New Black Molly has spots

[MagnumVP]

Have a new 10g tank (about a month old) and I've really enjoyed so far. It's been a blast to watch and maintain the tank with water changes and semi daily testing.

However on Sunday I added a Black Molly to the mix and yesterday I came home to it being covered in white dots. After reasearching it (cause I'm new to fresh water tanks) I fear it may be ich? I immediately pulled the Black Molly out of the tank (even though it's too late if it's ich) and placed it in a spare 1g that I had.

None of the other fish show any dots or any other signs of it.

This morning I woke up and the dots were less but now it looks like white fuzz is around it's mouth.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

The white fuzz could be from swimming against the glass in the 1g, but could be fungus too. If it's fungus then you've been hit by a double whammy.

Unfortunately by the time you can normally see Ich it can be too late. What fish/inverts/real plants do you have in each tank?

Depending upon what fish you have (some other fish etc do not like salt) you will need to buy freshwater medical salt from the fish store. Raise the temperature of your tank to 86f gradually and add (not directly into the tank, take tank water out in a cup, stir it in then pour it back in) salt to your tank. I would add 5 flat TEAspoons on day one, then 5 more on day two, this should give you a salinity of around 1.005 for a 10 gallon and should alter the osmotic pressure enough to kill the parasite over about a week at that salinity. Some others will provide finer details.

 

[MagnumVP]

We have;

3 Neon Tetras
2 Guppies
2 Big Belly Molly's (one is the black with the spots)
2 Frogs
3 Ghost Shrimp

I don't have the ability to raise the temp of the tank (that I know of). It's just a standard water heater. I'm new to this and didn't want to go overboard. Start small and work my way up.

The plants are all fake (nothing real) and the insert is a small bridge and a bubbling volcano.

I have attached an older picture. Since we have added more fish we took away some of the tall center plants.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Ok...

Neons suffer with salt and often with medication, you might lose them.
Guppies are usually fine with salt.
Mollies are fine usually too.
Frogs I have no idea, but I would assume they don't do salt well.
Ghost Shrimp should be just fine.

Ok. What the raised heat does is increases the speed of the life cycle of the Ich so that your treatment can be shorter. You can treat for longer and see what happens.

So the fish should react how I listed above. Try keeping the infected fish separate for a while and see if you got it out in time, but if you end up having to treat your main tank then I'd always use salt rather than medication. If you end up with 1 flat TEAspoon per gallon this should be enough. Be aware that there are also some medications out there which you may wish to try, but I don't like using them (I lost Neons from medication before).

 

[MagnumVP]

Thank you for the advice. Is there anything that I should watch out for in the main tank that would indicate that it was ich?

I would hate to treat for something that isn't actually there.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

It very much looks like Ich in the photo. Watch for that same look.

The shrimp should only get it if it has shed itself recently, otherwise their shell is too hard. Just watch for white spots on the fish. I'd begin treating the infected fish asap in the other tank.

 

[MagnumVP]

Will do. I'll start tonight once I get home. Fingers crossed in the hope that this works.

Note to self: Aquariums are fun, but a lot of work.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Once you get the fish you want in your tanks the upkeep usually isn't so bad. The introduction of new things is where problems arise. As you've found, everything was fine until a problem fish was introduced.

By the way, if you believe your fish does have fungus, melafix and pimafix can work on that for you, but I would wait until after the Ich treatment.

 

[MagnumVP]

Is it possible that without treatment ich goes away?

When I got home today I took this picture and most of the spots have disappeared.

The pet store owner just told me that ich is in every tank no matter what and only affects stressed fish. Currently my other fish are not showing any signs of ich.

He also said that if it is ich that he would put the "infected" fish back in the tank and treat the entire tank. He also recommended that during the treatment I should remove the carbon filter.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

That wave of the parasite has probably burst through the fish and is now free swimming looking for a fish to land on and reproduce again. If you research the Ich life cycle you'll see why this happened.

 

[MagnumVP]

Should I put back the obviously infected Molly and treat the entire tank? Is there a way (other than purchasing a different heater) to raise the tank water. It is currently have 78-79 degrees and never deviates from that.

