Molly mouth fungus??

my daughters molly had white cottony stuff just around his mouth... we treated him with melafix and he looked much better at day 2 hardly any white patches left... however day three he had a couple spots appear on his side kept treating with melafix, spots went away today is day 6 and the spots are back on his side as well as right above his mouth it isn't as bad as it was when we first started treating infact they are not much bigger that a pin head but they really show up against his black body he also has 1 spot on his tail.. should I try treating him with something new after tomorrows water change or just extend his treatment with melafix? perhaps this is ich not mouth fungus?
*** I should also mention that on day 4 he was looking a lot like he was suffering almost put him down but decided to add stress coat to water he perked back up began eating and swimming again.

 

Is there anyway you could load a picture? Could be Ich, or could be the "cotton" fungus (can't remember exactly what the name is). If it is Ich, you could try raising the temp to about 82* and even add a little aquarium salt to the water. If it is the cottony fungus, you could try fungus clear to see if that helps.
Are they fuzzy white patches or just white spots?

 

This link might help https://www.fishlore.com/Disease.htm

 

it is cottony like around his mouth however his body just looks like white dots not fuzzy... I just did his water change and he looks stressed again( even before I did the water change) his mouth is clear again but the white dots(2) are still on his body.. unfortunately I have tried to take pics but they don't show... I have a feeling he isn't going to make it.. he is near the bottom breathing rapidly poor little fella.... but this it how it has been since I noticed the fungus 1 day he looks good and the next he looks awful....

 

I would raise the temp up to 82*. If you have an air stone/air pump I would use it.
Have you tested your water? It didn't say how old your tanks are in the tank info, so maybe they aren't cycled? (which might explain why the fish is breathing heavy)
Personally I would continue to do small but frequent water changes. If changing 25% stresses him out, try changing less but doing it more often. Maybe even a few cups at a time.

 

Fungus can be a tricky disease to treat because 'mouth fungus' is different to 'body fungus' and doesn't always respond to treatments for that type.. the key to treating either type though is to ensure the treatment contains phenoxyethanol and nirfurpirinol.. however, because the treatments available are not 100% reliable and cause serious water pollution unless frequent waterchanges are done, salt baths in a hospital/quarantine tank come highly recommended as a supportive measure for any fish that are actually showing fungus anywhere on their body.. 4oz aquarium-salt per gallon (3gm/liter) is the measure I've seen in some books, although others say you can go three times that.. unfortunately none of those books say how long the sick fish should be dipped in the salt bath, but I'm thinking an hour everyday with occasional monitoring, might work.

 

I would increase the water temp to 82 or 83F and use Rid-Fungus to help make the molly feel more comfortable and possibly attack that fungus. Stresscoat or Fish Protector could help relax him too.

 

he is up swimming and eating today.. water temp is 81.... my tanks have been up and running since the begining of jan cycle is complete... this was a problem before the molly was added(cycling we lost 3 guppies because of high nitrite and ammonia)I know it's complete as I was monitoring and changing water daily until we finally got it through the cycle the water changes don't stress him the fungus is or the melafix was ... he is in a hospital tank... the spots on his side and mouth are gone but now he has one above his gill.. nitrate=4ppm,nitrite=0, gh=75, kh=80,ph=6.8 I vaccume gravel and do 25% waterchanges 2-3X a week as I have fry in the tank cleaning up what they don't eat from the plain glass bottom with a divider so I doubt ammonia is the problem..i'm going to go get some aquarium salt and a bowl for salt baths,need to get new ammonia test also... perhaps some rid fungus.... air stone is present filter without carbon is present I dunno just doesn't make any sense to me why it keeps clearing up and moving to different parts of his body... should I completely change his water(hos. tank) or just add carbon to filter to neutralize any melafix left if I use rid fungus seeing as there is probley some melafix left in his water? i'm going to try salt baths for a couple days and see what happens*** stresscoat is in water already ..

 

I think it should be ok to add rid fungus without needing to get all the melafix out. You may also want to consider Fungus Eliminator or a stronger anti-fungal med if that fungus is so virulent although I've seen Rid Fungus work really well. This just sounds like a rough case of fungus. The Rid Fungus could deal with the source of it, but Fungus Eliminator may be needed.

