Why are her gills red?

Hi so,
My neon black redtail platy's front gills are very red. She's in a 30 gallon tank with one other female platy, two fancy goldfish (they aren't big enough to cause her harm) and a nerite snail
My parameters are, according to API test strips, (I have an API master test kit coming in on Monday):
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10-20ppm (I have some duckweed that I'm growing to help lower these.)
Alkalinity: 140
pH: 7.8
Hardness: 300 (it's always been that hard, I live somewhere that gets very hard water.)
Chlorine: 0ppm
I do a 25% water change once every 2-3 weeks, vacuuming the gravel and treating the new water with Aquasafe plus. I tested my water today and did a water change to hopefully help while I figure this out. Both of the platies got added into the 30g around a month ago, but other than that there have been no new additions. Her poo is slightly white/clear and stringy, but other than that she's been acting normal.
Thanks for any help you can give!

have you considered a 25 percent water change every week and vaccing once a week instead of 2 to 3 weeks?

fishyfun&fans said:

have you considered a 25 percent water change every week and vaccing once a week instead of 2 to 3 weeks?

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I have, I am just so busy that I don't know if I would be able to do it all the time I could probably do it once a week for one or two weeks, but then things get busy again I know that would be better for them, but I do test once a week and if something seems weird I do a water change ASAP.
(Edited to change a to I)

its really important to keep on with regular water changes as it not only removes waste that the filter hasn't caught that reduces the risks of chemical spikes and diseases parasites ect

can you not ask/trust anyone in your immediate family to do this task for you if you cant for any reason

fishyfun&fans said:

its really important to keep on with regular water changes as it not only removes waste that the filter hasn't caught that reduces the risks of chemical spikes and diseases parasites ect

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Yup, I definitely understand that. Do you think bigger water changes very 2-3 weeks would be better? Like 40%? And what do you think is wrong with Baloo?

fishyfun&fans said:

can you not ask/trust anyone in your immediate family to do this task for you if you cant for any reason

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They are all just as busy, and the fish tank is mine to take care of so I doubt they would do it unless I really really couldn’t, and then they would only do it once

right so say you were just as busy but you had a pet dog to walk

you'd have to walk that everyday regardless of how busy you were or it would eventually get fat or get health problems

well a fish is kind of like a dog there's some things you just need to do to care for it properly

please don't take this message the wrong way though

fishyfun&fans said:

right so say you were just as busy but you had a pet dog to walk

you'd have to walk that everyday regardless of how busy you were or it would eventually get fat or get health problems

well a fish is kind of like a dog there's some things you just need to do to care for it properly

please don't take this message the wrong way though

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I actually do have a dog to walk lol. I do hear what your saying. I will try to do more frequent water changes. In the meantime, what do you think is wrong with Baloo and how can I help her?

as for how much to change over that length of time i'm not really sure its better in general to do little and often than lots and not very often id maybe do 50% or more if one of my fish was ill and i was worried about it infecting others

@Bruce Leyland-Jones or @emeraldking could maybe diagnose this

Sorry...missed this one.
It's something that @Colin_T is particularly skilled at.

Exposure to high nitrates over a period of time would've upset the gills.
White, stringy poo isn't a good sign and good be anything from bacterial infection to internal parasites.
Usually, however, it's just mucous and suggests she hasn't been eating...have you seen her eat and what are you feeding her?

I assume that all the fish are showing no symptoms or 'different' behaviours.

A 25% water change every two or three weeks isn't enough.
I tested a theory and Googled Water changes and, sure enough, 25% every 2-3 weeks came up on top!

• There's quite a difference between 2 and 3 weeks.
• That regime is for a healthy, functioning tank...you do not currently have a healthy, functioning tank. You have excess nitrates.
• The purpose of a water change would be to remove the excess nitrates and you would do this as often as is necessary.
• You could do a 25% change one day and then test and, if the nitrates are still high, do another 25% change the following day.
• When changing water, to reduce stress on the fish, use your hand to match temperatures of the water. This doesn't have to be excat, just as long as you aren't suddenly dropping icy water in.
• Don't forget the conditioner.

Good move with the duckweed, but don't feel that you can't add more plants to the tank.

I don't know, Bruce, 10-20 ppm nitrates? That's not that high. I suspect something else is going on. No ideas what, but stand by; I'm sure something will come to me.

Bruce Leyland-Jones said:

Sorry...missed this one.
It's something that @Colin_T is particularly skilled at.

Exposure to high nitrates over a period of time would've upset the gills.
White, stringy poo isn't a good sign and good be anything from bacterial infection to internal parasites.
Usually, however, it's just mucous and suggests she hasn't been eating...have you seen her eat and what are you feeding her?

I assume that all the fish are showing no symptoms or 'different' behaviours.

A 25% water change every two or three weeks isn't enough.
I tested a theory and Googled Water changes and, sure enough, 25% every 2-3 weeks came up on top!

• There's quite a difference between 2 and 3 weeks.
• That regime is for a healthy, functioning tank...you do not currently have a healthy, functioning tank. You have excess nitrates.
• The purpose of a water change would be to remove the excess nitrates and you would do this as often as is necessary.
• You could do a 25% change one day and then test and, if the nitrates are still high, do another 25% change the following day.
• When changing water, to reduce stress on the fish, use your hand to match temperatures of the water. This doesn't have to be excat, just as long as you aren't suddenly dropping icy water in.
• Don't forget the conditioner.

Good move with the duckweed, but don't feel that you can't add more plants to the tank.

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Thanks for all the tips! I am planning on eventually replacing most of my fake plants with real ones, this was a second hand tank so the decor is EXTREMELY fluorescent . I will try to do more water changes. A little background, this is my first tank and I am also a teen who currently cannot get a job, so I don’t have a ton of money to spend on things. They get tropical flakes once a day, with a fasting day every week and some occasional blanched/boiled veggies such as peas and cucumbers. It’s not the best food in the world, but it’s what I can give them.
I did get my water tested my by LFS when another one of my fish died a couple months ago, and both the (seemly knowledgeable) employee and my uncle who keeps fish said that those nitrates are on the higher end of safe, yet shouldn’t cause any issues.

WhistlingBadger said:

I don't know, Bruce, 10-20 ppm nitrates? That's not that high. I suspect something else is going on. No ideas what, but stand by; I'm sure something will come to me.

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Agreed, but I picked up that this has been high for a while and possibly higher, given a lack of adequate testing, the need to only recently growing duckweed and seemingly limited water changing.