My poor Molly needs some help! It started about 10 days ago, she was towards the end of her pregnancy when she started acting a little “off”. She was hiding away from the other fish but seemed to start struggling to swim a bit but was able to stay near the bottom of the tank. I figured this was just due to her pregnancy and she was having a tough go of it because she was towards the end of her pregnancy and she was BIG. This uncomfortable swimming continued for a couple of days and I eventually woke up to about 30-35 baby fry!! Yipppeee!! However, post pregnancy mom was now at the top of the tank kinda just bobbing about. Her tail kinda drags and she doesn’t seem to use her back tail anymore. When she tries to swim down she gets about 3-4 inches down but can’t go any further and bobs back up to the top. Like a good tank dad I hit the forums and came to the conclusion that it may be swim bladder. So I give her an epsom salt bath, she goes on a fast, I try to feed her peas (she never ate them though) I go through the seven day process for both API’s Melafix and Pimafix. Followed everything to the letter of the law but to no avail as she is still struggling to swim. She has had a healthy appetite pre and post fast and poops well.
Tank is 20 gallons and is fully cycled. Runs on a HOB filter as well as a sponge filter. There are 3 other Molly fish in the tank as well as some snails, 3 albino Corydoras, and a few shrimp to help as my clean up crew.
pH - 6.8
Nitrates - 0ppm (I do regular water changes but did not do water changes while using the Melafix and Pimafix)
Hardness - 60ppm (wouldn’t mind getting some tips on how to increase this as well)
Nitrite - 0ppm
Ammonia - 0ppm
KH/Buffer - 80ppm
Water Temperature - 80
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated! Hope I can turn her life around.
