Should meds be added after a fish hurts itself?

[MollyMomma]

I have a 20g Molly tank. It's almost 2 years running now. Very rarely do I see any illness in it. 

20 gallons, Freshwater planted

Nitrate: 25ppm

Nitrite: 0

GH: 150ppm

Kh: 60-80ppm

PH: 7.2

Chlorine: 0

Temp 78°-80°

I just did my routine WC. It's comprised of 1 small BN, 2 adult female mollies & about a dozen of their fry. 

I believe she scraped her head inside a piece of cholla wood. She keeps rubbing it against the heater. And now for some strange reason the fry are picking at it? It looks like an abrasion, the scales are lifted, I'm concerned about further infection & was wondering if I should add salt or meds?

[Fish Folk]

I’d put her in a dimly lit quarantine tank. Might be an abrasion… maybe something else. If an abrasion, time and mild antibiotics might help.

[MollyMomma]

On 2/12/2022 at 5:13 PM, Fish Folk said:

I’d put her in a dimly lit quarantine tank. Might be an abrasion… maybe something else. If an abrasion, time and mild antibiotics might help.

Ugh im a little tight on tank space. I have a 15g QT with a sickly pleco in. I have a 5g QT for new fish but it's also occupied, I could maybe find a container but all my spare heaters are quite large.

[Fish Folk]

On 2/12/2022 at 5:58 PM, MollyMomma said:

Ugh im a little tight on tank space. I have a 15g QT with a sickly pleco in. I have a 5g QT for new fish but it's also occupied, I could maybe find a container but all my spare heaters are quite large.

Hmm… I do understand. My QT is currently breeding Endlers 😅

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

What you can do is find a suitable workable container and put water from their tank into the container for treatment, the temp will of course slowly go down, add an airstone or small filter if you have one. As far as heater, do you have a warm room? I run tanks with no heaters and they maintain 75-77 degrees because the room they are in is warm. 

I see mollies can tolerate temps as low as 71 I think that can easily be maintained in a container....also bacteria which is a concern with an injured fish doesn't grow quite as well and will be easier to treat.

Edited February 12, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[MollyMomma]

On 2/12/2022 at 6:42 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

What you can do is find a suitable workable container and put water from their tank into the container for treatment, the temp will of course slowly go down, add an airstone or small filter if you have one. As far as heater, do you have a warm room? I run tanks with no heaters and they maintain 75-77 degrees because the room they are in is warm. 

I see mollies can tolerate temps as low as 71 I think that can easily be maintained in a container....also bacteria which is a concern with an injured fish doesn't grow quite as well and will be easier to treat.

I've got so many spare parts & pieces kicking around, I will dig through the drawers and see what I can find.  

It's a finished basement/living room where they are. I spend a lot of time down here & keep the thermostat at 71°, but I'm not sure how warm the water would stay without a heater. In the summer it would be okay but it's winter & chilly here right now.

I wish I could float a container in the tank for her, but I think the 20g is too small.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Well, if said container (like a specimen container) was only as big as a breeder box it's possible. Doesn't look pretty but could work. Can you bring infected fish upstairs? Is it warmer there?

[MollyMomma]

On 2/12/2022 at 6:56 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Well, if said container (like a specimen container) was only as big as a breeder box it's possible. Doesn't look pretty but could work. Can you bring infected fish upstairs? Is it warmer there?

It stays about 70° upstairs. I'm gonna go look around & see if I can find a decent container & a small heater. I had a mini one but it stopped working. My main tank is 29g so they all are long heaters.

I may just move the fish out of the 5g & use that tank since its all set up, cycled, heater lights. It's full of plants, I purchased a couple Otto's a while back they've been in QT in there; before adding to the 29g.

[MollyMomma]

Would a tupperware container be okay? I have some I keep down here just for sponges & airline pieces. All spare heaters are too large. I added a little salt to the tank. 

A couple days ago, after she wiggled out of the cholla wood (it's a thin skinny piece) her head looked raw, white, red, and scales lifted where she hit it. Now her head has a long flat white area, no fuzziness to it, could it be just healing up on it's own?

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Tupperware would work, as long as she can't jump out of it. You could use the lid and make sure it stays cracked with the airlines. 

You had said the other fish were picking at it- I'd be wary of that as they could make it worse. I would isolate and monitor if I were in similar shoes. I would consider adding salt to stave off bacterial and help healing. HOWEVER if you think the temp would be bad for them you could just monitor the situation- really only you know what your tank/fish is telling you so go with your gut. 

I can say when you get a chance pick up a floating breeder box- they come in handy- in this case you could isolate this little one but they'd be in the tank. 

Edited February 13, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[MollyMomma]

On 2/13/2022 at 2:04 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Tupperware would work, as long as she can't jump out of it. You could use the lid and make sure it stays cracked with the airlines. 

You had said the other fish were picking at it- I'd be wary of that as they could make it worse. I would isolate and monitor if I were in similar shoes. I would consider adding salt to stave off bacterial and help healing. HOWEVER if you think the temp would be bad for them you could just monitor the situation- really only you know what your tank/fish is telling you so go with your gut. 

I can say when you get a chance pick up a floating breeder box- they come in handy- in this case you could isolate this little one but they'd be in the tank. 

Thank you for the advice! I do have a mesh breeder box that suction cups in the tank, but after 2 years of molly breeding, I gave up on saving them ALL. 

I went to Walmart tonight & purchased a temporary holding container, I think it's 1 or 1.5 gallons. & a small 15W heater, after just reading the pamphlet it says the heater never turns off.

So I filled the container with Dechlor. Water. I'm going to do a trial run tonight with no fish in it, see where the temperature sits. It's in a warm spot, if the water stays warm then tomorrow morning I'm going to move her over, & add some salt.

The fry are picking at her poor head, and she almost "bows" down and just let's then do it! She does not try to push them away! 

Inside the 20g is an Aqua clear hob 50 & an Aquarium coop nano sponge filter, with the never clog airstone in it, can I remove the old dirty air stone & use it as a temporary filter? I'm wondering if there's enough BB on it to run a small holding bin with one fish. I think its too small to fit the entire sponge filter.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm thinking that's a good idea (airstone). Yes do be careful with that heater in such a small tank, I'm glad you are testing it. I've sadly cooked QT fish with one like that. I'd almost rather them be reasonably cold than deal with that again- plus again, bacterial infection is what we want to avoid, warmer water grows bacteria better. If you have any floating plants or plants that have new growth you can trim and put that in there with her too to help with the BB. Or a piece of wood or decor. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[MollyMomma]

It's staying at a steady 68° I checked it all throughout the day.  It doesn't feel cold to the touch, but she's used to 10° warmer, I found someone to take a bunch of the fry Tuesday. (About 4 times per year I bring in the fry to a LFS) so hopefully being isolated & the salt will help, oh and yes I own a ton of floating plants! Thank you guys for all the help & info. I will post an update if she gets better or worse, this forum is great!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Awesome, I'd say you could put some of the tank water over there to get it close to what she's used to before you move her. I know that those preset heaters typically need to stay submerged as they have some sort of trigger that will break if brought out of the water (as a safety measure). So take a cup of the QT water out with the heater safely submerged then dump the QT water, put in her tank's water, then replace the heater (keeping submerged) she'll only have to deal with a slow temp change. 10 degrees is quite a difference I agree, but if it's done slowly she shouldn't be shocked. 

Edited February 15, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[MollyMomma]

Well good news, my mother in law (who I introduced into fish keeping a few years ago) Popped by today, she witnessed what I was dealing with & offered to take the molly home & treat her in her spare tank. Because I'm already fighting something else in my 15g, long story, but anyways;

Case closed, 

Thank you all for the help!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Well at the very least you have a plan formed for other emergencies!

[MJo]

I know this is late! I hope you’re having luck with your baby.

I got some 72 hour heat packs off Amazon for emergencies. Wrap them and your QT tank in a nice warm wool blanket. You’re probly going to want dim light anyway.

[MollyMomma]

On 2/24/2022 at 12:56 PM, MJo said:

I know this is late! I hope you’re having luck with your baby.

I got some 72 hour heat packs off Amazon for emergencies. Wrap them and your QT tank in a nice warm wool blanket. You’re probly going to want dim light anyway.

Oh it's okay, she's not with me anymore. My mother in law has her now. She said the fish is healing and looks fine, in her own quarantine tank. She said she will add her to the large tank to live out the rest of her days once her head is all healed up. 

[MollyMomma]

It's now been 30 days, all seemed well, yesterday I was doing my normal weekly WC on this tank & noticed at least 2-3 of the fry now also have cloudy eye. So I'm gonna assume it's bacterial ? 

The tank is pretty dark, because it's covered in floaters. Duckweed & frogbit. I removed a lot of it (it reproduces like crazy!) & could now see the fish much more clearly. I guess it was so dark that I didn't notice it.

I just used the search button on the forum & found tons of answers. It seems API fin & Body cure is a popular one to use for cloudy eye? 

It's just mollies in this tank & 1 Female BN pleco for 2 years. The only thing I've changed in the past 6 months was adding a few plants & upgrading to a larger HOB filter. Not quite sure what I did to introduce this disease. Unless it just attacked the injured mother fish first & spread from there.