Is it ick?

Question
QUESTION: Hi Brittany, i have a baby biorb,(its four gallons) and i have two balloon bellied mollys in it. One of them has tiny tiny white specks on it, is it ick or not? Or are they just crowded? If they were to die, what fish would you reccomend for my four gallon sized tank? Any links of fish would be great, Thanks

ANSWER: Hello Carlos,
Let's focus on trying to keep the fish you already have alive, shall we? The main focus of any fish keeper should be just that - giving the fish happy, healthy, LONG lives.
Make sure you are doing water changes once a week (about 40% should do it) and you might want to consider starting to use aquarium salt as it will help reduce stress and put electrolytes back into the water.
You should have some sort of way to keep the water at the proper temp, and a way to read the temp. If not, then get some. You can buy small tank heaters, usually at Petco.
If you think your fish might have ich, try using lifeguard which is kind of a cure-all and it will take care of whatever your fish might have, and won't be harmful if it is not actually sick.
You need to keep the temp at or around 80 degrees.
If your fish do end up dying before you can get a larger tank for them, I suggest strictly guppies or white cloud minnows from now on. Though you may be able to get away with a kuhli loach or two.

Here are some sites on balloon-bellied mollies -

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1062

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/fish/freshwater/balloonmolly.html


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks a lot! When i got my fish i put the aquarium slat in and let it run for a day, and then i got the fishes. And i have already used only have a tablet of lifeguard, and i just used it today when should i give it to them again? And what heater would best fit my tank? Thanks

Answer
The dosages for the medication should be on the box. But normally people continue to use the medication for a few more days after there are no more apparent signs of illness for cautionary reasons.
You will probably want to go with a 7.5 watt heater, there is one by Hydor called a mini tank heater that you can get for around 12 dollars.