Molly help

I've recently noticed my Mollies "scraping" their gills on the edges of my plants. Even the babies. This morning one of them actually did it on the substrate. They don't do it constantly..just once in a while and they are the only ones in the tank to do it. The Corys, Oto, and BNs don't. My water parameters are good with my ph only a little high @ 7.5

Is this normal behavior for them? Or is there a problem developing?

Thanks

I have mollies as dither fish in my BN tanks, have had for years. This is not normal behavior, so I'd be on the watch.

Thanks Amber

Onslaught of whitespot maybe? I know scraping is a symptom.

I'll also mention my mums guppies used to do this against peice of slate we had, sorta flicking/bouncing off of it, and we never had problems :P

I've been watching them, and since I started buffering my pH before adding the water to the aquarium they still do it but not very often.

Side note - My Anubias is sprouting a leaf a week and my Java Fern is growing like mad.

Good news with the plants!
My javafern was sprouting like mad until I got rid of it!

Bwompus wrote:

I've recently noticed my Mollies "scraping" their gills on the edges of my plants. Even the babies. This morning one of them actually did it on the substrate. They don't do it constantly..just once in a while and they are the only ones in the tank to do it. The Corys, Oto, and BNs don't. My water parameters are good with my ph only a little high @ 7.5

Is this normal behavior for them? Or is there a problem developing?

Thanks

It could be a number of different things, Could be a parasite on the skin or in it's gills, could be gill flukes or the onset of ich, or it could be just itchy..
Usually tho its a sign of a skin itch caused by parasites.

Flashing
Is a fish behavior where a fish rubs itself on the bottom of the aquarium, or on the gravel, or on a rock or ornament. The fish rubs or glances because it is itchy.
An itchy fish often develops more serious Signs of Stress and Disease. If you see your fish glancing, you should immediately treat your aquarium.

As for those buffers, I don't use them, they can cause more trouble for you, with mad pH swings..
Your better off lowering pH with driftwood or peat in the filter, or to raise it, you can add some crushed coral to the substrate or filter.

I think (knock on wood) that they are just itchy. Haven't seen any of them do it in a while. Thanks Mooo!