Sailfin Molly Won't Eat and has Fungus

[AwesomeMarioFan]

Reposting this because I believe my other thread was removed because I didn't add enough information:
1. Water parameters. (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, temp', Hardness etc)
Tank age: ~6 months
pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm
kH: Unknown
gH: Unknown
Tank temp: 78 degrees F
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms.
Please see below.
3. How often you do water changes and how much.
25% every week.
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.
API Stress Coat water conditioner when doing water changes.
5. What tank mates are in the tank.
2 Sailfin Mollies, 1 Molly, 1 Guppy, and 15 Neon Tetras
6. Tank size.
29 Gallon
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish?
Please see below.

Hello,

I currently have 2 male sailfin mollies in my tank. I bought the 2nd sailfin molly recently, and both of them haven't been getting along. At first, the new one was the dominant one (he would chase around the other sailfin molly that I have). Eventually I seen them fighting (they had their top fins up and were slapping each other). I used a net to separate them, and ever since then the dominant one is now my 1st sailfin molly. Now that the new one is the one getting chased he seems to be breathing hard and is not eating much, if at all. I bought some freeze dried bloodworms to see if he would eat them and he still isn't eating much. I also noticed recently that he has developed a white spot towards his top fin (which looks like it may be fungus, but I am not sure). Here is a picture of it:

Is there anything that I can do to help him eat again? Also, should I purchase any tank medication for the fungus? I was hoping to find something that wouldn't affect the tank's bacteria ecosystem.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Eeek, he's not a happy looking boy

Sorry to hear about this, looks like he has some kind of disease or illness, possibly something he had in the shop before you bought him, or maybe he's succumbing to stress from the constant fighting. I'm not sure if fungus, bacteria, viral, or even just damage from fighting and excess mucus. I wouldn't add any meds to the tank until you have a better idea of what you're dealing with. Throwing in the wrong chemicals can make things worse rather than better. The clamped fins means he's stressed and not feeling well at all.

Do you have a quarantine tank you can put him in? Would make it easier (and cheaper!) to medicate if you have a smaller quarantine tank or a temporary tote you can add a heater (with a guard) and filter to, to reduce the risk of him spreading whatever he has, get him away from the other sailfin, and hopefully treat whatever is going on with him.

I wouldn't worry about food for now... fish can go for a while without food, he's clearly feeling too stressed and sickly to eat. If he can be quarantined alone, that would hopefully reduce his stress and with any luck, @Colin_T would be able to give you better advice about what might be causing his illness.

 

[Colin_T]

The 2 males are fighting over dominance and this will continue until one submits. If both fish are equal in size and strength, they will fight until one dies. Get rid of one of them. Then add some salt to the tank.

--------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen 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.

 

[AwesomeMarioFan]

Eeek, he's not a happy looking boy

Sorry to hear about this, looks like he has some kind of disease or illness, possibly something he had in the shop before you bought him, or maybe he's succumbing to stress from the constant fighting. I'm not sure if fungus, bacteria, viral, or even just damage from fighting and excess mucus. I wouldn't add any meds to the tank until you have a better idea of what you're dealing with. Throwing in the wrong chemicals can make things worse rather than better. The clamped fins means he's stressed and not feeling well at all.

Do you have a quarantine tank you can put him in? Would make it easier (and cheaper!) to medicate if you have a smaller quarantine tank or a temporary tote you can add a heater (with a guard) and filter to, to reduce the risk of him spreading whatever he has, get him away from the other sailfin, and hopefully treat whatever is going on with him.

I wouldn't worry about food for now... fish can go for a while without food, he's clearly feeling too stressed and sickly to eat. If he can be quarantined alone, that would hopefully reduce his stress and with any luck, @Colin_T would be able to give you better advice about what might be causing his illness.

The 2 males are fighting over dominance and this will continue until one submits. If both fish are equal in size and strength, they will fight until one dies. Get rid of one of them. Then add some salt to the tank.

--------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen 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.

Thanks for your replies! So if I understand correctly, it would be best to isolate the sick molly in another tank (I do have a spare 10 gallon tank), then use aquarium salt in that tank to help the fish recover if the fungus isn't getting better? I could get my spare tank setup, however I do not have a filter or air pump for it, so I would have to run it only with a heater.

I also read that another option is to remove all 3 mollies, rearrange the tank decorations so that they would see it as a new environment, then reintroduce the fish. Then none of them should be dominant since they see it as new. Do you think that this method would work?