“Razor Belly” or wasting disease in Cyprinodontiformes

[Doctorgori]

Not a back door brag but for context: I got my first mollies in 1967and have kept SW since 77, I’ve also maintained and/or bred probably close to 100 types of fish in this order.
Yet for all the message boards I’ve visited, not one has definetivley solved why this affliction seems to have a high occurrence in this order. Mollies seem especially prone.
I’ve come here to this forum basically because of the local expertise… If anyone can give me a cause and cure, it would be appreciated..
I got nothing….
( Pardon the out of focus shot through dirty glass, but you get the picture)

here are the params, the Trident is shot, I got the new one already however and will post the other params but probably irrelevant

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Not a back door brag but for context: I got my first mollies in 1967and have kept SW since 77, I’ve also maintained and/or bred probably close to 100 types of fish in this order.
Yet for all the message boards I’ve visited, not one has definetivley solved why this affliction seems to have a high occurrence in this order. Mollies seem especially prone.
I’ve come here to this forum basically because of the local expertise… If anyone can give me a cause and cure, it would be appreciated..
I got nothing….
( Pardon the out of focus shot through dirty glass, but you get the picture)

here are the params, the Trident is shot, I got the new one already however and will post the other params but probably irrelevant

Short term issues with mollies in typical home aquariums is from keeping them in low alkalinity water and not feeding them enough vegetable matter.
Wild caught fish may have issues with internal parasites, but not in this case.
In your case, those issues aren’t the cause, and if the problem occurs in long term captives, emaciation is often caused by chronic mycobacterium infection.

 

[Doctorgori]

@Jay Hemdal
respectful of your time and experience: I don’t want to draw you into a long back n forth, but have you ever cured this before and why is it this seems to be prevalent in Livebearers and killifish …
This thread can die with your reply ?

Thanks Ken

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@Jay Hemdal
respectful of your time and experience: I don’t want to draw you into a long back n forth, but have you ever cured this before and why is it this seems to be prevalent in Livebearers and killifish …
This thread can die with your reply ?

Thanks Ken

There is no real treatment for Mycobacterial infections - the bacteria that causes this is found in virtually every aquarium, but fish can usually fight it off. It is a disease usually seen in older fish - in fact, most fish that die from "old age" have actually had Myco infections. I can't tell you for sure if that is the case here, but it is common in poecilids like mollies, and it does transcend between freshwater and marine tanks (since both marine and freshwater fish have the same blood salinity, and this is an internal infection).

 

[Doctorgori]

Thank you

 

[Doctorgori]

I went ahead and gave them a second chance…This vendor seems to believe this is some sort “shipping stress”… Im going to email him and reference this thread for help/info …
Also Im going to do another post on the VERY gray area in “Live arrival guarantee” which IMO/IME is BS when you ship impaired specimens with a life expectancy > 24hr but < 72hrs , which these specimens fit

If ANYONE has experience with livebearers or killifish then please chime in…the following pictures a very typical of a condition you see in LFS mollies and swordtails and sometimes guppies…

I have bred literally dozens of species of wild type livebearers, killifish and related species and have seenthis condition before…I have personally NEVER cured it…

Again, if you are familiar or know a cure, please chime in…
@Jay Hemdal here is better view for perhaps to confirm or adjust your diagnosis/prognosis (IME I give em 7 days MAX!)

(Pardon the poor quality pics) ..these are saltwater tolerant LImias

 

[Reefing102]

I have no clue what I’m looking at/for, but I’ve always struggled with live bearers in my few tanks at home. Those, to me, look like normal fish that I’d buy from the LFS (except the color). So if you’re able to point out what I should actually be looking for, I’d appreciate it!