The Puffer Forum

Hey I'm at my cousin's house right now. He has my old 10 gallon I gave him with a black salfin molly in it. I'm not sure it is a salfin either, it is black and around 4-5 inches though. Just sold to him in an "Assorted Molly Tank". Don't know much about them or how to treat infections. He said the fish was beaten up at the LFS. The back fin looks pretty bad, some of her scales on her left side WERE healing well. We just added salt an hour ago after I told him about it.

I noticed when he was feeder her that she had something on her mouth. It looks sort of like a white zit. Her skin is kind of strange too. The end of her fins and dorsal fin seem like the color has been deteriorating. Like it was peeled off or something. It almost looks clear at the tip. Her back fin is also ripped.

I'm hoping the skin is going to heal and that they are just wounds from too many males with her, right?

Well, petfish.net is telling me that Clean Water and Maracin II will cure the 'Fungus and Bacterial Infection". Are these all signs of Infections? Or could it be Parasitic Infections? We are keeping a close eye on Dolly right now. Going to go to the LFS and get some RO water tomorrow morning and doing a 70% water change. He hasn't done a water change since setting up the tank, even when I told him. And that has been... 2-3 weeks? Hope she'll make it! Any help would be appreciated!

What are the water parameters?

melafix, pimafix, the addition of salt, and pristine water conditions are a good start. If there is no improvement within a week after that I'd start with the maracin II.

Oh sorry about that. We actually don't know the water parameters right now. He goes to Walmart and tests it ever other week. He says he only remembers the pH being around normal city water level. That's like 7.5-7.6 from what I've memorized. I can't get my parents to drive by and get my Master Test Kit because they are out of town.

I'm going to test the water at the real LFS we are going to tomorrow instead of Walmart. Walmart... *Growl*. Any who the tank is not that polluted. He puts this chemical cleaner droplet thing every other week. It's like 1 drop per 2 gallons or something. He changes the filter media well, I suppose. Feel kind of guilty. Should of monitored and helped out with his tank more. Never dealed with a diseased specimen before.

Tank mates are 2 neon tetras. Pretty shy, guess it's because they don't have a shoal or school. Oh and a black mystery snail who sits in the top corner. Molly is active and swims pretty well though, plump too.

Thanks for input and quick reply Phaedrus!

Edit: Nevermind, driftwood is fake.

Water change, water change, water change.
Sounds like fungus and finrot to me.
Give Molly a saltbath immediatly.
Do not know adequate meds as our continents are apart (for the time being)
Am I to understand that she/he in freshwater?

Yes, we're hoping to wake up as early as we can and go straight to the LFS. Salt bath? We added 5 teaspoons of salt to the aquarium earlier, should I add more? A site told me 1 teaspoon per gallon, but seems drastic. We are willing to add more salt tomorrow morning. She is in freshwater WITH a bit of salt now. Dolly, the Molly, had been in freshwater for about 2 and a half weeks. I'm pretty sure she was in freshwater at Walmart too.

Also, there is a 'disease' I found on the Internet. Well, not exactly a disease it says. Black Molly Disease. It just says that Mollies can easily suffer from skin damage and etc. from the LFS... salt added will be helpful. We're adding 2 more teaspoons of salt right now just be sure before actually getting a response from the '1 teaspoon per gallon' thing, since we are doing a 70% change tomorrow.

I just noticed something that my cousin says she has been doing for quite a while now. The molly seems to.. dust off/dig a pit into the sand/gravel. My cousin mixed Flourite with some kind of sand from Walmart, medium-sized grains. Seems like she's made a pit in the front corner of the tank. Is this natural behavior? Is she going to spawn soon? She does seem pretty plump, but I thought it was because of overfeeding.

OH! And also, just noticed that under her (under the belly region) she is all white. Well, actually more of a mixture of white and black. Looks like a thin patch/line from her chin down to her butt. Looks really bad. Well, we are going to sleep. Officially 8 teaspoons of salt in the tank. Again...

10 Gallon
Believe it is a Black Salfin Molly
Tankmakes - 2 Neons, 1 Mystery Snail
Parameters - Unknown

Try to put some pictures up. A visual diagnosis will help. Plumpness you say. That can mean a pregnant female, bloat, and possible dropsy. Do the scales look to protrude like a pinecone if you look from the top?

I would treat with pima/mela fix to help with the fungal issues.

Our mollies are kept in salted water, 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons is the norm, and they do very well.

I'm going to try getting pictures with my cell phone but I'm unsure if I can get a hold of my dad's digital. 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons? I guess that sounds normal. When I had a brackish tank I used 1 teaspoon per gallon with F8. But a salt bath says 1 teaspoon per gallon as well. ??? As for dropsy, I can't really say about her scales. They do look damaged though. But the picture I saw about dropsy look different. The scales on the picture looked as if they were flipped up or.. pruned? The scales on the molly's left side seem to have lost color. Around the bloch of skin is normal dark black, inside is a rather blue-ish color. Sort of looks like shedding so I'm guessing something bit it? Well about 2 hours ago we went to the LFS and got the RO water and some test results.

pH - 7.9
Ammonia - .3ppm (Said this was bad)
Nitrates - 90ppm (WATER CHANGE!!)
Nitrites - .3ppm (LFS said this is bad too)

Oh and temperature is still around 81 degrees. So after seeing those tests everyone in the LFS agreed we had to do a water change. The LFS also didn't have melafix! So they recommended Tetracycline tablets? Came home, 1 neon dead. Filter was clogged with sand/moss. Fixed up, buried neon, and started the water change. After it was all cleaned up we added the water and salt. 4 teaspoons of salt in the aquarium right now, hope that's not too much. Just wondering though, what could of killed the neon? Was it the salt? Oh and we also added a single tablet of the Tetracycline stuff. Says on the back it helps finrot and other fish disease. My cousin trusts it. I'm off to work in a couple minutes and he'll be on his own. Might post on my account.

Going to stop by get another test and buy some melafix for him. At petsmart you get melafix for 5 bucks. Good price?

Sounds like the tank hasn't cycled. I would bring the temp down to about 78 and do a water change and add some biospira. Hold off on medicating for a few days to let the bacteria colonies grow.

A cycling tank is the problem here, period.

Not cycled? I suppose. I did give him the last of my bio-spira, but I guess it wasn't enough. Couldn't stop by the LFS in time or else I would of been late for work. He just called and said the other neon didn't eat at feeding time and passed away 5 minutes later. Also says the Molly is sitting in the corner where she dug a pit and doing nothing. I don't know what to tell him other than she might give birth.

Also, he has switched the filter bag at least 3 or more times in the last 2 weeks because of Walmart's 'recommendation'. Could this of killed off the bacteria within the media?

hobbes wrote: He puts this chemical cleaner droplet thing every other week. It's like 1 drop per 2 gallons or something.

Stop adding things like that.

With high ammonia and nitrite readings, obviously the tank isn't cycled. One or more LARGE (80%) water changes everyday are needed until the tank finishes cycling.

hobbes wrote:Also, he has switched the filter bag at least 3 or more times in the last 2 weeks because of Walmart's 'recommendation'. Could this of killed off the bacteria within the media?

As in, changed everything that was changable within the filter?

That wouldn't be killing the bacteria so much as removing it entirely from the picture, at least in the filter.

hobbes wrote:1 teaspoon per 5 gallons? I guess that sounds normal.

1 TABLEspoon per 5 gallons.

I think salt is the last matter in this problem. IMO start the tank fresh and cycle it with a FISHLESS cycle. To begin with you won't be harming or killing fish and it will be more enjoyable in the end watching healthy fish live rather then watching a healthy fish become sick and die.