Help Me Identifying This Disease

[zsolt]

Hi!

I have a black molly female with a white spot on the head. Right now doesn't show anything but that spot.
Two weeks ago the male died. He has become very weak, sometimes swimming backwords, didn't eat, and had equilibrum problems (in the last day). He had also white spots on his body, he held down his fins almost all the time. Also the fins looked bad.
Three weeks ago a male guppy died, I only saw suspicious that his tail fin was affected (at that time I suspected my male betta)
I attach close shot picture to help you. It was quite hard to make it...



My fishtank has 150L and my buddies are:
2 Blue Gouramy
3 Black Molly females
3 Bettas (1 male)
8 Zebra Danio
I started the tank 1.5 month ago.

If you recognize this disease please advise. I would like to take action but I don't know what to do.
Thanks.

 

[LauraFrog]

The tank is large enough for those fish, well and truly but if it wasn't cycled properly your fish may be dying because of ammonia poisoning. Water stats (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH/temp) would be extremely helpful. Also, how did you cycle the tank and did you add all those fish at once?

Mollies need salt in the water as well. All the other fish in the tank will tolerate the salt, so if I were you I would add at least one gram in each litre, preferably two. If you're getting something like corys or loaches, they will not appreciate the salt at all and may become ill. Mollies are really brackish fish and not suitable to be kept with fish that dislike salt. You might find that salt clears the problem up.

The spot is very odd looking. The clear photos are excellent, the fish disease people will really appreciate those. It looks a bit like some sort of parasite infection to me. Usually white spots on the head in a new tank are columnaris but that doesn't really look like it at all. The male's symptoms do sound a bit like columnaris. Usually you get white or fuzzy patches around the back, belly and mouth that spread slowly, removing colour from the fish as it goes. Bacterial finrot - white lines on fins that move towards the body - is very common associated with columnaris. When they are dying of columnaris they often lie on the bottom or hang unsteadily at the top of the tank. Clamped fins and refusal to eat are also textbook. However most stress related diseases cause similar symptoms - a disintegration of the slime coat, clamped fins, emaciation, no appetite, sometimes balance problems or lethargy. So I can't give a definite diagnosis but I doubt that the female has the same thing somehow.

Guppies are basically gutless due to too much inbreeding to create fancy strains. I wouldn't put them in any tank less than four months old. Even in perfectly mature tanks they are very susceptible to disease and often die for no apparent reason, and at no fault of the aquarists'. Wild guppies are so pretty and so tough that in my opinion it's criminal what has been done to the species (fish with fins so big and heavy they can't swim - just cruel). So don't get too upset about losing the guppy, it probably doesn't mean there's something spreading through the tank.

IMO the thing on the female's head looks like some kind of parasite infestation. I have never seen anything exactly like it so I can't confirm definitely - wait for Wilder to show up. In the meantime add the salt to the water - if you can't get to an aquarium shop to buy aquarium salt use rock salt. Do NOT use 'sea salt' or 'marine salt' from the aquarium shop. This does not just contain salt (sodium chloride) but other minerals as well that will raise the pH. This will make the problem worse if there is ammonia in your tank. If the salt fails it might be worth trying praziquantel which will kill skin flukes, gill flukes, internal parasites, and that thing if I'm right about the cause.

 

[zsolt]

Thanks for the post.

Indeed, the male was sitting on the bottom in the last week or so, and only came up to eat. In the last days he didn't eat at all.

I have measured PH and it is 6.5 to 7.
I don't know the level of ammonium. I need to look for something to buy to be able to read this info too.

Untill now, almost every week I have made 1/4 water change. Usually I also put rock salt in it (one spoon to 10 liters of water).

I have started the tank with 5 zebra danios, 2 gouramys and a pair of mollys (the male that died and this sick female). I did put them in the tank after 3 days.
A week after, I added 3 more zebra, and 3 bettas.

Filtration is good now, I did purchase (a week ago) a power filter. The water is crystal clear now. Initially I had an air pump but I have reallized that this is way below the needs.
But I have another problem to solve, the lighting. I have a bush which is doing great, really growing, but Valisneria is not doing ok. I want to add some warm wight lamp near my 40W flourescent tube.

I don't know how I did this picture...I have separated the fish to a spare tank, and I took about 20 shots...
If you look to the fish in the tank, she doesn't look that bad...I have attached another pic with the sic female (this one have a bit lower quality).

 

[Colin_T]

The first picture looks like the fish has scraped its head on something and this has allowed fungus to get into the wound and infect it.
The PH is too low for mollies but if you have ammonia in the water then a low PH is safer for all the fish.
Livebearers like mollies do best in hard slightly alkaline water, with some salt. Because you have other types of fish in the tank you should use calcium and magnesium to increase the hardness and this will help the mollies without causing any real problems to the other fishes (due to the salt). Have a look at the local fish shop for a Rift Lake Cichlid Conditioner. It will contain numerous minerals to increase the general hardness (GH). You can use this stuff at about 1/2 dose rate and it will increase the PH and GH.
If the white patch on the molly's head gets worse then add a broad spectrum medication to the tank. Waterlife Myxazin or Protozin should work, as should Wardley's Promethyasul.

To work out the volume of water in the tank
measure Length x Width x Height in cm
divide by 1000
equals volume in litres

When measuring the height, measure from the top of the gravel to the top of the water level. If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove them before measuring the height.

Before you treat the tank do a 50% water change and complete gravel clean. This will reduce the gunk in the tank and allow the medication to work more effectively. It will also lower the pathogen count in the water and mean there are less nasties around to infect the fish.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating otherwise it will absorb the medication out of the water.

 

[zsolt]

Hi.
Thanks for your answer,
I came back to inform about the result treating my molly: She is fine! Maybe it will be helpfull for somebody.....who knows.

This is what I have done:

I took out all my fish into a small tank, 15 liters (quite small for them I admit) and I started treating them all. I put an air pump and two valisneria and I have installed a small lamp too.

First I have started with metyl blue, and a bit of Tetracicline. After 3 days I have changed the water.
I have noticed that my mollys spot stopped to extend, but didn't seam to heal (at that time).
Then I tried FungiStop for two days. Didn't seam to help. The spot extended to the side of the fish (the seccond spot was 1.5mm square).
I went back to metyl blue and Tetracicline. Also I made sure that I have a good concentration of rock salt.
After 10 days of treatment in total, the molly was showing first signs of healing, the colour of the wound darkening, first it was gray then darker and darker. Also, the surface became smoother.

In the meantime, I had completly chaged the water in the main tank and refill it and I put metyl blue, fungi stop and tetracycline. Also I didn't left out the salt. I have removed the coal fron the power filter.
Before putting back the fish, I have changed half of the water.

Now everything is ok.

I want to thank for your help and encouragement. This is my first succesfull fish healing and I'm happy!