Molly with discoloured patch on one side

[KesshouRyuu]

Hi all!

I've used this forum before to search for answers, but I just registered now as I'm very worried about a whitish patch on the side of one of my new mollies. I added 2 new female mollies to keep the original male Molly company.

I know everyone asks for parameters first, so here's the formalities out of the way:
Tank size: 37L
Tank temp: 24°C
pH: 7.0-7.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: <10
Fish: 6 Glowlight Tetras, 3 balloon mollies, 1 CAE, and a mystery snail

Now, the smaller of the two new female mollies has (I think developed? I didn't notice it before this morning, and we only got them 4-5 days ago; could have potentially already been there but I'm pretty sure I would've noticed it) a whitish large patch on its side. I can't see any signs of behavioural change, and I can't see anything similar developing on any of the other fish. I'll attach some photos, but it was hard to get the camera to focus with glass reflection, and I had difficulty coaxing her to swim to the side for a moment to take the photos, but I hope it's clear enough to be diagnosed.

Thank you all in advance for any information. I'm pretty worried as it doesn't look "minor."

 

[KesshouRyuu]

After looking at the photos again, I think it's still a bit unclear. I'm attaching one of the motionphotos that happened with one of those pics.

 

[KesshouRyuu]

After looking at the photos again, I think it's still a bit unclear. I'm attaching one of the motionphotos that happened with one of those pics.

Due to file type restrictions, I had to convert the short motion photo into a GIF

 

[KesshouRyuu]

Okay, this morning there seems to be no change. Everyone is still acting normal, and I can't see signs of that discolouration on any other fish. Still worried that the little girl is diseased though

 

[Colin_T]

Excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. It's probably an external protozoan infection and should clear up with salt.

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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 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 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 but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect 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.

 

[KesshouRyuu]

Excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. It's probably an external protozoan infection and should clear up with salt.

------------------------------
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 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 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 but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect 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 for the reply. Unfortunately I have 6 Glowlight Tetras so I'm hesitant to put salt in.

Actually, turns out the white Molly that was introduced at the same time also had Camullanus worms, so I got pretty desperate. I ended up going to Pet Barn to try to get avitrol plus for the worms, but it wasn't in stock and they ended up sending me to an aquarium shop called Coral Madness. The guy ended up recommending Formalin Malachite solution for the black Molly, and ended up giving me a sample of his Levamisole since it was too late to go to another shop to get what he recommended "Kilverm" for the white Molly.

Today, the worms are gone and I'm going to do a water change with a gravel vac to get the worms and eggs. As for the black Molly, it's patch seems to be clearing... However I noticed it was missing a scale this morning. I then watched and saw my CAE latch on for a split second to the black Molly, so I believe in the end it's just the CAE that was eating the slime coat that caused the grey patch? Is that what it looks like when slime coat is eaten off?

 

[Colin_T]

The Chinese algae eater needs to go.

If a fish is injured they will produce excess mucous over the injured area and it can look like a cream, white or grey patch. The colour (cream, white or grey) is dependant on how much mucous is on the area. Cream being the least amount of extra mucous, grey being the most.

If you treat fish for intestinal worms, you need to do it several times to kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs. The levamisole only gets rid of adult worms in the digestive tract and does not affect worm eggs. So any eggs that hatch after treatment will grow into adult worms unless you treat the tank again in 2 weeks time. I normally recommend treating once a week for 3-4 weeks but you can do it once every 2 weeks for 2-3 treatments.

Do a 75-80% water change 24-48 hours after treatment and gravel clean the substrate to remove any worms that were expelled by the fish. Clean the filter too because the worms sometimes get sucked into that.

Section 3 of the following link has more information on treating intestinal worms in fish, if your interested.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

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