White growth around mollies eyes
- Thread starter RES282
- Start date
Hi and welcome to the forum 
It looks like excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This can be poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH), chemicals from medications or other poisons.
---------------------
Check the tank water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
What is the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).
Mollies need a pH above 7.0 and a GH above 250ppm to maintain good health.
---------------------
How long have you had the fish for?
What other symptoms are the fish showing?
Can you post some more pictures of that fish and the other fishes in the tank (include the entire fish with its tail and make sure they are in focus)?
How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
Have you added anything new (fish, plants, wood, etc) to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
Do you add plant fertilisers, supplements or anything else to the tank?
Are there any other fishes in the tank?
-------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass with a clean fish sponge.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, don't clean it.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for at least a week or until we work out what is wrong with the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
---------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
It looks like excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This can be poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH), chemicals from medications or other poisons.
---------------------
Check the tank water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
What is the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).
Mollies need a pH above 7.0 and a GH above 250ppm to maintain good health.
---------------------
How long have you had the fish for?
What other symptoms are the fish showing?
Can you post some more pictures of that fish and the other fishes in the tank (include the entire fish with its tail and make sure they are in focus)?
How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
Have you added anything new (fish, plants, wood, etc) to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
Do you add plant fertilisers, supplements or anything else to the tank?
Are there any other fishes in the tank?
-------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass with a clean fish sponge.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, don't clean it.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for at least a week or until we work out what is wrong with the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
---------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
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