# Help! Huge white "sore" on Black Molly



## buddylamp (Apr 4, 2012)

Hi, I am new here. 
I haven't had fish since I was a kid so I am learning a ton. I have a 29 gallon tank about 3 months old. The water parameters all test fine. Last week I lost two fish. A cory and a chinese algae eater. This week one of my mollies has, what appears to be a huge white sore near his saddle below the dorsal. It doesn't seem to be cottony like a fungus and is too big to be ich. The mollies and swordtails have been shimmying (is that the correct term for scratching themselves on plants?) I am thinking external parasite. I will try and post a very unclear picture. Can anyone advise how to proceed? I added salt to the aquarium.
THANKS!
Steve


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Few questions first so it would help better to figure out your problem. You don't want to treat for an illness that it may not be.

How big is the tank?
How long has the tank been setup?
What are the actual numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, also ph. Not just fine but the actual numbers.
How often do you do water changes.
How many fish in tank, and is it planted.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

So a 3 month old 29 gallon tank.... but how many fish are in it?

Did you allow the tank to go through the Nitrogen Cycle before adding fish? How did you acclimate the fish? What are the actual parameters? (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH?) You should use a liquid test kit as the strip tests are very inaccurate.

Any extra info' you can give us will help.


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## buddylamp (Apr 4, 2012)

29 gallon tank
Three live plants two anubias, java moss, marimo ball
tank went through cycle I added fish slowly
3 mollies
3 swordtails
3 cory cats
3 small platies
5 neon tetras
a bunch of molly swordtail babies 6-7 tiny guys

I use test strips not a good water test kit guess I need to get one

The babies are recent additions does the birthing process add a lot of "stuff' to the water

Seem to be having an algal bloom now that the daylight is getting longer

I try to change 5-10 gallons every weekend

I can't get a good picture of the molly but it looks as if some scales with the pigment are missing.

Thanks for helping....


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

how long did you cycle before adding fish


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

I expect that tank is at the very least close to fully cycled.
Your molly is hard to diagnose from the picture. the wound looks like either a bacterial infection, or an actual wound. Did he have the injury before the Chinese algae eater died? That fish is not an algae eater, all marketing aside, and is known to suction on to other fish, right about where your mollly's injury is. 

When was the molly added?
And importantly with a fancy black molly, what is the temperature and how hard is your water? That's a fish that needs hard water of up around 80. They are super sensitive to pollution (check your filter). 

Your Corydoras hate salt, while your mollies love it. You have a rough hard water/soft water species mix there, with softwater Corys and neons, and hardwater livebearers. If you had just livebearers, I'd say keep the salt in - the rubbing is called 'flashing' and is the result of external parasites, often connected with the wrong water conditions. 
My main fish are livebearers, and if I keep them in my soft tapwater without hardening it, they flash, shimmy and get skin irritations within hours. 

Oftentimes, and this is bad news, a borderline cycled tank gets the blame for epidemics carried into it by newly introduced fish. I really don't think ammonia kills as many fish as we'd like to think. A new tank, even a cycled one, is stressful for a fish, especially a water specialized fish like a molly. Any diseases they carry from the crowded conditions at the farm, in transit or at the pet store will blossom in the 2-6 weeks after they leave the crowding. 
Keep the water changes up around 10 gallons, use gloves if you have open cuts on your hands and wait it out...


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## allllien (Apr 6, 2012)

Hi, I had exactly the same thing happen to my black molly. I was doing a water change in my indoor tub pond (full of assorted livebearers) and noticed a white lump bulging out of her skin, on her side. I assumed it was some kind of injury as the pond has always been healthy (and it didn't look like any of the diseases I've come across) so I didn't take immediate action to treat the pond. I had a disease outbreak in one of my other tanks though (from new fish I recently bought) so I decided to treat all my tanks and ponds as a precaution -I used Esha 2000 and aquari-cycline (tetracycline), I still don't know what the Molly's white lump was but it cleared up with the meds, so just wanted to share my experience


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## buddylamp (Apr 4, 2012)

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I moved the Molly into a new 10 gallon tank and have been treating with Maracyn. After 4 days the sore is almost gone. Could be a coincidence, but I guess this is a good sign. So far, the fish in my main tank seem healthy.


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## allllien (Apr 6, 2012)

buddylamp said:


> Thanks for the help and suggestions. I moved the Molly into a new 10 gallon tank and have been treating with Maracyn. After 4 days the sore is almost gone. Could be a coincidence, but I guess this is a good sign. So far, the fish in my main tank seem healthy.


Good to hear  I was thinking it could be some sort of abscess, but then again, I don't know if fish can actually get abscesses or not? It seemed like the fish equivalent of an abscess to me, none of my other fish had anything similar either.


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