes and stuff like that so it can make them more stressed out by doing it and hurt them more then help them. Keep us posted. Also, is there anything else about their condition that you can add? Any discoloration or fuzzy spots or anything else like that?


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## snail

Could be internal parasites.


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## tscott

There really wasn't anything more to add. The sickest one didn't make it. At least she got to have some fun in the big tank last night but this morning she was barely breathing. The other one seems fine. I am going to soak some more of the tablets i have in garlic juice and feed the tank that. This way the others get a dose too. I do think it was a parasite of some sort and I am hoping the rest of the tank doesn't get it. I will keep you guys updated on the other one. Thanks for all the help!


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## Amie

Keep giving them food soaked in garlic juice on a regular basis for awhile. It couldn't hurt.


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## tscott

I did today and plan on it for a while. I did notice the other one that i think has it has been rubbing against the plants. However i cant see anything on his skin?


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## hayderrr

Here there are too many information which is very helpful to us. 


thanks!!


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## tscott

I figured I would give an update. I am 99% sure that this was internal parasites. I fed them garlic and it was working a little, but the other fish started rubbing up against stuff so i decided I would need to try something more drastic. I went out and found Parasite Clear and gave the main tank a half dose and The hospital tank a full dose and out and put the molly that made it in there. So the molly hung out in that tank for 2 or three days and got better and better. After a while i figured she was bored and was healthy enough to move back so i did. But before that i noticed more fish were scraping up against things so I upped the dose to the full thing on the main tank. I haven't seen any real scraping anymore, that molly is still on the thin side but not shaking or anything anymore. I do think I might have to give another dose at some point but we will see.


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## jrman83

Parasite clear does work pretty decent and for internal parasites I would treat more than once. 

I haven't really proved my theory yet, but I'm doing 3 treatments with 48hrs in between. After that I am going to let my tank ride and see how the fish that have been affected do. I have reversed some, but most succumb to it. But...this has been with just sparadic treatment as needed. Hopefully the fish that have gotten better continue to get better with tougher frequent treatment. Between my two tanks I have 3-4 that don't look the best out of about 120 fish.


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## snail

Rubbing against things is irritation to the skin. No sign of ich? Ph swings or chlorine can also be a cause.


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## jrman83

Notice any tiny specs on your fish as if they had been sprinkled with sand?


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## tscott

Nope there isn't anything on any of them. My waters PH is always High (Well water) 8.0 to 8.2, and there is no chlorine. Since the parasite treatment they all seem to be fine.


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## jrman83

I've had one or two fish that showed the signs of ich (flashing), but no visible signs and I treated the same way you did and the fish stopped doing it in just a few minutes. Great stuff to have on hand.


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## snail

jrman83 said:


> I've had one or two fish that showed the signs of ich (flashing), but no visible signs and I treated the same way you did and the fish stopped doing it in just a few minutes. Great stuff to have one hand.


It's hard to know what is causing flashing for sure, it's just a sign that the fish is itchy but ich is the first suspect. Fish with ich do tend to start flashing before you see any white spots.


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## jrman83

True and a lot of times it will be on their gills and you can't see it.


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