 

k thanks co betta our local lfs are not well educated they're suggestion flush him and buy a new fish ugh... i've wrote everthing down so I'm off to lfs again with list in hand! hope this helps him... this up a down has to be taking a toll on him...

 

I have a 10 g tank with 3 black mollys 1 white molly and 3 sord tails. Two of the black mollys have had a white stuff that looks like cotten on there mouths. All I had was jungle all in one and so I treated the tank with it. I didnt't see much inprovement with the first 5 days so I treated them for a nother 5. They looked great for 2 days after the treatment was complete now they are white mouthed again. I am not sure if I should pull out the two and treat them or should I treat the whole tank? I thank that the sord tails are not feeling well because they are staying in the bubbler. What should I treat them with? I have to order the meds. The closed fish store is about 100 miles from me. That is why I thought that I found the perfect med with the all in one. I am raising the temp in the tank to 82 it was at 80. The tank seemed healthy until they(2 mollys and 1 sordtail) all had babies the same day. (70 fry total) I moved the fry into a baby tank and they seem ok.

 

What are the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings in the tank?
Do you have any aquarium salt?
If you do, you can do an old-fashioned salt dip.

Otherwise, I'm unsure of what medications to use for fungus.

I would not raise the temp in the tank. Higher temps (like those that we have in our betta tanks) tend to increase fungus. Mollies can do well in 78-80 degree water. Slowly lower the temp, however. You don't want it to be a rapid change.

Lastly, welcome to Fishlore.

 

One medicine recommended for mouth fungus is Maracyn-Plus...

Before you start a new treatment you should do several water changes.....If you have been testing your water, what are the readings. Then....

Any medicine should only be used after the carbon has been removed. Preferably medicate in a hospital tank, and be sure to follow all the directions that come with the medicine....Don't stop using it until the full coarse of treatment is finished, even if the symptoms disappear.

Then after it is all finished. Place new carbon in the filter for 24 hours to remove any medicine.....Hope this helps...

 

Welcome to Fishlore.

Unfortunately, the tank is pretty overstocked and it's likely that the water chemistry isn't good and that opens the door for fungus. I'd do daily partial water changes of 25-50% and order Prime for tap water conditioner, Rid-Fungus for their mouth fungus and an API master freshwater testing kit if you don't have one. Also Vita-Chem and Fish Protector. Sustina-flower's recommendation would be good to get too. I've always had good luck with Rid-fungus, but you'd want a stronger med in case it didn't work for your fish.

Try - they should have all of those I think.

 

Monica, any luck getting meds for your fish. I know how it is being a long way from the store.....Let us know how it goes..

 

Thank you for all your help. I have been doing 30% water changes and the water ph is great. All the water reading are coming back at normal levels. (I am not at home and can't remember the numbers) I lost one of the sail fin mollys and I didn't even know she was sick. What is the best online store to use? I have ordered from a couple diffrent places and they seem to take forever.

 

Sorry you lost one of your fish.

If you live in the US, Drs Foster and Smith are unbelievable.
They almost always ship the next day. I get my "7-10 day" orders in 48-72 hours.

 

We're sorry you lost your molly.

DFS is good and we've ordered a lot from them. Unfortunately, they don't carry Fish Protector so we were ordering from petmountain - but now we're shopping at thatfishplace since they have the Fish Protector AND the large Vita-Chem bottles.. cheaper prices mostly also. Each store has things they don't carry, so it's good to check all 3 for the things you want.

 

Thanks for the info! I live in Colorado but still DFS take weeks to get stuff to me. I will keep trying!!! Thank for the group hug over the loss of my fish. But.... I have 40 of her babies!!!!

 

That seems really odd. I live closer (they're in WI, and I live in MN), but it shouldn't take more than a week to make up for the difference.

Glad that you've got the babies.

 

You might try That Fish Place - the orders take about 6 days to get to us.

 

I was reading some of the other people’s problems and there was a suggestion to put a hand full of gravel from a healthy tank into the sick tank. I did this and within 10 hours everyone is looking much better. The fungus is almost completely gone!!!!! Someone had babies!!!! Any suggestion on what to do with all the babies? I have baby tanks that are getting full. The guppies I have not been "saving" the fry but there are still lots of them that survive. Is there some place to sell some? I have guppies, mollies, swordtails and platties.

 

Usually, local stores or fish clubs are the way to sell them. Sometimes big chain stores will take some.