I have had my black mollie for 4 months, he has developed white spots just a couple over the last day or so.

I noticed he seemed like he was struggling to swim, literally using all his stregnth to swim to the top of the tank

Today I came down and he wasn't moving just lying there breathing, no fins flapping just gills moving. Then I fed the fish and he came up to the top of the tank to get some food but then seconds later fell to the bottom and lay on the gravel. He has swum again but it just seems like such an effort for him.

I'm reluctant to use any chemicals on the tank as I have only just got the water clear from last time I used it for him when he had white spots like a parasite. But will do if its nessersary

This isn't a good sign is it??!!!

my water tests have come back and

ammonia 0
PH 7.2
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0

what should i do?

I'm not an expert on fishes, but gold fish has been ill for over 3 years. He can't swim, blind in one eye, uses all his strength to swim, yet hes still alive. Just try and stasy positive.

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/whitespot.htm

not sure if this helps

If your tank is what is sometimes called a "community tank" then I have gone through this only to be told by the person who sold me the fish "Black Molies are salt water fish" and can tolerate fresh water but need a smell amount of salt in the tank. He never mentioned the salt thing when he sold me the fish. Sorry if that does not help but I never got any more Molies even though they are beautiful.
Most treatments need an isolation tank so the other fish are ok.

I have heard about adding small ammounts of salt to the tank but i was told also that neon teatras cant tolerate saltt and will die....... I have 6 of the testras

Hi. Your molly has WHITE-SPOT and needs treating ASAP or it'll die. I use Protozin which you can buy from the aquarium shop. You need to start treating straight away, like today. Protozin turns the water slightly green at first but that clears. There are other white spot cures too whch will work just as well. What other fish do you have with the molly? Do they have any white spots yet? It spreads very quickly so a whole tank-ful of fish will be infected before very long. Your water readings are fine.

Mollies can be kept without any salt but do better with a little aquarium salt in the water. It's true that other fish such as neons won't tolerate salt.

thanks crazy chris I have added anti white spot to the water!

you can simply increase the temps and add aquarium salt to the tank to eradicate white spot, much easier on the fish, treats in a much safer way. ive had neons before, and i had them in water with salt in it for white spot treatment and they had no issues whatsoever with it. good luck with your fish.

Hope you didn't put too much. Is the molly alone or are other fish with it? Loaches, elephant-nose and black-ghost knife-fish can react badly to treatment so should be given half-dose.

Yes a lot of posters on the specialist aquarium forums where I'm a member recommend raising the temperature to something like 86F to speed up the life cycle of the Protozoan parasite. I swear by Protozin though and my dealer uses it in his tanks. I've never yet lost a fish through white-spot. I did lose a lovely black-ghost knife-fish from the Protozin though as didn't realise I'd to half the dose for it.

I've also got rid of whitespot no goldies with salt - just got to be persistent with it and follow instructions as if you stop too soon you won;t have eradicated the parasite's entire life cycle.

Melafix alongside salt may help too. Melafix to deal with any damage to fishes' skin. Salt will kill your plants, but much better for fish than soem of the chemical fixes which don't work.

If you go the chemical rotue, I've heard good things re. Esha 2000 even though it's broad spectrum stuff.

I managed to cure all my fishies of whitespot (from a new introduction I didn't quarantine - naughty!) with salt alone. Aquarium salt's safest to use.

Yep! Just wanted to interject that, if you increase the temperature it helps to increase oxygenation too (hotter water 'holds' less oxygen than colder water).

Crushing a clove of garlic into the tank (juice and all) wouldn't go amiss either.

ahh good point, forgot to mention that part

I will second Esha 2000 !!

I changed my tank around to add some Discus which meant that my shoal of NEons had to be put in a spare tank with no heater or filter just an airstone - guess what ... they thrived better than ever in room temperature !!!

Tough little sods if you ask me.

I've never found them tough. Can't keep them at all. Are you planning to keep them without heater or filter?