Hello! My balloon molly , Mom , has gotten sicks. I would prefer not to cull her if possible as she is my favorite molly and I'm quite attached to her. I will attach an image of her condition; the back of her dorsal fin also looks a little strange. The rest of my fish are healthy. I have a 10 gallon tank I clean once a week, and she lives with 3 neon tetras, 1 black molly, 1 betta fish, 1 loach and 7 amano shrimp. Ph is slightly higher than ideal but they are all used to it and it is consistent during water changes, as is water temperature. She is probably 1.5-2 years old and has given birth twice in the past, but there are no males in the tank anymore and there haven't been for months. I want to say it looks fuzzy, but looks more like "chapped" lips to me. I am an experienced fish owner but not familiar with illnesses in mollies. Thanks in advance! She is the larger one on the right
Black Molly with White on Lips
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Hi and welcome to the forum 
How long has the fish had the white lips?
Have you added anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks?
It could be Columnaris (mouth fungus), which is a fast growing bacteria that kills fish within days of showing symptoms. Or it could be a bruised lip from swimming into somethng.
A fat lip will clear up by itself over the next week. Columnaris will spread rapidly over the face and head and usually kills the fish within 24-48 hours.
---------------------------
WHAT TO DO NOW
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
Monitor the fish over the next few days and post more pictures if it gets worse.
---------------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 24 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
How long has the fish had the white lips?
Have you added anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks?
It could be Columnaris (mouth fungus), which is a fast growing bacteria that kills fish within days of showing symptoms. Or it could be a bruised lip from swimming into somethng.
A fat lip will clear up by itself over the next week. Columnaris will spread rapidly over the face and head and usually kills the fish within 24-48 hours.
---------------------------
WHAT TO DO NOW
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
Monitor the fish over the next few days and post more pictures if it gets worse.
---------------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 24 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
Thanks a bunch for the reply! I havent added anything into the tank lately and her lip is looking better by now, so I'm thinking it's not the fungus but just her bumping into a hide or the glass. I will most certainly keep this advice in mind for the future; I will be doing a water change and cleaning my filter out, and I will increase the flow in my aquarium to hopefully fight off anything that could be bad while she's healing.
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