Sick3347
New Member
Hello, I am fairly new to keeping fish and have a 10 gallon open tank at home. I had it cycled for three weeks and and was planning to buy some fish but a friend asked if i would take their platy bc they could no longer take care of him. I have had him in the tank for about two weeks now and he acts fine (eating normally, swimming normally) and the water parameters are normal but he has had a growth on the right side of his body. I noticed it a couple of days ago and added some aquarium salt to the water (1 tablespoon, not a full odse bc i have plants) but it has recently gotten bigger and I am more concerned. Like i said the water parameters are all good *except* the ph is a little high (~7.8) due to the water being on the harder side (although i thought i read that platy fish prefer hard water?). I was thinking maybe it is because I don't have the filter running high enough but he gets mad and starts flaring when i turn the stream level up so i keep it a bit above half (I have the top fin 10 gallon silent stream filter). The tank is mainly planted with drift wood and lava rock and couple small ornaments, i have had a bit of a long hair algae issue but i kind of like the way it looks and thought it was harmless (except to plants) so i haven't done much to try and fix it other than turing the light down from 10 hours a day to 8. Can the algae be storing unwanted bacteria maybe? It's also possible he got it from where he was at before bc he is a new fish. I just feel so bad for the little guy and don't know what to do 
