I have a black molly, and she has white spots growing on her.... is she sick?

Question

I've had her for about three weeks, and suddenly these little white spots have appeared on her. Will my other fish get sick? I have 2 mollies (including the sick one), 2 tetras, 2 glassfish, one gourami, 1 little frog and 1 algae eater. I put those drops in the water to cure 'ick'. will that take care of it?

Answer 1

Odds are very high your molly has ich. If the spots are salt-like then it's almost certainly ich. If they are fuzzy or cottony looking, then they are something else entirely either a fungus or a bacterial infection. Ich is a parasite that can infest freshwater fishes and is very common. You should be careful using the drops as they may be rough on the frog or the algae eater, depending on the type of algae eater you have.

Yes, it is very probable that your other fish will get sick or would without treatment. Hopefully the treatment will prevent the ich from spreading to the other fish in any significant numbers.

I would suggest you raise the temperature in the tank to 86-88F to speed the cure and certainly continue with your treatment method. Ich can take some time to cure and you should plan on treating it for at least 7 days past the time you see the last white spot on any fish.

I would not suggest you add salt to the tank during the treatment process. While salt combined with heat is a great ich treatment on it's own, you shouldn't combine it with other medications. If this method doesn't clear the ich within 2 weeks, then you should consider using a salt & heat method of treatment.

MM

Answer 2

Yes you've got ick. It's a good thing that you've already begun to take care of it because ick kills quickly. If you've already medicated, you should be fine. You really never know with ick though so watch you fish. Never do any water change over 30% while you think you are helping your fish you are actually stressing them out and possibly making it worse. Also don't forget to remove your carbon! the carbon will remove the medication from your water and your fish will not get any better.

You should expect your other fish to get ick also, since ick is a paricite that builds up over time. do the full treatment--don't just wait to see the spots go away. In about a month from their cure date you should do another treatment of the tank, just to make sure that they are all dead.

i also recommend cleaning all equipment which went into your tank. This includes getting new filter material and replacing any air hosing, because those little buggers are everywhere. Usually i go as far as soaking the filter and nets exc. in hot water.

Answer 3

Sounds like ich. Ich is present in all aquariums. Most fish are healthy enough not to get it. The way to good fish health is water changes, 20-25% per week.
The problem with most medications to treat ich will not go well with scaleless fish, like your algae eater. The best way to treat ich is to raise the temperature slowly to 85, no more than 1 degree per hour. If you didn't have the algae eater, I'd say add 1 rounded tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons. The molly being a brackish fish would really benefit from this.
In this case, I'd only add 1 rounded teaspoon per 5 gallons. This should bother the algae eater, at at least some salt is better than none at all.
You have to remove the carbon from your filter, or it will filter any medication out (other than salt). If you can get the molly into a quarantine tank, you can treat it aggressively, assuming it hasn't spread to other fish. I'd work on improving the water quality immediately, to help prevent the spread.

Answer 4

Sounds like a fungus. There are meds at your local aquarium shop for such thing, but do a google search on fish illness, here is one I found that may help. There were no pics, but a good description of some ailments that may help you.=

Answer 5

your Fish have ICK find a Cure at the pet shop and move the fish to a different tank

Answer 6

This is most likely the fish fungus called "ick" There is a chemical you can buy at the pet store used to treat this. Yes, it can kill all the fish in your aquarium, and should be treated agressively

Answer 7

How big are the spots? If there salt sized or a tiny tiny bit bigger it will cure it. If not use fungal medication. I recommend to medicate the recommended dosage to the whole tank then medicate the fish that are still sick separately. *do not over dose. This disease is contagious.

Answer 8

it sounds like ich and you said that you treated them so i would wait for a week and see how it does if it doesnt clear up then go to your local pet store and they can recommend something that will cure them....if of course it isnt ick

Answer 9

It probably is ich. You should have isolated her so the others dont get it then put the drops in, but its too late now.
Hope this helps! :-)

Lilyoung

Answer 10

she needs parasite tablets