Algae on fish?

Jan Cavalieri said:

I'm not very experienced yet but most of the infections I've seen aren't such pretty colors. This almost looks like an injury to me - and I have injured fish, a small one - during a water change.

This color is exactly the color of an antibiotic called Furan-2 - it is a yellow powder that is exactly that color - I can see the skin color changing to that color of yellow if some powder got directly on her body (and inside her gills). Furan does cause the water to be a tiny bit yellow but only the powder itself is this color of yellow. The water is a very pale yellow. There are probably many other treatments that use unusual colors. So if you've added anything that could have killed her.

Is there anything in your tank she could have rubbed against - it kind of looks like a tear in her scales right at gill level even though there is no blood or red spots. Some of the ceramic castings they make for aquariums have awful sharp points and a fish trying to quickly avoid being sucked up in a hose might swim inside one too fast and get injured and some paint on her - so look at all your accessories.

Take a look inside your filter and see if any of the filter media has this unique color on it. Injuries from filters are common. And maybe something inside the filter is this color of yellow.

I wouldn't worry about this being an actual disease unless you see any other fish with this yellow color on them - THEN I'd be worried.

When you changed your water did you add any solutions to the water that might have splashed her gills? When I add solutions to my tank I always mix them with about a quart of tank water and then pour them back in to avoid splashing anything full-strength directly on a fish

You know if it was a serious injury there should be blood or red lesions - that's why I think something yellow may have gotten into her gills and killed her - she's just in near perfect condition other than the bright yellow. But there does look like there is a tear in her gills but that just may be the picture making it look that way.

Sorry I'm rambling. I need to go to bed LOL. I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm treating a fish with swim bladder disease that won't cooperate with any treatments - and won't eat or when she does eat it all comes back up. Obviously constipated and hasn't eaten a real meal in 4 weeks. I've gotten so attached to her (I can hold her and set her upright.) She's pretty weak and if she just would eat some peas she'd poop and be OK. I just made a pea soup that includes Miralax and am trying to inject it with a needleless syringe into her mouth but she keeps her mouth clamped shut - I think she's scared to eat or it causes her great pain but I think I got a little bit down her - time will tell. I have to make a tough decision about whether or not to euthanize her - it's hard to tell if she's suffering and she swims nearly upright all the time now - so I'm treating her for bacterial infections (the yellow stuff I referred to) dose 4 and she may be a little peppier but still not eating. It's so strange to get so attached to a fish but after caring for her for a month I'm very attached. I have several others that I would be heartbroken in they died.

Click to expand...

Alexis_loredo said:

Thank you so much for all your advice but as of right now the tank has nothing in it since I was originally just quarantining them and found baby fish in my tank that are too hard to catch so no plants or anything in that tank and no filter either since I bought more fish and they had brought ich about a week ago and I’m just continuing the treatment for safety. The only things I add to the water when doing a water change is quick start, stress coat, and ich medication but I also mix it with water when I pour it in. It just happened so sudden and I really have no clue what could have happened.

Click to expand...

FroFro said:

Tetra quick start, stress coat, and a random ick medication in what should be clean water? You know that the dosing instructions on those products is meant to go INTO a tank, not to be tossed at random like some witches brew into the new water for water changes. I'd suggest you take a step back and stop buying fish for the moment and tell us your tank size, how long its been active, and your water parameters and water changing schedule.

Please answer the following questions.

Tank dimensions:
How long the tank has been cycling (when did you first fill it with water and give it a go):
Feeding schedule:
Water change schedule including how much water you remove and add back to the tank:
The EXACT name of the ick medicine you are using and what doses:
Water parameters including Ph, Nitrates, Nitrites, alkalinity, and ammonia.
(You can find this info out by purchasing a water test kit and writing the numbers down. Don't do water test strips, they are innacurate most of the time. OR go to a local pet store that offers free water testing and get it tested, meaning take a sample of your tank water to test it at the store. DO NOT accept an "its'all good bruh" answer, ask for specific numbers of each and write it down.)


I'm not familiar with anything that could cause a giant yellow looking bruise on a white molly like that, hopefully a more experienced fish keeper can diagnose it but they'll need the same info I asked you for.

I will tell you that the number one cause of fish illness and death is stress, stress, stress! An uncycled tank causes stress, lots of strange and strong medicine and improper water changes causes stress. The wrong size tank/ tank mates can cause stress, etc. Medicine is not advised when treating ick unless you have a massive infestation throughout your whole stock and its to the point of life threatening situations for the fish. The main reason is that most fish medicines can wreak havoc on your beneficial bacteria colony and throw your water parameters into chaos. And medicines are hard on even healthy fish. This leads to stress on already sick and stressed fish. Most fish keepers use heat/or salt/or combinations of to treat ick infestations. You can find many guides online to properly treat with this method. I personally use a product called Herbtana Microbe-lift as its natural and wont harm my plants/fish/bacteria colony. However, before adding anything else to your tank besides some nice CLEAN treated water, you should answer the questions above.

