Lethargic/Sick or Pregnant Cremecicle Molly

[daddysgrl]

Hello,
I have one cremecicle molly and she was pregnant and gave birth a few weeks ago, and I don't know what is up with her now. She is very listless, staying along the bottom and just staying on the gravel and at times twitching. She has a red dot on her right side and another two on her left side (one larger in the center of the fish, and a spot near the tail). I don't know if she is sick or pregnant. I didn't see her give birth last time, I just found all of the babies underneath an aquarium decoration. If she is sick, does anyone know how to treat it. She is in a tank with one black molly, 2 neon tetras, one zebra danio, and her babies (6) separated into a separate floating box. What could it be? I have never seen any aggression between the tank mates either.

[Zoe]

Can you give us some more info about your tank?
What size is it?
How long have you had it?
How often do you do water changes?
What are your ammonia, nitritate/nitrite levels?
What are your temps and pH?

Zoe

[daddysgrl]

I have a 16 gallon bow front tank.
I bought the setup about 2 months ago and allowed it to run (w/o fish) for about 1.5 wks
I do water changes every 1.5-2wks
Ammonia level: 0 -.25ppm, closer to 0 color though
Nitrite/Nitrate level: 0ppm
Temp: 78-80F
pH: Between 7.2-7.6

And correction, I have two black mollies.

I just did all of these tests within the past half hour.

The cremecicle molly seems to be getting worse. She is just sorda floating around with the currents from the filter, but every now and again gets a burst of energy and begins swimming around.

[Sable]

Do you have separate nitrite and nitrate tests, or is that a joint test? If so, go out and buy two separate tests, one each for nitrite and nitrate.

[daddysgrl]

It is just a nitrite test. I will try my best to go to the store and get the nitrate test. But do you know what it could be before I go and buy the test kit, because she might be dead by morning, she doesn't look well... I have ich treatment and also fungus treatment. Would either of those work?

[Sable]

Actually, to be completely honest, if it's not an ammonia, nitrite or nitrate problem, I don't know what it could be.

High nitrate levels can sometimes cause irritation and red spots.

Is there any chance that there are sharp objects in your tank that the affected molly could have banged herself on?

[daddysgrl]

I found her dead this morning, unfortunately. I checked the tank and made sure that there were not any sharp objects. There was not any aggression among the fish. I still don't know what it could have been. The red dots seemed to swell a bit too. Possibly parasites? I took pictures before I flushed her but I can't find the cord to transfer them to my computer. As soon as I find it, I will post pictures if needed. Should I treat the rest of the tank, since her babies along with the rest of the fish are in there?

[Sable]

The first thing to do is a massive water change. I'd suggest that you take out about 40% of the water and replace it with conditioned, similar-temperature water.

Pictures would be quite helpful. I don't think you have a problem with parasites, but a look at the pictures will help me in a diagnosis.

[Ringo]

Did the red spots appear to be on the scales, or did they look like as if they were under the skin/scales?

[Puffer Pita]

Just an fyi for future reference when setting up a new tank, running a tank empty for any length of time doesn't do anything. It needs to cycle, which means build up the bacteria needed for the nitrogen cycle. I'd highly recommend reading up on the nitrogen cycle and how to do a fishless cycle. Then you'll be much less likely to have problems.