Black Mollies

[Wit]

I just got 2 black mollies yesterday to add to my tank with 7 platies and 4 guppys(male) up to now. My male mollie has a white mark/spot at each end of his gonopodium(sorry if spelt wrong) but the mark at the tip of gonopodium is more his fin but not sure about the white mark/spot at other end of it, also my female mollie has a couple white marks/spot either side of her bum.
There are no signs of any other white marks/spots to be seen on them anywhere else and they seem ok and all other fish are ok.
Do I wait to see if they get worse or they get more or can anyone tell me that black mollies do sometimes have these white marks/spots.

No pics at the moment as I do not want to disturb them right now.

I am thinking whitespot atm tbh. Only ever seen it once before and it was more clusters and on all fins.

 

[love_fish]

To be safe, I'd raise the temp to 84-86 degrees in case it's Ich. Can't really say without pics though.

 

[nmonks]

White spot is usually pretty distinctive. The cysts are very small, so that it looks as if the fish has a tiny grain of salt stuck on it. And, more often than not, there are multiple cysts. If one fish gets white spot, the others will likely get it too.

There are alternative problems that might be to blame. Fungal infections, fin rot, Costia, and velvet can all begin by looking like a single white or yellow spot. That it is only the mollies that have the problem, and the fact that the patches are on peripheral regions of the fish leads me to suspect fungus.

Do a search on Google for fish disease identification web sites; there are lots of them, varying in their ease of use. Wetwebmedia.com is always a good place to stop by, though it isn't the easiest web site to navigate or read.

If you have a spare aquarium, one sure-fire solution would be to adapt the mollies to marine conditions for a few days. I've taken black mollies between salt and fresh water in 2-3 hours. This will zap any external parasites.

Depending on your pH, I'd recommend adding some marine salt. Guppies and platies will handle a low salinity just fine (say, a specific gravity of 1.003). Mollies are infinitely more hardy when kept in brackish water. Incidentally, "tonic salt" is completely useless, so don't bother buying any. Find a box of marine mix, and add 4-5 grammes per litre to each bucket of water you put in the aquarium. Don't add the salt to the tank directly, and always ensure the salt is fully dissolved before putting the brackish water into the tank.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Wit]

Thanks for replies and info nmonks. I managed to get back to aquarium shop and we have decided it is fungus and have started treating it. If things dont seem to get better in a few days I am to take the mollies back to the shop and if any other fish become sick he will help me sort them out. Great guy in shop, he does not like things going wrong in his customers aquariums.