Baby Mollies and Ick

Question
I noticed the common ick on my fish yesterday. I haven't treated it yet because... i have molly babies. will the treatment affect them? As of now my fish don't seem to have ick, but i still am worried. none of the other fish have it, the last fish who did died today....

Answer
Hi there,
Sadly, when you notice ick on one or two individual fish. Usually the others are soon to show up the white spots as well with time. So its best to treat the whole tank.

Molly fry can be quite tough survivors (especially older babies) and probably would be fine during the ick treatment unless the ick parasites target them severely --then they might definitely be in real danger. You could always separate them into a small aquarium (make sure to keep water quality at its best in a small tank) while treating the main aquarium. It depends upon how far the parasites have taken ahold --which means it is uncertain whether or not the fry will develop it or not.

I would start treatment as soon as possible -

*Do a 50% water change because its best to start with a clean aquarium (make sure replacement water is as close to tank temp as possible and treat new water with water conditioner)

*Raise the temperature gradually to about 82-84 F (for better immune system and speeding up ick lifecycle to kill them faster)

*Treat with an ick medication (any type will typically do the job quite well. Quick Cure is a very popular ick medication)

*Do 50% water changes at least every to every other day to help remove excess parasites in the free-swimming stage in the water and pollution that will stress the fish further.

~Continue this treatment regimen for at least 12-14 days. This is to insure every last ick parasite is killed off.

I do hope this helps!
Karen~