Hi Everyone, I am so excited to be part of this amazing forum. I often refer to the threads and thought it was time to join!
In Jan I inherited my mother-in-law's tank when she passed away. Since then I have been through quite a bit with the fish (have learned a lot), but long story short, I have encountered a problem I cannot seem to solve!
I have two "alpha" males (one black molly and one platy) that chase and poke each other quite a bit. One day a large white spot appeared on my molly (see photo). I noticed the platy poking on that spot and thought it was from the fighting. Then, a spot appeared on the other side also. Then, crystal-like pieces appeared around the original spot. I separated the fish and then took the photo to the pet store where they immediately said, "oh that's definitely ich" and proceeded to sell me the chemicals to treat. Being Sun night, I panicked and dosed the tank (also kept Molly in a netted tank inside tank). He began improving immediately BUT has since developed a white mouth. Everything is now pointing to Columnaris additionally. I am concerned on so many levels. I do not like treating for Ich with the chemicals, but I started and feel like I should not switch to salt (also I have catfish). But now what if he has Columnaris too? The medication he's on won't treat for that. Do I now need to give antibiotics? I have taken the carbon out of my two filters and am doing regular changes. ALL of my other fish are just fine! I test my levels daily with drop kits and all levels are normal.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I am very new to this and love it so much!
In Jan I inherited my mother-in-law's tank when she passed away. Since then I have been through quite a bit with the fish (have learned a lot), but long story short, I have encountered a problem I cannot seem to solve!
I have two "alpha" males (one black molly and one platy) that chase and poke each other quite a bit. One day a large white spot appeared on my molly (see photo). I noticed the platy poking on that spot and thought it was from the fighting. Then, a spot appeared on the other side also. Then, crystal-like pieces appeared around the original spot. I separated the fish and then took the photo to the pet store where they immediately said, "oh that's definitely ich" and proceeded to sell me the chemicals to treat. Being Sun night, I panicked and dosed the tank (also kept Molly in a netted tank inside tank). He began improving immediately BUT has since developed a white mouth. Everything is now pointing to Columnaris additionally. I am concerned on so many levels. I do not like treating for Ich with the chemicals, but I started and feel like I should not switch to salt (also I have catfish). But now what if he has Columnaris too? The medication he's on won't treat for that. Do I now need to give antibiotics? I have taken the carbon out of my two filters and am doing regular changes. ALL of my other fish are just fine! I test my levels daily with drop kits and all levels are normal.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I am very new to this and love it so much!
