# Is my balloon dalmatian molly gasping at the surface?



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

Hi. My dalmatian balloon molly appears to swim to the top and when she gets there, she "chews" on the surface of the water and spits out bubbles. Is that what is known as gasping on the surface? If not, what is it?


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

Im not a expert on this so im not sure. but a good place to look if you don't get a answer on here is aquaria central.com.
Good luck


----------



## rickey (Jul 7, 2013)

IanHulett said:


> Hi. My dalmatian balloon molly appears to swim to the top and when she gets there, she "chews" on the surface of the water and spits out bubbles. Is that what is known as gasping on the surface? If not, what is it?


It's piping or gasping. Now you need to figure out why, when a fish is piping something is wrong.

R


----------



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

I think it may be Ich. Lady twists and turns like she's trying to get something to let go of her which brings me to my next question. If it is Ich, I've heard that you can kill it by warming up the temperature to 82-84F... in Tropical fish of course, *NOT GOLDFISH*. So far, my light fixture (because it is incandescent) is heating up the water to 81 degrees. I've had it on all night (mainly because I was too tired to turn it off :lol. 

Should I leave the light fixture on until the temperatures reach 82? If so, once the temps get there, how long should I leave the lights on before I restart the light cycle process?

I want that dang parasite to *DIE*! I refuse to lose another fish.


----------



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

This is bad! Lady is vibrating and I saw orange-ish yellow dots on her. She's a black and white Dalmatian molly. She isn't supposed to have any orange on her. What's going on? I'm going to quarantine her. I don't think this is Ich since Ich is white.


----------



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

I think I should relax because I've read somewhere that it means she's gone "preggo." So I put her in a breeder box. Like I said, she's vibrating, has orange dots all over her and she twists and turns. And can someone confirm what I've read? Does this mean she's pregnant?


----------



## rickey (Jul 7, 2013)

Sounds like Molly Disease, (Livebearer Shimmies) to me
R


----------



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

Can this disease be cured just by changing the water over the course of several days? 

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/236
This site says "There is no treatment for the condition itself but your fish are likely to recover from the shimmies once you remedy the underlying cause of the problem."

I've been fighting desperately to keep those spikes under control since then, but I'm getting the upper hand which is good news. I guess I've added Lady and Lemon with too soon time between because evidently my bacteria colony is struggling to keep the ammonia down.

And about a day or so after I added her, I had the LFS check the water and there was a horrible ammonia, nitrite and nitrate spike. That's when I did a 90% water change. Umm... problem solved? If not, can you give me a list of possible causes? Thanks a bunch.


----------



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

And also, is it contagious or can I put Lady back in the tank?


----------



## rickey (Jul 7, 2013)

It's a water quality issue, fix the water, fix the shimmies.

R


----------



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

Okay. I'm going to do 10% water changes every day for about 2 weeks and see what happens. Also, every time Lady decides to go vertical, Lemon(my fancy guppy) nips at Lady's mouth like they're kissing. Is he just being a pesky bully?

It's funny (not HAHA) though because Lemon only attacks Lady when she goes vertical.


----------



## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

I think Lady will be okay. She still eats like a pig. :lol:


----------