Click to expand...

FroFro said:

Tetra quick start, stress coat, and a random ick medication in what should be clean water? You know that the dosing instructions on those products is meant to go INTO a tank, not to be tossed at random like some witches brew into the new water for water changes. I'd suggest you take a step back and stop buying fish for the moment and tell us your tank size, how long its been active, and your water parameters and water changing schedule.

Please answer the following questions.

Tank dimensions:
How long the tank has been cycling (when did you first fill it with water and give it a go):
Feeding schedule:
Water change schedule including how much water you remove and add back to the tank:
The EXACT name of the ick medicine you are using and what doses:
Water parameters including Ph, Nitrates, Nitrites, alkalinity, and ammonia.
(You can find this info out by purchasing a water test kit and writing the numbers down. Don't do water test strips, they are innacurate most of the time. OR go to a local pet store that offers free water testing and get it tested, meaning take a sample of your tank water to test it at the store. DO NOT accept an "its'all good bruh" answer, ask for specific numbers of each and write it down.)


I'm not familiar with anything that could cause a giant yellow looking bruise on a white molly like that, hopefully a more experienced fish keeper can diagnose it but they'll need the same info I asked you for.

I will tell you that the number one cause of fish illness and death is stress, stress, stress! An uncycled tank causes stress, lots of strange and strong medicine and improper water changes causes stress. The wrong size tank/ tank mates can cause stress, etc. Medicine is not advised when treating ick unless you have a massive infestation throughout your whole stock and its to the point of life threatening situations for the fish. The main reason is that most fish medicines can wreak havoc on your beneficial bacteria colony and throw your water parameters into chaos. And medicines are hard on even healthy fish. This leads to stress on already sick and stressed fish. Most fish keepers use heat/or salt/or combinations of to treat ick infestations. You can find many guides online to properly treat with this method. I personally use a product called Herbtana Microbe-lift as its natural and wont harm my plants/fish/bacteria colony. However, before adding anything else to your tank besides some nice CLEAN treated water, you should answer the questions above.

Click to expand...

nic1 said:

oh yeah, I forgot to read the other posts, just went straight in with the first one, Ive just seen that the fish isn't in the main tank but qt.... with no filter, heater, and is being medicated..... make sure you change 50% of the water every day until they go into the main tank, waste builds up really quickly with live bearers. When you add the water back in, try to match the water temp to that in the tank.
The ich meds should only be a three day course.... what are you using?
It might be worth getting a heater/filter in that little tank and using heat and salt to treat the ich rather than meds. I hate meds, its a poison to treat a parasite, which means its a poison bad enough to kill and that that still has an effect on the fishes health....

Increase temp to 32 degrees for 4 days, then reduced its slowly to 30 degrees for a further week. meanwhile, as Mollys can tolerate salt, use aquarium salt.... dissolve 1 teaspoon in 4 L of tank water add it into the tank for the duration of the heat treatment, then do a big water change.

Click to expand...

nic1 said:

I use Esha Exit for Ich when I have to use anything that's not salt (I too have salt intolerant fish) its really good IMO, but it binds to the water conditioner and becomes ineffective if I use it during a water change, so I don't change the water for a week whilst its in there.
https://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products/esha-exit.html
Touchwood, I haven't had to use medication for years now, but here's a link if you want to take a look.

I hope it's an isolated case, (it seems to be) and I hope you get rid of the dreaded ich once and for all!!

Click to expand...

Alexis_loredo said:

I don’t just toss it in there I do the correct dosage for my fish I know how to take care of them. The tank was running for a little over a month before I added the fish I to the tank and the eat every morning and every night. I test the water every other day and my water perimeters are good. You come off very rude so I would rather take my time to talk to someone who seems to actually care to help and not lecture when I do know what to do when it comes to fish. I have cared for fish for years. So thank you for your comment but have a nice night.

Click to expand...

Deanasue said:

Please be kind. Op is looking for help, not a scolding. Thank you.

Click to expand...

FroFro said:

I wasn't the least bit intending to be offensive. If they took it as such not much I can do to change their perception. Have a lovely night

Click to expand...

FroFro said:

If you choose to take offense that's your prerogative. Although I'm sorry your perception is of the nature to take what I say personally, I was merely trying to get information so we could help you, so I won't apologize for being blunt. I hope you have a good day and don't get offended easily when people try to help you in the future.

Click to expand...