sick molly?

[gcems304]

Our female dalmation molly had babies a week ago this Thursday....and we noticed a couple of days ago that she had stopped swimming around and that she was hiding from the others. So we put her in a breeders net cause we noticed the male would bite at her and she didnt even try to get away from him. She has been the net for 3 days now and she acts like her back or her tail is broke. I notice its not moving. We have had our 55 gal. set up for about a month now, and we lost another female dalmation molly a week after we set the tank up and she acted the same way...just like her back was broke. They came from different pet shops. Is it something that happens after birthing or something the males have done? Do we need to do something or keep her in the net and watch her careful?

55 gal. aquarium
1 female molly
1 male molly
1 ? molly
1 rainbow shark
1 algae eate
2 tiger danios
6 molly babies

We are planning on getting more fish but we want to let the babies get bigger and see how the momma does first? Or can we go ahead and get more fish?

We need all the advice we can get. Also, the water is at 78.

[solar-ton]

it was probally the stress of birth or soemthing else like a fracture in her spine

[gcems304]

do you have any suggestions?

[gcems304]

my molly passed away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lydia]

I'm sorry! I don't know what it could be but it sounds like maybe it's some kind of disease or maybe a lack of something....I'm not sure. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will be able to help you though. If TheOldSalt doesn't see this thread maybe you could PM him to ask him about it because he knows a lot about diseases and such,

Solar-ton: how do you know that? Have you heard of that happening or read about it on some reputable site? Because I have never heard of something like that happening.

[fishboy]

possiblely a weak or bent spial colem due to to much interbreeding. It's common in livebearers. Watch them close before you buy them for this behavior

[peanut_dimples]

your molly might depend........i know there is a genetic defect but did you notice that they had a curved spine prior to birthing . if not there was something i had read about not having the proper lighting in the tank or with the lights on..another thing is that from my mollies during and after giving birth the male is trying to mate again. and if that is the case then even trying to hide is pretty much impossible for the female she then basically gives in (stops running away and gets thrown around (figure of speech)and gets stress and damaged in the process. i have had acouple that have died through this course. another that i had was that i to left my molly in a net but they need to be release sooner than 3 days. i put my livebirth fish in the net at time of birthing and either move her or babies out and leave her only a couple of hours to recoupe from birthing. otherwise she get extremely stressed and panics and they die........this is my experience with mine.

[leveldrummer]

your tank seems very new, you said it was only set up for a month, i was wondering if you new about cycling and waterchanges? there could be alot of ammonia or something in the tank, could be causing this behavior.

[Cichlid Man]

Level drummer is right. It's only been setup a month? That's the time when nitrites usually peak. Test all the water parameters and water change accordingly.

[lotsoffish]

I have seen this condition in molly's many times. They seem to be dragging their tail around behind them and tire very quickly dying within about 3-5 days later. In my opinion molly's are not a beginners live bearer, in fact they can be very problematic to maintain over a long period of time. I believe the tail dragging problem is a symptom of other problems. Here are some important observations on molly's. They like a warm tank 78-84. They like hard, alkaline water. Males tend to hound females and can easily run them to death therefore 3 or 4 females should be kept with each male. It is also very difficult to keep two males together for more than short periods of time.

Perhaps the most important aspect of keeping mollies healthy long term is diet. You can NOT just feed them once a day. They are grazers and pickers. In their natural habitats they spend almost every waking hour feeding. They are like aquatic cows and must be able to graze on food throughout the day. I feed my mollies literally Lbs of algae wafers everyday and I still do not think I give them enough food to maintain long term weight.

To sum up in my opinion molly's should be kept in large warm tanks, you should be keeping one male to several females and they should be giving lots of water changes to maintain a high ph and to remove the large amounts of waste these fish produce. They also should be able to graze on plants and pellets all day long otherwise they will lose weight and slowly die of malnutrition.