# Help!



## amingra (Oct 2, 2005)

Two of my fish have shiny gold spots, mostly around their gills. I noticed it on the first one about two weeks ago, and the second one about one week ago. The weird thing is they are not acting funny like scratching or anything. they act like they always have. I think this may be gold dust disease or someting similar. I am wondering what meds to get. The website said otc or something. Can I get that from the LFS and will it hurt my frogs or snail? Also, do you think it is too late to help them?


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

I think it may be velvet. This is a parasite. Do not use the medications on your frog or snail. It will kill the snail and peal the frogs skin off like a burn.
What kind of fish? Are the all affected? Are the fish that you have scaleless? Because if they are you have to use half dose. To be honest velvet it hard to treat but it CAN be done. It needs a strong meds like Clout, Jungle Parasite Cure, ect. Salt can be used if your fish can tolerate salt. (1 TBS per 10 gallon or if more serious 1 TBS per 5 gallons)
Before you go buyt parasite meds I would wait to see other peoples opinions on this. Because parasite meds are strong and you should be pretty positive that is the cause.Medicating without being positive can cause more problems if it is not necessary and you sould be certin.
It is not too let to help them If they are not sick that is a good sign and you can treat the tank. You need to do a lot of water changes, vacuum the gravel because the parasite will fall off into the gravel and breed in there so it is important to keep the tank clean.


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

Sorry! I just read your signature with your fish in the 20 gallon so you can only use half dose of parasite meds, The mollys can handle the salt but the pleco can't and parasite meds have to be used at half dose on the pleco. They are sensitive to that.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Before you do anything, make sure that you actually have a problem. many mollies these days have some 24-carat gold molly blood in them, manifesting as the occasional gold spots.


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## amingra (Oct 2, 2005)

They are black and white mollies. The store called them dalmation. I read somewhere that people use dye on fish, so at first I thought the gold might be their colors showing up. The male is probably a black molly. He is solid black and he looks like pictures I've seen. The two females are the ones who have the gold showing up. No sign on the male yet. I wasn't worried when the first one had a little gold, but now that the other one has it to and she didnt have it before, I think it must be bad. Couple questions: Can velvet harm the frogs, pleco, or snail? and I know you guys are going to hate me for this: The mollies were only 3 dollars each, Are the meds expensive? If its tough to treat and costs more than the fish, why shouldn't I just euthenize the fish? I really don't want to cuz if I cant take care of cheap fish than how can I take care of expensive fish, but.....


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## amingra (Oct 2, 2005)

Oh and Salt, How do I make sure I have a problem?


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## Doodles (Oct 2, 2005)

> Can velvet harm the frogs, pleco, or snail? and I know you guys are going to hate me for this: The mollies were only 3 dollars each, Are the meds expensive? If its tough to treat and costs more than the fish, why shouldn't I just euthenize the fish? I really don't want to cuz if I cant take care of cheap fish than how can I take care of expensive fish, but.....


Velvert can hurt the pleco and Im not sure about the frogs and snail. It could be a carrier of the disease, like a host and not have it but contaminate the others. Just remember the frogs, pleco and snail must have half dose of meds unless it says otherwise of the directions. The meds are not expensive, like $10 I think, depends on you location as well. 
Signs of sickness:
-Spreading to other fish
-flashing
-not eating
-laying on side
-heavy breathing
-ect

You should not euthanize the fish because it is unfair to the fish. It is not the fishe's fault it got sick. If you buy any kind of animal it is your responsibility to take care of it. It doesn't matter if the fish was free, it is a living and breathing animal. Give the fish a chance at life or bring it back to the LFS, tell them that the fish is sick but you can't afford to take care of it. They may put it in a quarantine tank. You don’t euthanize a dog just because it get’s sick so why would you even do that to a fish? Just because you can! That’s really not fair.


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## AshleytheGreat (Jul 24, 2005)

CLout turns your tank blue BTW. lol It stained my driftwood


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Velvet isn't shiny. If your gold spots are shiny, then it's probably not velvet. Relax already.
Dalmatian mollies were made from making several crosses between strains, and that's how the gold dust gene was discovered. If the gold spots are FLAT and just specks of color, then that's probably all they are. If they are 3-D lumps, though, then maybe there is a problem.


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## amingra (Oct 2, 2005)

lol. sorry. guess i got carried away. I'm not going to kill the fish. The spots look flat but I'm going to treat them anyway and see what happens. Thanks for the help guys.


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