Ihave 7 black baby mollies. They have some spots on their sides is this normal?

Question

They are approximately one inch long,they are very active. They have been in a one gallon tank for 5 weeks now.I do frequent water changes.They look healthy. Should I
be worried?

Answer 1

Your Mollies most likely have white spot parasites---also known commonly as "ICK" these parasites are the most common illness a fish can experience, thankfully though, it can be cured rather easily...

The best treatment method is first isolating the sick mollies .But I highly doubt you have a spare "hospital tank" most fishkeepers don't. But in your case you should do a good water change, about 30% or so. Raise the water temperature to at least 80 F...which speeds up the parasites lifecycle and makes treatment easier (this will make much more sense later...) and you should, as soon as you can, buy a medicine specifically for Parasites like Ick. Quickcure is a common medicine but the doses must be cut in half for sensitive fish like tetras. There are many Ick meds available in fishstores and most of them work great for treatment. The main thing is catching the parasite's lifecycle when they are most vunerable to meds.

Now I'll explain the Ick parasite's lifecycle in a simple way....
Ick parasites are said to be present in your water at all times, (this could be compared to how germs and viruses are everywhere people are--yuck!) But it is when a fish is stressed badly to the point of weakening the fish's normally healthy immune system therefor allowing Ick Parasites to attack. These parasites attach themselves to the fish, just under the skin and develop the protective cysts that no medication known can penetrate--these are the white spots you are seeing. They live this way for a good while until they are ready to break out and multiply. This is when the spots dissapear and you think your fish is over it. But in reality, the parasites are in the gravel and on the bottom now multiplying by the thousands. And soon, the many thousands of parasites will be free swimming in search of a host to live on, THIS is when your medicine will be able to kill off the parasites. This is the most important stage, when the parasites are vunerable. Which is why you MUST continue the medicine treatment for at least 2 weeks even if the label says not to. This insures you kill off every little parasite still swimming in the water. Ick can attack the fish's gills and cause breathing difficulty if action isn't taken as soon as possible. The reason you raise the water temperature to at least 80 degrees is to speed up the lifecycle, the parasites breed faster and go through all their life "stages" much faster which ends up in the meds working sooner and your fish less stressed by the medicine. Which by the way, I should mention, ANY medicine is stressful for fish, and some meds even destroy the nitrifying bacteria colonies which are so important to have in all aquariums---this leading to horrible water quality. There is a brand, that claims to not upset the biological system of your aquarium and that brand is Mardel. You should be able to find their brand of Ick and parasite medicine at your fish shop.

Try to do a water change every 3 days or so which not only helps remove excess parasites in the water, but also of course, keeps your fish feeling better with freshwater in their tank. Oh yes, and aquarium or Rock salt is said to help lessen the amount of stress a fish is in especially when plagued with an illness... It would be beneficial to add some aquarium salt according to the directions to your aquarium along with the Ick medicine. Salt can also get rid of parasites like Ick.

I hope this helps!!! There is a 99% chance of your fish surviving Ick parasites, with proper treatment, they should be healthy in 2 weeks or less.

Answer 2

ihave 7 black baby mollies spots sides normal

Answer 3

It's probably nothing more than minor coloration variations showing up.

That said, it's always possible it's some type of parasite or other disease and without much more info about the spots it would be impossible to know for sure what the problem might be.

If they look and act healthy, swim normally, and eat normally it's probably nothing at all to worry about.

MM

Answer 4

It could be ick (not sure of the spelling) I'm not sure if you know what that is. It will look like little White spots that are attached to the fish. Like if you felt them they would be bumpy. You can go to the store and buy stuff to get rid of it. If that's what it is. If you know some one near you that knows what it looks like. Just have them over to take a look.

Answer 5

Mollies get ich all the time. Seems like they get it easier than any other fish but its pretty easy to cure. Just buy a product called MELAFIX and add it to the water as directed and they should recover just fine.

Answer 6

like mm said, it could just be color variation.

you could always just add aquarium salt to the water. mollies appreciate aquarium salt :P and the change in salinity would get rid of ick if it is ick. its a win-win situation

Answer 7

Well i have fish when they have spots after a while they die so i trhink there sick try giving them medicine or throw away the ones that are infected they will infect the others

Answer 8

Could be Ick