NeonBlueLeon
Fishaholic
A little background, this molly was a stowaway as a tiny, tiny fry in a bunch of anacharis I bought a few months ago. Here is a link to the thread I made about her surprising appearance. She's been through a lot.
Today I sat down to enjoy my tank and observe my fish and I saw her (Louis Lane) lying on the gravel. She was alarmingly thin, but was still breathing. I quickly netted her out into a QT and threw some of the live plants in there to keep her comfortable.
I was stumped for a while. She kept lying on the bottom of the QT, but I noticed her thin, thin belly again. I came to the conclusion that it was possible she was starving. This was strange because I had fed the tank (20 gallon shared with guppies, a platy, and otos) yesterday. I observe all my fish when I feed them to monitor their eating habits. Louis isn't very assertive come feeding time, but she always got a share of the food.
So, I put some 1mm tropical pellets into the QT. And while swimming against the bottom of the tank, she gobbled them up. I put more pellets in, and she ate those up as well. I thawed some frozen brine shrimp and put some in, but she ignored those. I siphoned some of the old food and brine shrimp off the bottom of the QT, and added more pellets. Three hours later, her belly was round again, and she was swimming in all strata of the QT. She seems okay, albiet a bit spooked.
It's also worth mentioning that I put a thin slice of blanched cucumber into the tank every 1-2 weeks. I also fast them one day of the week.
So I had fed them yesterday, and everyone ate just fine. My greatest fear is an internal parasite in Louis. Anyone else know what could have caused this starvation?
Today I sat down to enjoy my tank and observe my fish and I saw her (Louis Lane) lying on the gravel. She was alarmingly thin, but was still breathing. I quickly netted her out into a QT and threw some of the live plants in there to keep her comfortable.
I was stumped for a while. She kept lying on the bottom of the QT, but I noticed her thin, thin belly again. I came to the conclusion that it was possible she was starving. This was strange because I had fed the tank (20 gallon shared with guppies, a platy, and otos) yesterday. I observe all my fish when I feed them to monitor their eating habits. Louis isn't very assertive come feeding time, but she always got a share of the food.
So, I put some 1mm tropical pellets into the QT. And while swimming against the bottom of the tank, she gobbled them up. I put more pellets in, and she ate those up as well. I thawed some frozen brine shrimp and put some in, but she ignored those. I siphoned some of the old food and brine shrimp off the bottom of the QT, and added more pellets. Three hours later, her belly was round again, and she was swimming in all strata of the QT. She seems okay, albiet a bit spooked.
It's also worth mentioning that I put a thin slice of blanched cucumber into the tank every 1-2 weeks. I also fast them one day of the week.
So I had fed them yesterday, and everyone ate just fine. My greatest fear is an internal parasite in Louis. Anyone else know what could have caused this starvation?
