Is this fungus, parasite or old age on Black Molly?

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 125 Gallons
How long has the tank been running? Since 07/28/2021
Does it have a filter? 125 Sponge filter, air stones and HOB filter 825 GPH
Does it have a heater? 500 Watt
What is the water temperature? 78.9
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
4 Corydoras
4 Lyretail mollies
3 Sunburst Platies
2 Black Sailfin Mollies
2 Yucaton Sailfin Mollies

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Biweekly
How much of the water do you change? 30 to 40 gallons per week
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Vaccum Sand twice per week

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API Master Kit
What are your parameters?
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5 PPM
pH: 7.4

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Once per day
How much do you feed your fish? About 4-6 flakes per fish
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Tetra tropical flakes
Do you feed frozen? Blood worms
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? Shrimp pellets for corys

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 4 years
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? 1 week
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Quarantine: ICH-X and Maracyn daily for 5 days

How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? No behaviorial changes noted.

Hello everyone and I'm thinking you are getting tired of me, LOL. I have a 4-year-old Dalmation Molly, male, that has developed whitish color on his sides and no "fuzzy" looking texture to it. He was a Dalmation, then he turned black over the years with a few white spots. Now he has whitish-looking scales and I'm treating him for fungus with ICH-X and Maracyn x 5th day. Is this fungus, parasite or just old age? I am holding a flashlight on him as I took the photos. He is starting to shimmy now, but he's very uncomfortable in the quarantine tank. Thanks! Deb

 

Shimmies is usually a mineral deficiency in the water .
Live bearers really enjoy a good , not over powering hard water .
I use Wonder shells simply due to some old proprietary secret and convenience.
Adding salt and a source of calcium may help ..
Do you know what your water is really like [pH/GH/KH TDS ] ??

 

Hello Coralbandit, thanks for responding so fast! I use wondershells too, PH is 7.4, GH is 220, KH 182 PPM. Do you think he has fungus?

 

Very hard to tell from pics .
Fungus only grows on dead /damaged areas .
It doesn't just come along like other issues .
I will dare say hoping to be wrong that 4 years for a molly is pretty good !
Your tank is large ,stocked lightly and maintained well .
Good for you on the wonder shells also ! My water is very similar to yours .
All my swordtails love them .
I haven't kept mollies in decades .
Good luck .

 

Thank you, Coralbandit, I appreciate all your help. Perhaps the fungus has been killed off by now and I'm looking at the damage left to the scales. I'm going to transfer him to a 30 gallon tank in the AM with salt and ultra clear water. He'll be more comfortable, he's used to a huge tank. Thanks for your help!

 

It's a kind of hard to tell what is going on here with those pics with a lot of reflection. Could you make a better picture without the reflection?

 

Hi emeraldking, sorry I haven't gotten back to you, this workday is never going to end. Thank you so much for responding. I believe it is fungus on my molly, I treated him with ICH X and Maracyn Two for 5 days and it has improved markedly. I am now treating him with level 2 salt in a 30 gallon and he stopped shimmying, I believe the medication was burning his skin. The white fungus has lifted and it is almost like he's shedding wool. If anything changes that indicates it is not a fungal infection, may I ask you again? Deb