# Balloon Molly & Black Tail



## HoneyBee (Sep 7, 2012)

Hello, everyone. I'm hoping I can get some insight as to what is "afflicting" my Balloon Molly. I've had him for about 6 weeks now, and he has been doing very well. I have a 20 gallon tank with a handful of various Mollies in it, with him being the only male- and, actually, the only Balloon.

Anyway, everything was going great until about a week ago. He is a creamsicle balloon Molly, but as of about 10 days ago the edges of his tail started to become black. Freaking out, I thought that maybe it was fin rot. However, nothing else on his body is discolored, and the other fish have no outer deformities.

Regardless, I treated the tank for it anyway, just as a precaution. Nothing changed. After about a 30% water change and a day of stabilization, I checked the levels of everything, like I had before putting in the treatment. Everything was the way it should be, in healthy parameters. I double checked because I saw something about ammonia poisoning showing itself as discoloration on fish. Well, the ammonia is always kept at a safe level, so that can't be it. Also, I do have salt in the water, so it is more brackish than freshwater, and this began happening shortly after I planted a lily bulb in the tank.

He is eating well, moves around a lot, is very sociable. Doesn't keep his fins clamped, doesn't flash against anything, and doesn't gasp for air. That cuts out a large portion of potential fish diseases that I know about. I'm at a loss as to what is making his tail fin become black!

Now, the edges of the fin are not rotting away, and like I said, it hasn't spread to the rest of his body. It isn't blotchy or some sort of cottony growth, it looks like someone took a black pen and just colored the very edge of his tail. The blackness reaches around to encompass the entire outer ridge of his tail, not the just the horizontal part at the very end.

I've heard of fish that are of low quality breeding & may change colors as they get older, but I just find that a little hard to believe in the case of my fish. I did get him from PetSmart, which we know is a large company, and while he very well may have some black or dalmation balloon Molly business in his DNA, I still don't see how it would only affect the edge of his tail...

Any insight onto this matter would greatly help me. I'm relatively new to fish keeping & will admit I know rather little.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Does it look like the edge of the tail on this mollyhttp://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&sa=X&sout=0&tbm=isch&tbnid=gA0XQL1Z6l3BSM:&imgrefurl=http://www.dan-johnson.net/fish/sailfin_molly.html&docid=o2HY2kTBPe4DlM&imgurl=http://www.dan-johnson.net/fish/sailfin_molly1b.jpg&w=700&h=322&ei=3A5xUPfjGsS62wXTxoCoBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=853&vpy=171&dur=664&hovh=152&hovw=331&tx=143&ty=89&sig=112008194243756035172&page=3&tbnh=89&tbnw=194&start=41&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:41,i:237&biw=1366&bih=667? 

Is there any way you can upload a picture of your molly's tail?


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## HoneyBee (Sep 7, 2012)

That is exactly what it looks like!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

balloon mollies are hybrids. Genetic pot luck.


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

Then there's no need to worry 
emc7 is right, i've seen quite a few that resemble sailfin mollies, the black edge is normal coloration. I personally prefer the sailfin over the balloon, but i'm glad your fish is ok.


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## HoneyBee (Sep 7, 2012)

Oh thank goodness. I've never had anything like that before, my other Mollies are Dalmations & Black ones, so this really threw me for a loop! Thank you both =]


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