Sick Sailfin Mollies?

[freddie21]

Hi
had a new tank set up (which had been cycling for a month) and it has been a month since i began putting my fish into the aquarium...i started introducing fish in the following method :
week 1 - 6 danios
week 2 - 2 sailfin mollies (male and female)
week 3 - upside down catfish & 2 platties
week 4 - an angel fish
Upto now there seems to be no evidence of disease or stress with most of the fish - the tank is very peaceful and there so far have been no fatalities....however.....i have started to notice that my sailfin mollies have now several but very fine looking white speckles on their fins/tails and now one has a few on its lip - the fish dont seem to be stressed (for example swimming ok, eating ok, no velvet, no pop eye etc) but are these white speckles cause for concern - no other fish has them.
any advice would be really appreciated
thanks

 

[ZoddyZod]

how big are the white specs? Are they about the size of a grain of sand? If so.....sounds like you've got ich. It's quite easy to treat and their are several medications available.

since this is a new tank, do you know the exact readings for ammonia, nitrite & nitrate? Do you have a test kit for these?

 

[freddie21]

hi thanks for response...
yes the speckles are like grain of sand/sugar. If it is Ich is that just white spot? I will go to my local aquarium centre tomorrow and get some treatment. Before adding the treatment should i do a water change? I dont know why its just the sailfin mollies that have this illness - but i have noticed that one of them (which i think may be female) just seems to swim 'on the spot' / in the same position- is this normal for mollies? Everything else seems to be ok.
To be honest i have not checked any levels - i do not own a kit - i know of people who have had tropical aquariums for years and hardly loose fish and they dont have the testing kits - which i must be honest is the reason why i haven't bothered (plus they seem confusing ) - now having second thoughts! Tomorrow when i buy the treatment i will take a sample of the water and see if the shop will test it for me.
really worried my fish wont survive.
thanks for all advice/help

 

[freddie21]

friend just gave me some testing strips - they seem rather confusing and may have expird - should i try them?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

As mentioned in your other thread... strips are next to useless. A liquid kit is much easier to read and administer, assuming you can follow simple directions. Salifert, API and Nutrafin all make good kits. The API is usually cheapest as a master kit (pH, high pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate). The Salifert is probably the best, but is harder to find in the US (and far more expensive here, but I don't know about the UK).

 

[Sailfin Zach]

Hi
had a new tank set up (which had been cycling for a month) and it has been a month since i began putting my fish into the aquarium...i started introducing fish in the following method :
week 1 - 6 danios
week 2 - 2 sailfin mollies (male and female)
week 3 - upside down catfish & 2 platties
week 4 - an angel fish
Upto now there seems to be no evidence of disease or stress with most of the fish - the tank is very peaceful and there so far have been no fatalities....however.....i have started to notice that my sailfin mollies have now several but very fine looking white speckles on their fins/tails and now one has a few on its lip - the fish dont seem to be stressed (for example swimming ok, eating ok, no velvet, no pop eye etc) but are these white speckles cause for concern - no other fish has them.
any advice would be really appreciated
thanks

You might have ick try to get this thing called super ick cure. If you can send me pics.

Hi
had a new tank set up (which had been cycling for a month) and it has been a month since i began putting my fish into the aquarium...i started introducing fish in the following method :
week 1 - 6 danios
week 2 - 2 sailfin mollies (male and female)
week 3 - upside down catfish & 2 platties
week 4 - an angel fish
Upto now there seems to be no evidence of disease or stress with most of the fish - the tank is very peaceful and there so far have been no fatalities....however.....i have started to notice that my sailfin mollies have now several but very fine looking white speckles on their fins/tails and now one has a few on its lip - the fish dont seem to be stressed (for example swimming ok, eating ok, no velvet, no pop eye etc) but are these white speckles cause for concern - no other fish has them.
any advice would be really appreciated
thanks

Also take out the upside down catfish and add salt.

 

[freddie21]

thanks for all help/response
hav added white spot treatment to the water, removing carbon media - hopefully now fish will recover.
Had some water tested at pets at home, who said the water was almost perfect
I am now awaiting api testing kit to come this week so i can begin to monitor water more accurately - which if i had done this time- the white spot may have been prevented.

 

[freddie21]

good news - the infected mollies now appear to be recovering from the white spot, as the white spots are gradually disappearing. Have to continue treatment tomorrow (4th day) and then again on friday (the 7th day). Then the ich should be successfuly gone Thanks for all help/advice

 

[freddie21]

sad news....woke up this morning only to find one of the mollies that was affected with white spot had died. Very surprised at this as i have treated the tank with white spot treatment and the white spot had appeared to have cleared on the molly. just received my api testing kit - should i test the water - although i did add another dose of white spot treatment last night....should i do water change?
help !

 

[HayzH]

the meds shouldn effect the water results at all so go for it. Take you water sample first then do a big 50% w/c and redose the meds. How are all the other fish?