black molly test for ich

[jtf74]

I've got 3 weeks left on fallow display until my fish can go back in. I was thinking about adding a black molly or two then to the sump to see if they show signs of ich before adding my saltwater fish just as an extra precaution . Some people have said acclimating them to salt isn't easy but wondering what consensus is? Also I am assuming freshwater ich already on a molly would not survive in the salt to be confused with marine ich?

 

[Cthulukelele]

I've got 3 weeks left on fallow display until my fish can go back in. I was thinking about adding a black molly or two then to the sump to see if they show signs of ich before adding my saltwater fish just as an extra precaution . Some people have said acclimating them to salt isn't easy but wondering what consensus is? Also I am assuming freshwater ich already on a molly would not survive in the salt to be confused with marine ich?

Saltwater acclimated mollies have become a pretty common staple at a lot of lfs. I'd check in the area they may have done the work for you already

 

[Tired]

A slow acclimation over a few days to a week should get them to saltwater fine. Some folks just drop them straight in and have that also work.

Freshwater diseases won't survive in a marine environment, no. Ideally you'd want to get healthy mollies so they'll have a better shot at surviving any disease they might get. If they get sick, pull them out of the saltwater, pop them back into freshwater, and that should cure them.
(or humanely euthanize them with clove oil, if you absolutely can't be bothered to do that.)

Saltwater acclimated mollies have become a pretty common staple at a lot of lfs. I'd check in the area they may have done the work for you already

I wouldn't do this, because the mollies at the LFS have likely already been exposed to something. The idea behind using black mollies is that, being born into freshwater, they have no resistance to marine diseases and should therefore (should, no guarantees) catch any marine disease they're exposed to very quickly. If they've been in dirty LFS water, they may have built up an immunity. They may also bring in a disease.

 

[The_Paradox]

If you want to Canary test, you should pull water from your fallowed tank and put it in a separate tank that you put the mollies in. Otherwise worst case all you accomplish is resetting the fallow timer.

 

[jtf74]

If you want to Canary test, you should pull water from your fallowed tank and put it in a separate tank that you put the mollies in. Otherwise worst case all you accomplish is resetting the fallow timer.

My original dt actually leaked after I caught the fish for QT and was split into a new large tank and a smaller one . Was going to use the smaller tank to test in as suggested.

 

[jtf74]

A slow acclimation over a few days to a week should get them to saltwater fine. Some folks just drop them straight in and have that also work.

Freshwater diseases won't survive in a marine environment, no. Ideally you'd want to get healthy mollies so they'll have a better shot at surviving any disease they might get. If they get sick, pull them out of the saltwater, pop them back into freshwater, and that should cure them.
(or humanely euthanize them with clove oil, if you absolutely can't be bothered to do that.)


I wouldn't do this, because the mollies at the LFS have likely already been exposed to something. The idea behind using black mollies is that, being born into freshwater, they have no resistance to marine diseases and should therefore (should, no guarantees) catch any marine disease they're exposed to very quickly. If they've been in dirty LFS water, they may have built up an immunity. They may also bring in a disease.

Thanks. I will keep them if I get them. Started a macroalgae only tank they would go in which is from the fallow system.

 

[Spare time]

Seems kind of cruel to me.

 

[Joe31415]

I've got 3 weeks left on fallow display until my fish can go back in. I was thinking about adding a black molly or two

If you do that, you're no longer fallow. The whole point of not having fish is to break ich's life cycle. At least wait until you finish the fallow period to add the mollies. Remember, if they show signs of ich, you have to start the whole process over.

 

[jtf74]

Seems kind of cruel to me.

I have a qt and treatment ready if it get ich. Its a $5 molly vs my 5 year old copperband. Sorry.

 

[jtf74]

If you do that, you're no longer fallow. The whole point of not having fish is to break ich's life cycle. At least wait until you finish the fallow period to add the mollies. Remember, if they show signs of ich, you have to start the whole process over.

I've got 3 weeks left on fallow display until my fish can go back in. I was thinking about adding a black molly or two "then "

 

[Seansea]

I have 4 in my reef tank. Originally used mollys to keep my qt tank cycled. Actually cool reef fish. I tried every acclimation method there is. The plop them in doesnt work at all. The first go around had 7 and 1 survived. Next time acclimated over like an hour takin water out of bag and adding in salt water with tirkey baster. Out of 7 2 survived. When i did acclimation with drip method over like 4 hours 6 out of 7 survived. Not sure if they get marine ich. Never saw mine with that.

 

[Tired]

Seems kind of cruel to me.

It's either testing with the mollies, or testing with an equal number of less effective marine fish. Either way, fish are at risk. Better for it to be fish that give a fast, easily seen result, and can then be cured without the need for any meds or TTM.

I have 4 in my reef tank. Originally used mollys to keep my qt tank cycled. Actually cool reef fish. I tried every acclimation method there is. The plop them in doesnt work at all. The first go around had 7 and 1 survived. Next time acclimated over like an hour takin water out of bag and adding in salt water with tirkey baster. Out of 7 2 survived. When i did acclimation with drip method over like 4 hours 6 out of 7 survived. Not sure if they get marine ich. Never saw mine with that.

A strain of marine ich has been cultured for at least 2 years on black mollies, and their use as canaries is pretty well-documented. They definitely get it, and just about every other non-species-specific marine fish disease you can think of.

