What is this on my platys tail

Kayxx

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I am very new to the fish world but from buying a fish for my son I now have 3 platys and 6 babies. The store already apologised for selling me a pregnant Platy. But such is life and I’m keeping the babies. Anyway tank life is good and I had to swap a fish out due to bullying. When I went back to the store I saw that the platys were “under treatment” but the manager said she had a separate tank of platys that were fine. Anyway I have had this little orange Platy since Saturday and I’ve noticed these things on her tail. Please tell me what they are and what to do. I don’t recall them being there from the start.
I have babies in my tank and I don’t want any contamination in my tank as all has been good so far.
 

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Hello, and welcome to the forum! :hi:

It looks like ich to me, are there any other spots on your fish? If so, I will explain in great detail on how to treat it. :)
 
Thanks so much for replying - no there are no other spots. Just those. Should I remove her from the tank? As I have babies in there too and the other two females I have are fine.
 
No. If it is ich (also called whitespot) it is in the tank so you have to treat the whole tank I'm afraid.

It is not clear from your photo, but does it looks like grains of salt on the fish? And is it just the two white marks on the tail? They look more like streaks rather than salt grains, but you can see the fish better than us.




Female platies, like all female livebearers, are always pregnant if they have been in a tank with a male for longer than 5 minutes. They can also store packets of sperm which they can use for up to 6 months are last being in contact with a male. If the females in a shop are in a tank with males, they will be be pregnant; if they are in a female only tank at the shop but have been in a tank with a male during the last 6 months, they'll be pregnant.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

It's not whitespot (Ich).

It looks like either the start of Lymphocystis or a bit of fungus.

It should be fine to go in the tank. You can add some salt to the tank to treat it.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

----------------
If there's no improvement after a few days with salt in the tank, post some more pictures.

Make sure the water quality is good and there is 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in the water.

Before adding salt, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
 
Ich is contagious, if that is what it is. :)
May I please see a different picture? Maybe from a different angle? :)
 
Ich is contagious, if that is what it is. :)
May I please see a different picture? Maybe from a different angle? :)



So difficult to get a picture
 

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Ich is contagious, if that is what it is. :)
May I please see a different picture? Maybe from a different angle? :)



So difficult to get a picture
 

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It’s through her tail. So the same on each side. It does look a bit streaky but I’m not sure what I’m actually looking for.
If it isn’t ich...what could it be? It wasn’t there before.
 
More angles
 

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Oh I also have shrimp in the tank and a snail. So doing treatment on the tank- would the babies be okay and the rest of the shrimps and snail?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

It's not whitespot (Ich).

It looks like either the start of Lymphocystis or a bit of fungus.

It should be fine to go in the tank. You can add some salt to the tank to treat it.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

----------------
If there's no improvement after a few days with salt in the tank, post some more pictures.

Make sure the water quality is good and there is 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in the water.

Before adding salt, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
Thanks for your reply - Is this okay for the babies and the shrimp and snail I have in the tank too?
 
I concur, copper, which is in some medications, is not safe for snails/ shrimp, but as @Colin_T said, salt is 100% safe. :)
 
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