Freshwater Black Mollies vs. Marine Fish Diseases

[Humblefish]

Off handed thought here... what do you think about these as canaries for a coral and invert QT system? Could they be used to detect if a coral or invert came in infected? If they eat algae they could help keep it clean too.

Edit: my reason for asking is to see if this can reduce the time for needing to qt corals and inverts. (Says the guy with a batch of snails that will hit 76 days on Monday )

In theory, yes... but this has never been tested.

Velvet tomonts will start releasing dinospores almost immediately, and ich tomonts on a coral/invert will release at least a few free swimmers within a 30 day period. The 72 day variant just didn’t release ALL theronts until the 72 days were up. Brook/uronema both have a direct lifecycle, so those infestations should show up fairly soon. Same goes for any unhatched worm eggs, harmful bacteria on a coral/invert. If your black mollies look fine after 30 days, then those corals/inverts should be good to go. You just can’t add any new corals/inverts to the system without resetting the 30 day clock.

However, the downside is if a molly gets a “hit” then you must remove all of them and go fallow for 76 days. AND treat the molly the same as you would any other sick SW fish. Then retire it to a quiet area of your DT sump/fuge to live out it’s life. They do a pretty good job of keeping chaeto trimmed without eating it all. If you get one of the larger black mollies (e.g. Ballons) those will oftentimes do fine in your DT even with semi-aggressive fish. Just not predators.

Once a molly’s immune system has been exposed to a marine parasite/disease, said molly is no longer a suitable test fish. You must buy more freshwater mollies to use as canary fish.

 

[code4]

Engineer I think you are better off just running the clock on them. Because you are keeping them without fish to allow any eggs to hatch and any possible parasites to then starve to death. Giving them a possible meal could potentially lengthen the time. . Glad to see you are being careful with their health.

Shelley

 

[DieHardPhotog-Reefer]

1st... @Humblefish this was an excellent article! Thank you.
2nd... Our DT's fallow period ended yesterday (today is day 77) with only a blood red shrimp, 7 snails and 3 crabs which lived in the DT during the fallow period. (The R2R community helped us save 3 clownfish which are in separate QT tanks awaiting the move back to what's hopefully a safe home. Thanks to you all!!!)

I just read @Humblefish's recent article, "Quarantining: The pros & cons" which mentioned a higher frequency of Brooklynella/Uronema being reported. That is what we think killed our 4 Chromis and a Coral Beauty (died within 2-3 days of each other). Maybe it led to the Fin Rot which was possibly on the Coral Beauty but clearly evident in the clownfish. We have safely treated the clownfish with FW Dips, Acriflavin bath, plus 2 weeks of Furan, Kanaplex, Metroplex, and Selcon added to the diet. They've healed from it over 77 days.

1. My question is now the time to introduce a FW Black Molly to the DT with a mesh separator?

2. Exactly what should my wife and I look for in the Black Molly?

3. Also, @Humblefish referenced the possible use of Metroplex as a preventive way to handle Brook/Uronema. Should we add Metro to the DT and how would it affect the Black Molly?
Note: We eventually want to make this 90 gal system a mixed reef but he still didn't have a good feeling on the safety of Metroplex with corals according the the material referenced. Is this something that would be dangerous to all corals?

4. If the Molly dies or shows signs of whatever in question 2, are we facing a full tear down of the whole system with bleach & etc to get rid of the Brooklynella/Uronema?

 

[Humblefish]

1. My question is now the time to introduce a FW Black Molly to the DT with a mesh separator?

Yes

2. Exactly what should my wife and I look for in the Black Molly?

Any white spots, dots, peeling skin, etc.

3. Also, @Humblefish referenced the possible use of Metroplex as a preventive way to handle Brook/Uronema. Should we add Metro to the DT and how would it affect the Black Molly?
Note: We eventually want to make this 90 gal system a mixed reef but he still didn't have a good feeling on the safety of Metroplex with corals according the the material referenced. Is this something that would be dangerous to all corals?

Metro is largely ineffective in a DT environment because it will be rapidly biodegraded out of the water (same applies to all non-copper medications).

4. If the Molly dies or shows signs of whatever in question 2, are we facing a full tear down of the whole system with bleach & etc to get rid of the Brooklynella/Uronema?

Brook can be eradicated by going fallow for 6 weeks; however to rid a system of uronema requires bleaching.

 

[DieHardPhotog-Reefer]

Yes



Any white spots, dots, peeling skin, etc.



Metro is largely ineffective in a DT environment because it will be rapidly biodegraded out of the water (same applies to all non-copper medications).



Brook can be eradicated by going fallow for 6 weeks; however to rid a system of uronema requires bleaching.

Thanks for the quick response. Is there any simple way, to know if we had Brooklynella or Uronema after the fact?

 

[VJM 21]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I’d add this anyway. Twice I’ve purchased two freshwater mollies at a time. I acclimate them over 3-4 days to full saltwater. In both instances, one molly brutally killed the other. Using the same 5.5 gallon tank, I acclimated 4 together and they were fine. Just an FYI.

 

[Tobias9413]

Sorry to revive old thread but have a question about this method. If I keep the mollies in a breeder net near the top of my tank are they likely to get any velvet there or do they need to be swimming near the bottom? Or would putting them in my sump help detect any diseases better? Thanks

 

[sscg]

Sorry to revive old thread but have a question about this method. If I keep the mollies in a breeder net near the top of my tank are they likely to get any velvet there or do they need to be swimming near the bottom? Or would putting them in my sump help detect any diseases better? Thanks

I don't think that matters if there is any disease in the DT they are going to get it.

 

[Mark Nicoletti]

Hi! I know this is an old thread, but I'm hoping @Humblefish could answer a quick question.

I added a Molly to my DT as a canary and she became riddled with Ich after several days. I took her out and put her in a bucket filled with freshwater, a heater and an air stone. She has been in the bucket for a week and she is doing fine.

My question has to do with how to treat her for the ICH she became infected with while in my DT. Does the saltwater ICH die now that she is in the freshwater, or do I need to treat her with copper (or something else)?

 

[code4]

She does not need to be treated with anything else. But needs to spend at least 14 days in the fresh water. She cannot be used again as a "canary" So you can either keep her and place her back in the display tank once it is clear of ich or give her away to someone with a freshwater tank. Once used as a canary they may take longer to show signs of ich. You need to start the clock over on the DT from when you took her out for your fallow period.

 

[Mark Nicoletti]

She does not need to be treated with anything else. But needs to spend at least 14 days in the fresh water. She cannot be used again as a "canary" So you can either keep her and place her back in the display tank once it is clear of ich or give her away to someone with a freshwater tank. Once used as a canary they may take longer to show signs of ich. You need to start the clock over on the DT from when you took her out for your fallow period.

Thank you!

 

[code4]

Thank you!

I personally like mollies. I keep a number of them in my DT. They eat algae. But with that being said they eat it so well I cannot watch for algae to know whether I have nitrates creeping up. No algae to watch for! I still need to keep the nitrates down by other means though.