Black Molly is not well!!!!
- Thread starter rickdupin
- Start date
. Let's hope a pic of the molly will help solve the mystery.Here's an update!!! About 6:00 p.m. last night the black molly was swimming vertical, like it couldn't get control of itself. I figured that was the beginning of the end. As I was watching it, I noticed tiny white spots on his stomach and along his gills. I went back through all the posts I could find, and figured it might be ich. So, being desperate, (and maybe not too bright), I started to do the salt treatment. Throughout the night, I added salt and water to the system to bring it up to 2 tsp per gallon. I also brought the heat up gradually to about 80 F. As of 5:40 this morning my black molly was swimming around normally, and even ate a little!! Now, I know I'm not out of the woods, but is this a good sign, or sign of impending doom? Also, do I need to do this for just 7 days or should I do it longer? Again, I am so grateful for all the help!!!!!!!
If the problem was ich on the molly then indeed you have done the right thing. I would continue for about a week with good water changes too, watch out for signs like flashing. Where the fish rubs against decor as thats a sign theres ich there even if you cant see it. I found that treating with maracyn and maracyn 2 were what it took in my molly. But i always try to not treat with chemicals if i can. Also keep an eye on the temp as salt can effect that. I had no end of problems with my black molly in the begining, he was suffering with ich also. As you have, i also didnt realise that they were such delicate fish.
Its perfectly normal for only one fish to be effected, as CAE's are just downright hard lol. I had one jump out of the tank without being noticed, found him on the floor some time later. He was still breathing so i thought it was probably a hopeless cause but dropped him back into the tank. He was off swimming like he had never been out of water.
As far as never getting a pleco, as a pleco fan i have to disagree. There are so many plecos available on the market and some dont even get over 6 inches like the bristle nosed pleco. Then there are the 20" monsters like the commons and sail fins.
Its perfectly normal for only one fish to be effected, as CAE's are just downright hard lol. I had one jump out of the tank without being noticed, found him on the floor some time later. He was still breathing so i thought it was probably a hopeless cause but dropped him back into the tank. He was off swimming like he had never been out of water.
As far as never getting a pleco, as a pleco fan i have to disagree. There are so many plecos available on the market and some dont even get over 6 inches like the bristle nosed pleco. Then there are the 20" monsters like the commons and sail fins.
I agree with that for many issues, but not for ich. Because ich is free-swimming for part of its life-cycle, it is possible that your entire tank is infected. I suggest taking a GOOD look at all the fish in your 55, and check for spots on them as well.
The ich parasite typically spends about 4 days attached to a fish. It then falls off the fish and settles somewhere in the substrate, where it encapsulates itself and starts to reproduce itself, dividing into hundreds of new parasites. In about 24 hours, these hundreds of new parasites then hatch and enter their free-swimming state, looking for a new fish host, and the cycle begins again.
So you can see how, if just one or two ich cysts fell off your molly before you moved her to the 10g, then soon you'll have thousands of free swimming ich hatching in your 55.
Not to scare you--ich is 100% treatable. I'd just advise treating the main tank, too. And continue treatment for at least 3 days after the last spot on the fish is gone, because the ich are only vulnerable in their free-swimming state.
only my black molly was affected when he got ich. I dont know why, but i did treat the whole tank to kill off any residule free floating ich in there. No one else got it. Like at the moment one of my bala sharks has ich, no one else in the tank does.
I looked over all the fish and don't see any signs on any others, but will treat the 55 as well. Better safe than sorry! Thanks, again!! I'll keep ya posted!
Most mollies do best with high TDS (total disolved solids) and 78~84 temp... they actually like it pretty warm.
Adding salt would have raised the TDS and made him happy. You don't say what you GH and KH... but for mollies the higher the better.
Here is a pretty good link on mollies and what makes them thrive... I keep all mine in a lightly brackish tank. (SG 1.003)
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Adding salt would have raised the TDS and made him happy. You don't say what you GH and KH... but for mollies the higher the better.
Here is a pretty good link on mollies and what makes them thrive... I keep all mine in a lightly brackish tank. (SG 1.003)
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Quick update!!! I trnasferred both of my Mollies into the 10 and added 15 tsp of salt gradually!!! They are in seventh heaven!!! Thanks so much for helping me save my Mollies!!!!
Just to be sure, you aren't adding the salt directly to the water are you? It's a good idea to dissolve it in water before adding it. Once added it doesn't leave unless you do a water change, so you only need to add more when you change the water. Not sure if you were already aware since no one has mentioned these things yet in this thread.
