ICK IMPORTANT!

Question
Hi. First things first I have around 25-30 liters tank and I have one baby algue eating fish, 3 black mollies (one is a fry which is around 3-4 months old I brought her 1 month ago with her mommy because I had 2 black mollies before and one of them died because of fin rot, I also have two swordtails. The problem is that today I saw around five dots/spots that looked like I drew them onand around tre on the mommy i heard it might be ice but I am not so sure! I am scared that the baby is going to die, let me just say that the daddy is huge.

My aquarium has a treasure and a couple shells and stones and plants, thay play around the plants all ay esspecially the baby one. I DO have a filter but not a heater, I don't feed my fish blood worms because my mom is like that although she really does do take care of the cleaning. She cleaned it lastly 6  weeks ago ( I know long time ago but anyway) my fish do swim around very happyly they do come around when I watch them..

I was thinking about just putting a tablespoon of salt in there but I am not sure if the swordtails would like it please help // Esin

Answer
Hi Esin,
They may or may not have ick.

Please look at this picture of a fish that has ick/ich also known as white spot parasites -
http://www.bettainfo.com/wp-content/uploads/betta-fish-ich1.jpg

Ick can start off in small numbers and develop quickly into larger infestations.

If your mollies do indeed have ick, treatment should begin right away.

Fish (especially mollies) are particularly prone to ick if they experience fluctuating water temperatures or they are stressed out from poor water quality.

You didn't mention what the temp of the tank was but Mollies do best if it is around 78-82F (25.6 - 27.8 Celsius)

Be sure your mollies have ick before starting treatment by comparing your fish's spots with the infected fish in the photo I provided.

One way to treat ick is by raising the temperature and adding aquarium salt (not table salt)

Salt will not be harmful to your swordtails.

Please read this article explaining about ick's lifecycle and the recommend regimen for heat and salt treatment. This article should help you more. It explains everything you need to know -
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

Let me know if you have anymore questions and I hope this helps!
Susan~