Chazbot
09-09-2009, 11:47 PM
I don't know what happens to animals when I get hold of them, but they always seem to get weird really fast. :hmm3grin2orange:
I have a black Molly - her name is Poppy - that has me totally confounded. She's a sweet, happy little thing but I think she's got a nervous disorder or something. She used to live in my 29g with other Mollys and Platys. She gave birth a while back and I noticed just before giving birth that she seemed tired and tense, and she was hiding a lot. I chalked that up to being in the late stage of pregnancy. Well after giving birth she broke out in white spots all over her body and even seemed to have just a touch of cloudy eye. Ok, I assumed fungus and put her in my qt and treated with Mela- and Pimafix. A couple days and she was fine. I put her back in the 29 and within few days she had the spots again. Back to the qt for another course of the "fix" meds. Cleared up, back home. She broke out AGAIN! At this point I was converting my qt into a "maternity" tank for some pregnant Platys and didn't really know what to do but Poppy lives with these Platys anyway so they were already exposed to whatever was going on so I put her in the maternity tank with the Platys. I had a 5g that I was going to set up for a qt so was going to move Poppy to that tank once it was ready. But - I'm not kidding! - within a couple hours of going into the tank with the other ladies, there was not a spot to be found ANYWHERE on Poppy's body. They were just gone! So it occurred to me that maybe that's just how Poppy reacts to stress. The males in the 29 were harrassing her and she just didn't deal well with it. After a rest in the maternity tank, I tried moving her back to the 29 - MORE SPOTS! Took her out and the spots went away within a couple hours again. So I decided she needed a new home. The most peaceful tank we have is the Betta Sorority tank. 4 Betta ladies in a 20g - all completely insane, but peaceful. So I gave it a shot and moved Poppy in with the Bettas. She was a bit tense at first - strange tank, new fish, etc - but the Bettas were very sweet and welcomed her. She hid for an hour or so and then started exploring the tank and seemed perfectly happy with it. She's been with the Bettas for a couple of weeks now and I haven't seen a single white spot anywhere on her and she's more relaxed and even seems happier than she's been since I got her back in April. Let me also point out that everyone else in my 29g is perfectly healthy - no fungus or bacteria or anything weird going on at all. Params have been perfect all throughout this process too.
I swear to you this fish is healthy. She is JET black, active, good appetite, plays with the Bettas (they're teaching her how to play "toss the pea" :hmm3grin2orange:). There is NOTHING wrong with her that I can see. Like I said, I haven't seen a single spot since she moved to this tank.
So... has anyone else every seen anything like this? I have two Gouramis and have seen them display their stress colors (neither of them enjoy water changes). Is it possible that Poppy does that? Stress spots? Is that possible?
Like I said, she's fine now! I just wonder if this is just something that fish can do. I've heard of "stress colors" but never heard of a Molly doing anything like that.
I have a black Molly - her name is Poppy - that has me totally confounded. She's a sweet, happy little thing but I think she's got a nervous disorder or something. She used to live in my 29g with other Mollys and Platys. She gave birth a while back and I noticed just before giving birth that she seemed tired and tense, and she was hiding a lot. I chalked that up to being in the late stage of pregnancy. Well after giving birth she broke out in white spots all over her body and even seemed to have just a touch of cloudy eye. Ok, I assumed fungus and put her in my qt and treated with Mela- and Pimafix. A couple days and she was fine. I put her back in the 29 and within few days she had the spots again. Back to the qt for another course of the "fix" meds. Cleared up, back home. She broke out AGAIN! At this point I was converting my qt into a "maternity" tank for some pregnant Platys and didn't really know what to do but Poppy lives with these Platys anyway so they were already exposed to whatever was going on so I put her in the maternity tank with the Platys. I had a 5g that I was going to set up for a qt so was going to move Poppy to that tank once it was ready. But - I'm not kidding! - within a couple hours of going into the tank with the other ladies, there was not a spot to be found ANYWHERE on Poppy's body. They were just gone! So it occurred to me that maybe that's just how Poppy reacts to stress. The males in the 29 were harrassing her and she just didn't deal well with it. After a rest in the maternity tank, I tried moving her back to the 29 - MORE SPOTS! Took her out and the spots went away within a couple hours again. So I decided she needed a new home. The most peaceful tank we have is the Betta Sorority tank. 4 Betta ladies in a 20g - all completely insane, but peaceful. So I gave it a shot and moved Poppy in with the Bettas. She was a bit tense at first - strange tank, new fish, etc - but the Bettas were very sweet and welcomed her. She hid for an hour or so and then started exploring the tank and seemed perfectly happy with it. She's been with the Bettas for a couple of weeks now and I haven't seen a single white spot anywhere on her and she's more relaxed and even seems happier than she's been since I got her back in April. Let me also point out that everyone else in my 29g is perfectly healthy - no fungus or bacteria or anything weird going on at all. Params have been perfect all throughout this process too.
I swear to you this fish is healthy. She is JET black, active, good appetite, plays with the Bettas (they're teaching her how to play "toss the pea" :hmm3grin2orange:). There is NOTHING wrong with her that I can see. Like I said, I haven't seen a single spot since she moved to this tank.
So... has anyone else every seen anything like this? I have two Gouramis and have seen them display their stress colors (neither of them enjoy water changes). Is it possible that Poppy does that? Stress spots? Is that possible?
Like I said, she's fine now! I just wonder if this is just something that fish can do. I've heard of "stress colors" but never heard of a Molly doing anything like that.