mistycheri

My female molly is acting strange lately. She's been hiding in the cave alot and chases off the other fish that venture thru there. I've also noticed the male guppy that was harrassing her for so long is leaving her alone now. Does anyone know why she's hiding all the time now?

atmmachine816

sick or pregnant?

mistycheri

There's no reason for her to be sick, all the other fish are fine. And I don't see the dark gravid spot on her belly that I heard is a way of telling if she's pregnant. But it is strange that the guppy isn't chasing her around anymore. Maybe he got what he was after.

0morrokh

Have you checked your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? Is she showing any signs of disease like clamped fins?

Skadunkadunk

Has your fish had a bulged belly in the past, it could have laid some eggs, and is guarding them.

0morrokh

good thought, but Mollies don't lay eggs, they're livebearers so they give birth ro live young.

mistycheri

I did my last water readings on the 19th and everything was good. But now that you mention clamped fins, I looked real closely at all the fish again. One of my male molly's, he's orange and black and has a really big fanned tail fin. I'm noticing now that his tail fin is not spread out like it normally is. Like he's keeping his fins all clamped close to his body. And his tail fin had started looking a little ragged along the edges, so yesterday I started treating the water with Melafix so he doesn't get fin rot. I don't know if another fish has been nipping at him (I haven't seen any do this), or if he's brushing too hard against the gravel at the bottom.

0morrokh

Maybe the female Molly is acting strange because she has finrot too. Fish with finrot may act sick or they may act normally. So it is possible that she got finrot and started hiding away, and then the male got it but is acting normally. that's good you're treating for it.

mistycheri

I've also noticed that now that the blue guppy has stopped chasing the female molly, he has started harrassing the other male molly. I took the trouble maker out and put him in the the female beta. He won't mess with her.