 

[nereefpat]

I've got 3 weeks left on fallow display until my fish can go back in. I was thinking about adding a black molly or two "then "

How long is the fallow period?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I've got 3 weeks left on fallow display until my fish can go back in. I was thinking about adding a black molly or two then to the sump to see if they show signs of ich before adding my saltwater fish just as an extra precaution . Some people have said acclimating them to salt isn't easy but wondering what consensus is? Also I am assuming freshwater ich already on a molly would not survive in the salt to be confused with marine ich?

Regarding the molly idea - that is one of those things that got over-extrapolated. It is a nice theory, but in practice, it only works in limited instances. Here is a write-up I did on that:

Using black mollies to screen an aquarium for Cryptocaryon
In recent years, a procedure has been promoted that uses marine-adapted freshwater mollies to screen for active Cryptocaryon infections in marine aquariums. The thought is that freshwater black mollies that are naïve to marine ectoparasites, will soon develop infections if that disease is present in a marine aquarium.

With mollies being stark black, white parasites will show up in sharp contrast, making their identification much easier. Mollies have also been suggested to be housed alongside sensitive fish (that cannot be easily medicated) to serve as a “canary in the coal mine” for active disease.

The basic process is to acquire a small group of freshwater black mollies and gradually acclimate them to seawater over a period of up to 5 days. They then are added to the previously fallow aquarium, or added to the quarantine tank, and then observed for at least two weeks to see if they develop ectoparasites. If they do, then a treatment needs to be instituted, or the fallow period extended.

As with many aquarium ideas, over-extrapolation can reduce the effectiveness of the original idea. The process is really only suited to screen for Cryptocaryon. Brooklynella may not even infect mollies. Uronema and Amyloodinium can survive salinities as low as 3 ppt so may already be present in “freshwater” mollies that have been raised in brackish fishponds. Marine and freshwater fish have basically the same internal salinity. Therefore, untreatable internal diseases, such as viruses and Myxozoans could possibly be brought into an aquarium with the mollies.

There is also a risk for introducing euryhaline trematodes into an aquarium along with black mollies. Fish farmers, wholesalers and retail dealers all understand that mollies benefit from being housed in brackish water, and so they usually add salt to systems housing mollies in order to reduce mortality under crowded conditions. Euryhaline trematodes take advantage of this, the trouble is that some of these can survive marine conditions and then hyposalinity is ineffective as a treatment for them.

Finally, black mollies have been used by scientists to propagate Cryptocaryon in laboratories. However, these studies went no further and there is no scientific evidence to indicate this method is actually effective. It is based on a theory, but it needs to be better tested. If properly applied, this process may have some benefit in screening for Cryptocaryon but falls short for all other diseases.

 

[littlefoxx]

I've got 3 weeks left on fallow display until my fish can go back in. I was thinking about adding a black molly or two then to the sump to see if they show signs of ich before adding my saltwater fish just as an extra precaution . Some people have said acclimating them to salt isn't easy but wondering what consensus is? Also I am assuming freshwater ich already on a molly would not survive in the salt to be confused with marine ich?

I acclimated 5 dalmation mollies to saltwater. Two passed. I have three left and my female is now pregnant! I drip acclimated them for about 3 hours to saltwater.

 

[Spare time]

I have a qt and treatment ready if it get ich. Its a $5 molly vs my 5 year old copperband. Sorry.

I misunderstood. I thought you were just going to put the fish in while there is still a relatively higher risk of ich still being present. My bad

 

[littlefoxx]

Regarding the molly idea - that is one of those things that got over-extrapolated. It is a nice theory, but in practice, it only works in limited instances. Here is a write-up I did on that:

Using black mollies to screen an aquarium for Cryptocaryon
In recent years, a procedure has been promoted that uses marine-adapted freshwater mollies to screen for active Cryptocaryon infections in marine aquariums. The thought is that freshwater black mollies that are naïve to marine ectoparasites, will soon develop infections if that disease is present in a marine aquarium.

With mollies being stark black, white parasites will show up in sharp contrast, making their identification much easier. Mollies have also been suggested to be housed alongside sensitive fish (that cannot be easily medicated) to serve as a “canary in the coal mine” for active disease.

The basic process is to acquire a small group of freshwater black mollies and gradually acclimate them to seawater over a period of up to 5 days. They then are added to the previously fallow aquarium, or added to the quarantine tank, and then observed for at least two weeks to see if they develop ectoparasites. If they do, then a treatment needs to be instituted, or the fallow period extended.

As with many aquarium ideas, over-extrapolation can reduce the effectiveness of the original idea. The process is really only suited to screen for Cryptocaryon. Brooklynella may not even infect mollies. Uronema and Amyloodinium can survive salinities as low as 3 ppt so may already be present in “freshwater” mollies that have been raised in brackish fishponds. Marine and freshwater fish have basically the same internal salinity. Therefore, untreatable internal diseases, such as viruses and Myxozoans could possibly be brought into an aquarium with the mollies.

There is also a risk for introducing euryhaline trematodes into an aquarium along with black mollies. Fish farmers, wholesalers and retail dealers all understand that mollies benefit from being housed in brackish water, and so they usually add salt to systems housing mollies in order to reduce mortality under crowded conditions. Euryhaline trematodes take advantage of this, the trouble is that some of these can survive marine conditions and then hyposalinity is ineffective as a treatment for them.

Finally, black mollies have been used by scientists to propagate Cryptocaryon in laboratories. However, these studies went no further and there is no scientific evidence to indicate this method is actually effective. It is based on a theory, but it needs to be better tested. If properly applied, this process may have some benefit in screening for Cryptocaryon but falls short for all other diseases.

I actually saw this when my tank came down with velvet and its why I decided not to use black mollies. I put my chromis trio in for a month and when they were fine I added fish