Platy Complications In Labor?

One of the new high fin platties that we bought last weekend is in labor. We can see the eye of the frye and she's twitching like mad. Unfortunately, this is at least day 2 of this process, and we are growing concerned for her. After all, I don't believe she can relieve waste while she's trying to use the port for #3, as it were. She was able to eat last night between convulsion episodes.

We believe she may have had another baby a few days ago (at least, one of them did!). I am wondering how long we should wait before intervening, how long do platy labors generally last, what to look for to determine the direness of the situation, and if there's anything we can do if the baby really is stuck to save the mother.

Thank you for any advice you can give!

Is the fry hanging out the fish?

black angel said:

Is the fry hanging out the fish?

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We aren't quite sure. Sometimes we see something small and white just ahead of the anal fin off to one side, but I'm not sure if I'm seeing a tail or one of the pectoral fins that they use for turning. I'll try to get a photo, if I can get a decent shot of it. (She moves a lot, and the fact that she's at the back of the tank and the other fish keep coming into frame doesn't help.)

Out of about 20 attempts to get a good shot of her, here are the snippets of pictures that seem to be the most useful:

In the first one, you can just barely make out the white spot in front of the anal fin. It really is white, though, trust me.

In the second one, the white spot is more prominant, and you can tell how it is not exactly in the center, which is why I think it might be just one of her pectoral fins.

Hopefully, this will be enough for someone to tell what is really going on.

Thanks!

Well, its not a fry that I can see and if you can see eyes further up and back then thats the developing fry. I see she looks kind of *big* to the front of the white spot and maybe lumpy looking?
Have you seen her pass any faeces lately?

black angel said:

Have you seen her pass any faeces lately?

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Not lately. We did feed her (and the others) some freeze-dried shrimp, and she did eat them.

She dosn't look good to me, if you see a tail and she struggling you can help out by very gently giving it a tug.