Silverish underside in black molly fry...

[ae123]

I've had molly fry for about a month. They seem to be a silverish color on their bellies very shortly after birth. To me, it looks like their scales are thin, but it might just be discoloration. They have not at any point looked any color but black & silverish--meaning not reddishly irritated.

Is this what color they would be, silver, under thier scales if there were not any scales there or scales were missing?

The older ones seem to be returning to a mostly black. I've been feeding more healthy, water parameters are adequate, if not ideal--meaning a bit low in salinity, hardness perhaps.

Could the discoloration or stunted scale growth mean something bacterially negative? Or no?

They all eat, almost constantly w/algae munching & generally searching for food.

They look a lot better under white flourescent light & worse under normal 40w household bulb light. Have you encountered this also?


Any insight would be appreciated. Concerned for their health.

Thanks,
ae123

 

[ae123]

Still need advice...

Still need advice on this. Anyone with knowlege here, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Am doing all the things I know are helpful but may be missing something. Thanks.

ae123

 

[ae123]

They are growing in size--but it seem like the scales are just not growing. Does this indicate anything. As in, they would grow in both size and girth of scale if conditions in water were optimal--but only size and not scale since there is something wrong with the water, like a bacteria? Orange Platy fry look OK--they are tougher to tell though since they are more opaque before they start to get bigger. Plus I have them seperated in a breeder box/net(they would not survive otherwise for the mollies nipping @ them) and am certain they are getting fed more for this reason. But also it could be that there is a molly specific ailment amidst. Dunno. Need a bit of help.

Thanks,

ae123

 

[djtypykuhl]

remember mostly to not be too worried about the color of all young, they may still be developing. also, its a possibility one of your mollies may have been carrying some silver genetics (example: my orange male mated with my white female and the baby looks solid white, even though it still carries orange genes.)