Hi, I’m new to owning an aquarium and I have a question about my Platy. I’ve had her for a couple months now with the same fish in the tank. I heard they can get pregnant at 6 months. I bought her 2 months ago from petsmart so idk what age they usually sell fish. I will post a few pictures, hoping she’s fat, or pregnant not sick. Thanks for the help!
She will be pregnant
Will or is?
Is
Is she eating well?
What does her poop look like?
If she is eating well and doing normal coloured poop, she is fine.
If she is eating well but doing stringy white poop, then she has an internal problem.
If she is not eating and has stringy white poop she is probably going to die.
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The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read when you have some spare time. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep.
www.fishforums.net
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Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons.
1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be cured because massive internal organ failure has already occurred.
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2) Internal Protozoan Infections cause the fish to lose weight rapidly (over a week or two), fish continues to eat and swim around but not as much as normal, does stringy white poop. If not treated the fish dies a week or so after these symptoms appear. Metronidazole normally works well for this.
There is a medication (API General Cure) that contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.
It's interesting that API and the Californian government have listed Metronidazole as a carcinogen. That's a concern considering it was widely used to treat intestinal infections in people.
Anyway, if you use this or any medication, handle with care, don't ingest or inhale the medication, and wash hands with soapy water after treating the fish or working in the tank.
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3) Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.
You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.
Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.
Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.
Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.
Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.
The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
What does her poop look like?
If she is eating well and doing normal coloured poop, she is fine.
If she is eating well but doing stringy white poop, then she has an internal problem.
If she is not eating and has stringy white poop she is probably going to die.
-------------------
The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read when you have some spare time. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep.
What to do if your fish gets sick
If your fish ever looks sick or unwell, then the following steps might help. Test the Water and Clean the Tank. Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and write the results down in numbers. Check it for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) too if you can, but...
www.fishforums.net
-------------------
Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons.
1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be cured because massive internal organ failure has already occurred.
-----
2) Internal Protozoan Infections cause the fish to lose weight rapidly (over a week or two), fish continues to eat and swim around but not as much as normal, does stringy white poop. If not treated the fish dies a week or so after these symptoms appear. Metronidazole normally works well for this.
There is a medication (API General Cure) that contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.
It's interesting that API and the Californian government have listed Metronidazole as a carcinogen. That's a concern considering it was widely used to treat intestinal infections in people.
Anyway, if you use this or any medication, handle with care, don't ingest or inhale the medication, and wash hands with soapy water after treating the fish or working in the tank.
-----
3) Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.
You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.
Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.
Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.
Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.
Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.
The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
So after reading what you wrote I noticed that all my fish had white stringy poop....they all eat fine but the female Platy was acting weird. I went ahead and bought API general cure. I hope all my fish have a good recovery and make it out of this unscathed. Thanks again for your help!
You should pickup some worming medicine to threat the worms, not API general cure. I've had success with NTL Anti-Fluke & Wormer and seen others here recommend eSHa products.
The one I used was repeated weekly for four weeks. I think worms are common in live-bearers like Platy.
Hope it goes well.
The one I used was repeated weekly for four weeks. I think worms are common in live-bearers like Platy.
Hope it goes well.
So one of my Mollies died...sad because I’ve had her for awhile now. I noticed she had had white stringy poop and a day and a half later she was dead poor girl. I’m now worried about 2 of my Platys cuz they have kinda the same problem just not as extreme. My other fish are all acting fine including my 2 snails and 1 cherry shrimp.
poor girl. I’m now worried about 2 of my Platys cuz they have kinda the same problem just not as extreme. My other fish are all acting fine including my 2 snails and 1 cherry shrimp.
Glow fish special fish food. I was going to get glo fish for my daughter, then later changed my mind hearing they have terrible life spans and bought all the stuff while the tank was going through it’s cycle. I talked to the people at the pet store and they said that I should be just fine on any non glo fish. So I just stuck with that instead of exchanging it. Do you think I should get some new food and throw that out?
I was also hoping to get some live brine shrimp this weekend. Now idk if my fish have a parasite, I don’t want the brine shrimp to give them any other Disease. Also my Platy seemed to be acting more normal this morning and was actually swimming around the tank. So happy she’s not dead.
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