Black Molly Question

[Silencedogood]

Hi all-
I have two black mollies- one balloon and one lyretail. They seem to be prone to fungal infections whenever they are in my display tank but when I move them to my QT tank, they are fine. The only difference is that my QT tank is heavily salted. I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue and any advice you might have. Thank you!

 

[Byron]

The salt will help the fungus problem, but that is not the solution as the actual issue is the water in the display tank. What is the GH and pH? This is almost always the cause of molly problems like fungus, slime, shimmying, clamped fins, etc.

 

[Colin_T]

Are you sure it's fungus and not excess mucous?
Pictures?

As Byron suggested, it's probably low pH and GH in your tank and the salt is helping overcome some of that.

Mollies need a GH of 250+ppm and a pH above 7.0. If they are kept in soft water or acid water, they die quickly.

 

[Silencedogood]

I don't have any pictures as they are okay right now. My ph is 7.2 and gh is 200-240 ppm. The parameters in the QT tank are the same.

 

[Colin_T]

The next time they look fungusy, post pics so we can identify the issue.

The GH needs to be confirmed and possibly increased a little bit. 200ppm is pushing it for mollies.

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Make sure they get some plant matter/ algae in their diet.