Dalmatian molly scales growing over eyes?

[Ellie]

I have no idea what's wrong with my male dalmatian molly, Lycaon, and can't find any information on what is wrong with him and how to fix him. I've had fish all my life and just can't find an answer to this one. Any help is appreciated.
When I first got Lycaon, he was a normal Dalmatian molly, though he had a bit over average black, and then over the course of a few weeks, he's turned completely black, but all his offspring are bright, with little black.
He's gotten much less active, he used to chase and mate the females constantly, but he's stopped completely. He just lays on the gravel, moving only when another of the community fish brush against him or its feeding time. Feeding time is the only time he goes to the top. His body looks normal except that the scales seem to be overgrown and are beginning to seem choppy like dropsy, but this didn't start till after I noticed he can't see out of his one eye any more, and the other eye is nearly covered as well, in his scales. His scales have grown over his eyes and he can barely see any more.
Once his scanned began looking like dropsy I moved him to the hospital tank, and treated him as such. It hasn't done anything so I've begun thinking that's not what is wrong. Since the eye became covered, he's also swimming at an angle instead of a normal gait...
Is there who knows what is wrong with him and how to fix him? Having so many fry gets annoying but I love him and don't want to lose him, as he seems to be giving up now.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I wonder if he is either blind or mostly blind, and so he doesn't travel around the tank as much / can't see his ladies to pursue them. Swims at an angle to see a little or just to orient himself to water current. Do you know if he is an older fish?

Out of curiosity, what are you feeding? Wonder if he could have some odd deficiency or some such.

 

[arcab4]

sorry to hear about it. never heard of scale issues like that before in all my years of fish keeping. i've seen the lethargic fish issue on older fish so age can be a reason.

 

[Ellie]

I got him about a year ago, this just began about a month ago. So I'm not entirely sure of his age but I doubt he's very old. He's actually the first molly I've ever had, and since the girls and the younger mollies as well as the rest of the community are perfectly healthy I just don't know what's up.
I feed them wardly tropical flakes. There is a dwarf frog so he could possibly eat a bit of the frog food, but usually Kermita doesn't let any get past her. Twice a week two tetraveggie algae wafers are added to supplement the algae eater, and there's baby shrimp and bloodworms added once a week on different days.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Ellie, what's your water change schedule? Do you have a read on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? I've had mollies get bloated and die on me in the past. Quality of food and not too much food is important for them. Wardleys is generally a horrible quality food. Like anything else, read the ingredients. The first 3-4 should be good stuff, not fillers or grains.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I feel like mollies are one of those fish that are sold as "easy beginner fish" but are actually relatively sensitive. They seem to be one of the first to show signs of water quality issues as well. They can be acclimated to SW fairly easily, so I think that in freshwater they are just not always as hardy or adaptable (they are not soft water fish).