Question about Mickey Mouse Platy

[wfoxx3]

I have a mickey mouse platy and I have a question about her behavior. I have 2 ornaments in the tank as well as a thermometer and heater. At times I see my platy kind of biting at these things, it looks as though she is kissing them. She goes up to them and lunges at them and bounces off. Can anyone explain this behavior? Is it normal? I wasn't worried at first but just wanted to make sure she doesn't have a mouth parasite or irritant she is trying to relieve. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[dotswithchemicals]

For the second thing it sounds like your fish is scratching on the ornaments.. that is usually a sign of ick. So you should look for white speckles of dots on your fish.

 

[wfoxx3]

I do not see any white spots. She goes straight into the objects and bounces straight back, she occasionally does it on the gravel too which makes me think she's trying to eat a bubble or dust or something? If I didn't see her looking at the ornament and then lunging at it it would look as though she is bumping straight into it. So I don't know if she is scratching? Sorry if this is a poor explanation of her behavior I just do not know how else to describe it haha

 

[calfishguy]

For the biting behavior I think she is just trying to discover what the strange object (to her) is. As for the scraching on them I agree it could be a sign of ich.

 

[calfishguy]

It is aslo possible that the objects are covered with film or algae that your fish is simply eating.

 

[wfoxx3]

That's what it seems she is doing, trying to eat something on the ornaments. To clarify, she never rubs up on the ornaments as if she is scratching her body. She only does the biting thing but I was worried that she could possibly be trying to scratch her mouth by doing that. But I think it is more likely that she is trying to eat something. And she has been doing this for weeks.

 

[Ziggs180]

Alot of my fish do the same (including platys). They are just exploring and testing new things the way fish do, by trying to eat it. as long as they aren't rubbing on the objects, it should be fine.