ugh... mouth fungus!

[blackmolly]

my little black molly has mouth fungus! i've got her separated into a heated hospital tank and am dosing with pimafix and aquarium salt according to instructions... is there anything else i need to be doing? it seems to have gotten worse overnight... probably from the stress of being moved, but i don't want to lose her! any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Mumma.of.two]

Oh no! Black mollies are prone to columnaris. It could be that. You need a gram negative effective antibiotic (one I the macaryns). Turn the heat down to slow the bacteria growth. If it is columnaris you new to move FAST. Sometimes there isn't time for a proper diagnosis you just need to start treatment.
Can you post a picture?

[blackmolly]

erm... i was afraid of that... as for pics, i can try... lemme go get my camera and they'll be up in a sec. i've turned the heat down lower, i'll turn it to about 76ish? that's why i started treatment... just to see if i could slow it down. should i see if she'll eat?

[Mumma.of.two]

Originally Posted by blackmolly

erm... i was afraid of that... as for pics, i can try... lemme go get my camera and they'll be up in a sec. i've turned the heat down lower, i'll turn it to about 76ish? that's why i started treatment... just to see if i could slow it down. should i see if she'll eat?

I'd take it down to 72F if she can handle it. I've had a BAD experience with columnaris so I like to err on the side a caution. I'd recommend medication ASAP to try and knock it on the head.

[blackmolly]

ok, so while i was trying (unsuccessfully) to take pictures, i made a very bittersweet discovery. when i said she had gotten worse, i had not looked at her under light. upon further inspection with light, i noticed that the fuzziness on the mouth is gone! (thank goodness!) the other thing i noticed? my black fish is dotted with white, salt looking spots i guess i need to raise the temp, and start to phase out the pimafix? i'll see if i can post pics of her mouth anyways, but it looks like it was just a wound (inflicted by the battles she has with my black skirts) that was starting to get infected. VERY glad i nipped it in the bud... and looked under a light...

[Mumma.of.two]

Well done! Keep an eye out for any return. If she has ich it's safe to assume the whole DT has it so all your fish need treating.

[blackmolly]

i'm checking out the rest of my fish now... i don't see any spots under light, so i'm wondering (and hoping) that JUST the molly got it because of moving stress (she's been in that tank for nearly a year and i've never moved her before, so i'd imagine her stress level might be a bit high) i'm kind of wondering if i should wait until i see symptoms on the other fish before i treat the whole tank... what do you think?

[blackmolly]

here's the pics. you can't really see the damage on her mouth, but it definitely wasn't fuzzy anymore. you can see some of the white spots. geez... i've never been so glad to have ich in my entire life lol! sure is a lot better then columnaris!

[Mumma.of.two]

It's up to you. It means ich is in your tank waiting to take advantage of a sick or weak fish. You may never see it again or one day it could come out all guns blazing and infect the lot. Ich can survive in a healthy tank and pop up occasionally when something happens like the fish get a chill or one gets bullied and stressed. Once it's cured (if done correctly) it won't come back unless reintroduced on a new fish.

[Mumma.of.two]

Originally Posted by blackmolly

here's the pics. you can't really see the damage on her mouth, but it definitely wasn't fuzzy anymore. you can see some of the white spots. geez... i've never been so glad to have ich in my entire life lol! sure is a lot better then columnaris!

I'd take ich over columnaris any day!