Molly with crusty/dry scales on head

[Spookie]

Hi! My mother recently surprised me by buying some fish for me - one of which is a male molly. When I got him, I noticed that his head has sort of dry/crusty scales that are paler than the rest of his body, just on top and around his face. While it looks kind of weird, he is super active and always moving/swimming around and eating, though it hasn't gotten any better (or worse). It doesn't look fuzzy, just really dry and cracked. The scales don't look like they're falling off, and I couldn't take a good picture because he is always moving. I tried googling it but those questions didn't really get any exact responses or reasons why this happens. All of the water parameters in my tank where fine, Ammonia and Nitrites 0, Nitrates 25, Ph 7.5. I went ahead and put him in a 10 gallon quarantine tank and might try treating him with a Jungle Fungus Clear tablet, should I go ahead? Thank you!

 

[Spookie]

Update, I've been treating my molly with the anti fungal/parasite medicine for the last few days in his hospital tank with high heat and he still looks the same. I have no idea what it is, as it looks pretty gross... though he is almost overly hyperactive and has lots of energy. I was able to take a better picture of Crusty's head while moving him back to the regular tank if anyone has any ideas - he is healthy otherwise. Thanks

 

[jlk]

Hi! The pic didnt come out (atleast where i am). Could you try posting another one? In the meantime, keep the water very healthy & consider adding some aquarium salt.

 

[Spookie]

Sure, Ill try making it smaller

 

[jlk]

Thanks! Thats very odd & i honestly havent seen this before. If theres no improvement over the next few days, I would try a course of antibiotics (maracyn 2) & see if this helps with the addition of aquarium salt. The aq salt helps to increase & turn over the slime coat. Keep us posted!

 

[meegosh]

Do you have a heater in the tank? Almost looks like a heater burn too me.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Ocminpin had a platy (?) with similar looking markings. I'm not sure what happened. She did loose one recently. Maybe PM her and ask. Idk what it is. It does look like just the markings on the fish to me.... But I don't keep mollies.

 

[Spookie]

Okay great, thanks! I messaged her and am waiting for a response, but from her similar thread's pictures our mollies look exactly the same - even down to their natural coloring. Maybe it is just the way they naturally are for some reason, hopefully!

 

[ocminpin]

Thanks! Thats very odd & i honestly havent seen this before. If theres no improvement over the next few days, I would try a course of antibiotics (maracyn 2) & see if this helps with the addition of aquarium salt. The aq salt helps to increase & turn over the slime coat. Keep us posted!

This is the same exact thing my female Creamsicle has... She's always been normal and hasn't transferred it to anyone else.

 

[ocminpin]

Ocminpin had a platy (?) with similar looking markings. I'm not sure what happened. She did loose one recently. Maybe PM her and ask. Idk what it is. It does look like just the markings on the fish to me.... But I don't keep mollies.

It's my female Creamsicle with it... Nothing changed with it...
Still have the female platy... She started improving once I moved her to my main tank...

 

[ocminpin]

Okay great, thanks! I messaged her and am waiting for a response, but from her similar thread's pictures our mollies look exactly the same - even down to their natural coloring. Maybe it is just the way they naturally are for some reason, hopefully!

I've looked at creamsicles at the pet store and they look normal... It was only a TINY patch on September... Now it's grown, although slowly, it's starting to cover her mouth area.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

It's my female Creamsicle with it... Nothing changed with it...
Still have the female platy... She started improving once I moved her to my main tank...

Oh ok! Lol. I get confused with all your fishies!

 

[Spookie]

Maybe its just some random genetic thing for this type of molly coloring, he still has shown no change since the fungus treatment and I had raised the temperature of my tank and added extra salt a while ago, and that didn't change it either. I just looked at him really closely and his crusty scales do look a little whiter than they used to be now... but he acts perfectly fine. It also looks like all the big crusty scale areas are now broken up into lots of smaller crusty patches, though its comforting to know he's not the only one like this!