Black Molly Big Belly - Dropsy?

[SidFishous]

This may be the most obvious case of dropsy anyone's ever seen - the thing is, I just don't know! What a glorious big belly! Could she be pregnant? I was told all three of my Molly's are female, and I've had them for nearly a year. I can see individual scales, but I wouldn't say this fish looks like a pinecone. It's eating normally. Had a long stringy poo the other day. One of my other Molly's follows this one around incessantly. Fins also looking a bit ragged, but I've never observed any aggressive nipping. Any ideas what's going on, or more importantly what to do about it?

I do a weekly 15% water change, 75 gallon tank, temp 76 degrees F, ph consistently 7.8, ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates 0.

 

[SaraB]

Looks like she has a bit of fin rot. She may just be constipated. I've never seen a pregnant molly get that big, she almost looks like a balloon molly at this point. Do you have a separate hospital tank just in case she's sick?

 

[SidFishous]

No hospital tank available. I just ordered some Seachem Kanaplex - we'll see if that fixes anything.

 

[SidFishous]

Pregnant!

Well well! Turns out not all of my Mollys are female, and the balloon belly was not dropsy, it's pregnancy! I also accidentally figured out a way to make a quick safe place for babies to hide - lettuce leaves float on the surface and make a sort of bowl for the little ones to hide in.

 

[SaraB]

Congrats, molly fry are absolutely adorable