I can slowly intoduce warmer water into the tank from the tap (conditioned obviously) but it will eventually cool down to normal levels.

I found this artcle http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2160&aid=2421 which is a very good resource for ich.

 

[dkpate]

Some of that does not look like ich to me, the spots are too big. It looks like fungus, and fungus will get out of control and worse with heat. I would go get some Kordon's Ick-Attack and treat the tank ASAP. Make sure you remove the carbon.

Tell the pet store owner he is wrong, ich is not always present. Ich has to have a host. It might always be present in his tanks if he doesn't get rid of it.

 

[MagnumVP]

Well I took the fish down to the Pet's Store (not that I don't trust you guys, but sometimes the picture doesn't do it justice). He immediatly said, "Oh that's ich. I have this stuff you can use to treat it without increasing the heat of the tank."

He then proceeded to give me some Tetra Ick Guard Remedy for Freshwater fish. It says that it will remedy ich within 8 days. He told me to "Remove the filter and drop one tablet into the water every 24 hours. Prior to dropping the table do a PWC."

Active Ingredients: Victoria Green, Acirflavine

Suggestions? Do I try the treatment for ich or do the longer method of salt and figure out another way to heat the tank?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Salt kills the parasite, but if you want to use the medication instead that's fine. I don't know how it will affect your tank and other inhabitants though. It won't do it in eight days though, the life cycle for Ich is longer than that, especially at a lower temp. I would do any treatment for longer, but again it is up to you.

I mainly avoid medication usually because of it's ability to kill sensitive fish where salt won't.

 

[MagnumVP]

Thank you for the response and I REALlY appreciate your advice and I think I will do the salt first and avoid the medication. I'd rather do it right then do it fast. Doing it right will prepare me for things to come when/if I get a get a bigger and more complex tank.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Believe it or not, things actually get easier the bigger the tank is. If a neon dies in a 10 gallon and you don't notice it can have a huge affect because there's just 10 gallons of water. If you have a 55 gallon and a neon dies, it would be spread amongst many more gallons and probably be eaten by some other fish before it could foul the water.

Both salt and meds will take about the same amount of time really, the life cycle of Ich is about two weeks (which is how long I would treat for with meds if you use them, just buy more meds).

Just be prepared. The first time I got Ich I used a medicine called Rid Ich and yes, it got rid of the Ich, but it also killed all my Neon Tetras. This does not mean you should give up, I love my tanks and the benefits of having them, and the great fun I have had since this happened makes the learning experience very worthwhile. Any big change in the water can be iffy for fish, whether it's meds, salt, changed water or anything. Best of luck!

 

[MagnumVP]

Well if I lose them I guess I lose them. It's better some then all due to ich.

When should I replace them if they die? Should I replace them during treatment that way if it's also diseased (which is what I think happened here) the treatment will help fight it off. Or do I wait for the treatment to end then purchase a new fish?

How do I quarantine a fish prior to introducing to a new tank when I only have one tank?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

If they all died I'd wait for the treatment to end, you could actually continue treating for weeks longer without adding anything new, just keep throwing raw shrimp (human food) into the tank and cleaning it out every few days to give the filter bacteria something to feed on. Ich also can't survive without water, so another option would be to do a complete drain and leave everything dry for a couple of weeks, but this means starting the cycle etc over.

The main lesson to learn really is to get new fish and put them into a holding tank for a few days to watch for this kind of thing before adding them to your main tank. Annoying though it is...

 

[dkpate]

Ich can't survive without a host, so if the tank is empty it will die. Also, you could turn the heat up to 86* when there are no fish in there, and the ich will go through it's life cycle.

Did you not see my post about fungus??? Underneath her chin and on her eyeball looks like fungus, which can be secondary to the ich, because of the holes they leave when they exit the fish.

 

[MagnumVP]

Holding tank? Does that mean go buy one if I don't have one. How big does it have to be to hold 1-2 fish for a few days.

Yes I saw your post of fungus and I'm not ignoring it. I would like to deal with the root problem first then deal with the fungus (if it's still around) after.