Treturous molly torturing my little green spotted puffer

Question
Hi, again... my little green spotted puffer who is sick, like darkened skin, and he twitches when he tries to eat, which i think means an internal parasite? anyway, he is being tortured by one of my black lyretail Mollies who is with him (used to cycle). the molly isn't really killing him but just pecking him when he tries to get food and chasing him frequently. i just noticed this but by the nature of it i think its ben going on for a while. i saw it when i was looking at it from across the room so i think when i approach they know enough to stop. should i wait for the puffer to get better and give the malevolent molly what it deserves or should i move them to avoid serious casualty? i really want to give the little guy a chance to get what he deserves but also don't want him to die. what should i do? i know this sounds kind of evil but... well i haven't thought of an explanation yet. Thanks!

Will

Answer
Hi Will,
Sorry to hear that. I would take that molly to a petstore. Most petstores take unwanted fish. Try that. Most likely the molly is a male and males are always more aggressive. But that doesn't mean females aren't.

The poor puffer sounds like he is really bad off. Are you keeping him in water with some salt added? Green Spotted puffs do need brackish water when they are young and eventually they need fully-marine conditions to thrive long-term. If you need more help on that. Read here-

http://www.pufferresources.net/puffer_profiles/viewtopic.php?t=19

If you can test your water that would also help. Puffers cannot tolerate any ammonia or nitrites and nitrates should as close to zero as possible.

Hopefully you can get the molly out of there either way. But I would hate for you to have to do anything that would mean the death of the molly. Try alternatives first. Try all your local petstores.

I hope this helps!
Karen~