black mollies, white mouth

[spellingwitch]

Hi,

I'm a complete newbie and bought a 2.5 gallon tank planning to have only one or two fish. I bought some common black mollies at the LFS which seem to be young ones as they are only about an inch long so I bought 3, just to cycle the tank and then I plan to give them to a friend who has an established stable tank already.
(Yes I know now about fishless cycling, will do that in the future.)

Anyway I've had the mollies for a week and they seemed to have been doing great, very active, eating well, etc.

Today I notice two of them have white around their mouths. Not a lot, and not anywhere else on their bodies. But because the fish are so black the white stands out. All 3 are still feeding normally but the two with white mouths seem a little listless and are hanging out near the bottom of the tank except when I feed them.

I can't really seem to sex them, the store told me he gave me 1 male and 2 females but they all look the same to me underneath. But one is smaller and definitely more aggressive than the other two and sometimes chases the other two.

Is this ich? Or mouth rot? Mouth fungus? I haven't found anything about white mouths.

I've been doing about a 3 cup w/c each day, and adding dechlorinator to the water. So far my levels are normal.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Kissifish]

I believe its called cotton mouth. Its a fungal infection. As to how to treat it, I'd say its safe to use 1TBS. salt per 5 gallons water for starters, but check your water parameters first. Then, some also increase the temp. to 85 degrees, slowly. (Like 2 degrees per 3 hours)

If its a parasite called columnaris that could be causing it, the increased temp caused the life cycle of the parasite to speed up.

One reason you have this problem may be the uncycled tank. Caused the immune system of fish to be lowered due to stress caused by high ammonia and nitrites.

See smb's post on fishless cycling.........It doesn't harm the fish.

As for sexing, the female has a more rounded ventral fin under her belly. The male will have a long pair of fins called an ovipositor.

 

[AquaNut]

Actually, with mollies, you can safely use quite a bit more salt than that. They are a brackish water fish. Aquarium salt will help TONS with fungal infections. Good for you for doing daily small water changes. That's a lot more than a lot of 'newbies' do and will go a long way in helping your mollies survive the cycling.

Something to consider: You definitely already have started your cycle. One fish would be more than enough to keep the cycle going in a tank that size. If your friend with the established tank has a hospital or quarantine tank, perhaps s/he could take two of the mollies now instead of later. I think all three of the mollies would be happier for it.

Edit - I should have said that you cannot add all the salt at once. I'd start with a teaspoon, dissolved in a cup of tank water. Add another tsp tomorrow, and one more the day after that.

 

[Kossy]

Absolutely salt will help heaps. See my sig for more info on mouth fungus.

 

[spellingwitch]

Added salt to the water as well as Maracyn and Maracyn-Two on Friday. I had to be away for the weekend and this morning my fish are completely better! No more white, and all three are darting around the tank like normal. They were all excited when they greeted me (to be fed of course) and I was so happy! I can't believe how attached you can get to three little $.99 fish.

Thanks for the help guys.

I guess my question now is how does this affect the cycle? I don't have a hospital tank so I treated in the normal tank.