Molly Upside Down

Question
QUESTION: I have a 10 gallon that has been running 3-4 weeks so we are still cycling.  It had 2 african dwarf frogs (one died suddenly yesterday before all of the drama I'm about to tell you about and this is a temp home for the ADFs until I get another tank shortly for them), 2 yellow platies and 1 cremesicle lyretail molly.  I keep up with the daily water testing (drop kits not dip sticks) and maintain water changes (25-50%) depending on water levels equal to about 100% a week.  Ammonia has never been over 0.25.  Temp is 78, ph is 7.6, filter is a Top Fin 10 with an Aqua Clear bio max media insert.  I feed them cucumbers and Spirulina crisps, two crisps per fish and the frogs eat the leftovers or the ADFs get a pinch of bloodworms.  When I change water I use the tap water conditioner, Tetra's easybalance, stress zyme & coat and the recommended salt for the molly.  I ordered Bio Spira to help speed up the cycling.  I added it and waited 24 hours.  All still seemed well.  I added 2 white clouds, 2 red platies (all 4 platies are female) and 1 dalmation molly.  Everyone seemed fine, swimming, checking each other out.  The cremesicle was acting strange at first, he is a male and was 'ramming' the new molly in her belly but then everyone was swimming around fine.  A few hours later before I went to bed I went to turn the light off and check everyone out and the cremesicle molly was laying upside down and all of the fish were pecking him!  I immediately removed him and placed him in a 2 gallon spare tank (I know it's small but all I had available) with established gravel and water from another tank.  I added a little Melafix since I could see nip marks on his tail.  I totally expected him to be dead this morning but he wasn't.  However, each time I check on him he is laying on his side or upside down at the bottom.  He'll move if roused but other than that nothing and immediately goes back to the bottom.  He is not breathing heavily or labored, normal, but obviously he is totally and completely different than he was, healthy and normal, before I added the new fish.  Today, my original 2 platies are now hiding in a cave but did come out to eat so I think they'll be okay but all of my new fish act fine.  So what to do about the cremesicle, provided he makes it another night, and do I return him to that tank?  Will the original platies come out of hiding eventually?

ANSWER: Hi April;

It's hard to say what went wrong with the sick one so let him stay in the 2 gallon and change his water every day. It could be stress from getting a new home. His swim bladder may have failed from stress. Sometimes fish recover the use of their swim bladder, sometimes they don't. It's just a waiting game really.

Since the platies are hiding it's possible there is a bully in the bunch. Mollies can be aggressive sometimes so watch them from a distance and see how they act. Mollies really should be in a 20 gallon or larger because they need lots of room for their attitude as well as their size. If you see one acting like a bully, that's probably what is happening. You might have to remove the "bratty" fish and then hopefully the platies will come out again.

Good Luck...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks!  All good to know.  I moved Louie yesterday a.m. from the 2 gallon tank to a new 3.5 rubbermaid long bucket with 10 gallon filter and a heater.  I know, not a huge improvement but I am trying.  I have been doing daily water changes, adding Seachem's Prime, Melafix for his horribly frayed tail and some aquarium salt.  He seemed to like the bucket better and is doing much better all day today.  If he swims in front of the filter current he still rolls a bit around but he isn't just laying on the bottom anymore and swims most of the day and has more control.  His tail looks awful!  It's extremely frayed from where the others picked at it before I got him out.  He hadn't eaten in 3 days so I tried a peeled pea today.  He ate a bit but didn't seem interested.  I have some fresh spinach affixed to the inside, doesn't seem interested in that either.  So my new questions are: Should I feed him regular food?  I have spirulina crisps, algae wafers, regular flake, and tropical pellets.  Is there anything else I should be doing for his frayed tail (it's a mess, frayed up to the actual scales, you can't even tell he's a lyretail).  How long should I leave him in that bucket for recovery (he does seem better so I guess I need to know when would be good to return him to the regular tank or know when it's obvious he won't completely recover)?  Thanks, you have been extremely helpful!

ANSWER: Hi April;

You may have to use an antibiotic for fin and tail rot. When fish get injured they can easily become infected. See what your fish store has available for it. He needs to stay in the isolation container until his tail is starting to grow back. The other fish will tear him up again if you put him back to the main tank too soon. It's okay to continue water changes while treating with medicine. Just do the water change every day right before you add that day's medicine. Antibiotics decay in the tank water within 12 hours or so and that's why they have to be added daily. Your water changes are only going to be removing old decayed useless medication. Use aquarium salt too. It helps him with stress and helps fight infection.

It's okay if he doesn't eat yet but if you want to try something offer a little bit of spirulina crisps or algae wafer. He is stressed from being in a new environment so it may take a few more days. Fish can go for more than two weeks without eating so he has plenty of time. His body is busy expending energy on other things right now. Make sure the temperature stays up in the isolation container too. It should be 78f or so.

I hope his tail gets better soon. Followups welcome...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Chris, holy cow, if things couldn't get worse!  The cremesicle molly is doing much better, able to swim and eat on his own.  Aside from his tail being frayed you wouldn't know he had a problem.  Yesterday the 2 new platies in the 10 gallon started doing the same thing to the dalmation molly as they did to my male cremesicle, picking her apart.  I moved her into the 3.25 gallon hospital bucket with the cremesicle molly since I have no where else for her to go.  I do change the water daily, it has a heater set at 78 and a 10 gallon filter.  I have been adding Melafix and salt only for Louie's tail treatment.  I added a smidge of Maracyn's tail rot treatment for Louie's tail problem yesterday but since the dalmation isn't ill I didn't really even want to do this and I added it before I knew I had to put her in there.  Louie didn't seem to mind she was in the hospital bucket with him and he really stayed closer to the bottom and she stayed closer to the top, both of them leaving one another alone.  Then today I tried to put the dalmation back in the 10 gallon, immediately the orange platy attacked her.  I took her back out and put her back in the 3.25 gallon.  Then later today I looked in the hospital bucket to check on the mollies and there are molly fry from the dalmation!  So I ran out and bought a 55 gallon tank, moved my two orandas into it, moved the 4 platies, 2 white clouds and ADF to the 16 gallon BiOrb, moved the cremesicle and the dalmation mollies to the 10 gallon so that the fry could be alone in the 3.25 gallon bucket.  I picked out 7 dead fry and there are 4 alive.  Some of them looked like they had almost like burst open.  I was afraid something I put in that bucket (medication) might have killed the fry and I felt awful.  So my questions are: is it okay to leave the cremesicle and the dalamation together?  He is still recovering and I don't want to OD the dalmation on meds but they don't seem to be bothering each other.  And is she going to have more babies?  How do I care for the four live fry?  I have always only had goldfish and have no clue.  Thanks for helping me, April

Answer
Hi April;

It's okay that both fish are getting medicine. There isn't anything else you can do right now. The medicine isn't what caused the death of the newborn babies anyway. What probably happened was the babies were born too early from the stress of being bullied and having to be moved to save her life. They probably still had yolk sacs attached and it does kind of look like they are 'burst open'. Sometimes the mother has more than one litter of two different ages inside so the more mature are the ones who lived. It's hard to say if there will be more. Just watch and see so you can net them out of she does have more.

The babies are pretty easy to care for. Just keep changing water frequently and give them crumbled up fish food 4 times a day. Frozen baby brine shrimp is a great addition to their diet too. They will grow faster the more often you change water and feed small feedings every day. Once they grow too big to be eaten by the other fish you can put them with the parents.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins