mollies are twisting Home » Forums » 911 !! EMERGENCY Please Help Me!! Replies: 21   Pages: 2   Most recent reply posted by: Barnes&NobleGroupi (Jun 5, 2004 4:03 PM)

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Replies: 21   Pages: 2   [ Go: 1 2 » ]

fred Posts: 4 From: Registered: Nov, 2003 mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 4:39 AM Reply i have a new balloon mollie that has started to twist in my tank. can you give me any idea of what could be the cause?

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 9:42 AM Reply You need to give us more information. How large is the tank? What temperature? What are your tank parameters? How old is the molly? How exactly is it twisting?

Ananda Posts: 7,034 From: Chicagoland Registered: Nov, 2001 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 10:55 AM Reply Do you mean twist, as in "spin like a top"? Or is it some other behavior?

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 12:20 PM Reply Who else is in the tank, as well?

fred Posts: 4 From: Registered: Nov, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 5:42 PM Reply yes. it's a if she can't swim and keeps twisting and twirling to stay afloat in the water

fred Posts: 4 From: Registered: Nov, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 5:50 PM Reply my tank is 120litres. i have 6 balloon mollies and 6 platys. Unsure of the age of the mollie i have only had her for 2 days.

Ananda Posts: 7,034 From: Chicagoland Registered: Nov, 2001 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 6:14 PM Reply That's whirling disease. Get her out of the main tank and into a quarantine tank ASAP; it's caused by a protozoan. If you can, bring her back to the store you got her from and get a refund. I haven't seen a fish recover from this, though the two times I've seen it, I didn't have a good anti-protozoan medication. You could try one in the quarantine tank, but I'm not sure which one to suggest for this.

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 9:51 PM Reply Ananda, is this is protozoan that only attacks livebearers? Or all fish? Are there any early warning signs? How does it eventually kill the fish? I take it its highly contagious - if you discover a fish in your tank has this disease, is there something you can do to ensure the others don't get it? Do you think metrazolidone (ack, sp - Hex-a-mit basically) would help?

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 29, 2003 11:46 PM Reply "Whirling disease" is a myxosporidian parasite, Myxosoma cerebralis. It usually attacks salmonids (trout, char, salmon, whitefish) but has been seen in goldfish, koi, and livebearers (I assume anything is prone, don't really know). As I understand it, this illness is always fatal and completely untreatable. Signs are pretty obvious; the fish constantly swim in circles, kinda in a chasing-my-tail fashion, or swim with their nose down, spinning like a top almost. Pretty rare, but really nasty. I hope this isn't what your molly has, Fred; in any case, as Ananda said - quarantine this fish immediately to prevent spread of this illness. -Sabrina

Ananda Posts: 7,034 From: Chicagoland Registered: Nov, 2001 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 30, 2003 7:30 AM Reply Dang. I was hoping the info that I had (i.e., that there was no effective treatment) was out of date. I've seen this in mollies twice. Both times, the fish would spin like a top until it exhausted itself, then have difficulty moving for a bit. Then it would start spinning again, often bumping into things.

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 30, 2003 9:04 AM Reply So, it sounds like this thing attacks the nervous system. It kind of reminds me of scabies (which is basically the sheep version of mad cow disease) where the sheep think they constantly itch - to the point where they rub all flesh away down to the bone. There is no treatment (its a prion that causes it in the brain) and you must exterminate your entire herd and let the ground be free of sheep for like a decade. So does the fish eventually die from exhaustion you think? Does it eat anymore while it starts spinning?

vintage_fish Posts: 7,904 From: South Side of the Sky Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 30, 2003 11:59 AM Reply > So, it sounds like this thing attacks the nervous > system. Actually, the parasites infect the cartilidge of the skull and the tissues around the inner ear. > So does the fish eventually die from exhaustion you > think? I'm pretty sure it's the infection that kills 'em.

Prometheus Posts: 3,052 From: Iowa Registered: Mar, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 30, 2003 12:47 PM Reply ah, that makes sense about it attacking the inner ear, would would throw off its sense of balance.

jkj454 Posts: 4,290 From: Aurora, IL Registered: Feb, 2003 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 30, 2003 1:40 PM Reply Just FYI, a severly injured fin can cause the same effect - it's like trying to paddle a canoe only on one side! That's what happened to my poor little orange/yellow molly, and I know it was an injury caused from the powerhead and then my ineptitude in sucking her up in through the water change siphon. I had to put her down, it was unbearable to watch. -JKJ

sallenmd Posts: 2,366 From: Oegon, WI Registered: Dec, 2002 Re: mollies are twisting Posted: Nov 30, 2003 5:07 PM Reply >It kind of reminds me of scabies (which is > basically the sheep version of mad cow disease) You mean Scrapie. Scabies is caused by a mite (Sarcoptes scabiei) that infests the skin. Very common in children, and very itchy.

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