Molly Shimmy

[amf17]

I have been keeping black mollies for a while now and had no problems until I brought ick home on some new molly additions.

The entire population of mollies was affected.

Currently I am treating with heat and salt - the ick seems to be dissappearing rapidly.

It seems that when I started the treatment... some of the mollies started to shimmy. Tank params are normal. Is this caused by the stress of having the ick parasite? or is it a reaction to the heat/salt treatment? I raised the water temp gradually to 86 and have an SG of about 1.004.

I have also slowed down on feedings as I know that overfeeding during stress can cause more problems.

Should I try to feed them peas to keep them healthy or just keep with my regular feeding regimen.

Thanks,

I have been keeping black mollies for a while now and had no problems until I brought ick home on some new molly additions.

The entire population of mollies was affected.

Currently I am treating with heat and salt - the ick seems to be dissappearing rapidly.

It seems that when I started the treatment... some of the mollies started to shimmy. Tank params are normal. Is this caused by the stress of having the ick parasite? or is it a reaction to the heat/salt treatment? I raised the water temp gradually to 86 and have an SG of about 1.004.

I have also slowed down on feedings as I know that overfeeding during stress can cause more problems.

Should I try to feed them peas to keep them healthy or just keep with my regular feeding regimen.

Thanks,

I forgot to ask... how long should I keep the heat at 86. I 've been at 86 for about 2 days now. I usually have it at around 80. I'm planning on keeping the salt at around 1.004 because I know mollies like it

 

[Picoreefer4966]

That shimmy is often a sign of poor water quality, water being too soft (doubtful in your case), but also can be related to the ich outbreak. Treating with heat speeds the lifecycle of the ich. Salt may or may not irradicate it. Continue treating the tank for at least 10 days. If it comes back.....you can either try the same treatment again or Rid ich works well. If you choose to use Rid ich, you'll have to remove any carbon in your filter until you're done treating the tank. One thing to be aware of is that just because the white spots are gone does not mean the ich is dead. It can live in your substrate for quite some time if it's not irradicated completely.