Big SWOLLEN platties . . MALES !

[sweeney_jones]

Folks,

I have 5 adult platties in my tank, 2 female, 3 male.

2 of my male platties are really really swollen . . . like a pregnant female, but lots fatter. The swelling is alot further forward then in a pregnant female . . directly after its head, the belly just drops realllllly fat.

What can this be ?

Water tests seem OK ?

Thanks
Bob

 

[julibob]

Are their scales protruding? If so, it could possibly be Ich/dropsy. Or perhaps they could be constipated. I'm sorry I cant really help, undoubtedly others will be along soon. When one of my fish was constipated I put it in a bowl of tank water and fed it half a defrosted pea with its shell off which did the trick. Hope they are ok.

Julia

 

[sweeney_jones]

woah waoh . . . rewind . . did I say my water tests were OK ???

Ammonia less than 0.5ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nirate 40ppm

shall I commence a 50% water change now ??? or is 40ppm OK ? Could this be down to anything else ??? one of my female platties had youn recently, but has been very thin and immaciated since, with clamped fins.

All other fish "seem" healthy.

Any suggestions ?
Bob

 

[WILDER]

Can the fish maintain it's balance in the water, try a shelled pea first to make sure it's not constipation, can you tell me what you feed the fish.

 

[sweeney_jones]

Yes, it can maintain balance fine.

This fish have King British flake, with dried blood worm a couple of times a week. They have had live daphnia and bloodworm for the past 2 days. (While its fresh)

The platties in question have been like this for 4-5 days now.

Other fish are . . .

8 neons
1 bristlenose
2 corys
1 male guppy
2 siamese algae eaters
Platty fry
2 pairs of Psuedoepiplatys annulatus, "Clown" Killis
4 young Cynolebias Whitei Killis
2 Dwarf Flame (I think) Gouramis

Cheers
Bob

 

[WILDER]

What size is the tank, is sounds like dropsy, you will need an antibiotic treatmen, forget antibiotic as you can't get them in the uk, it will have to be anti internal bacteria med..

 

[bigfish]

Clamped fins is usually 1 of two things that are closely linked together, From your results i would recommend a water change but i would do 25% rather than 50% like u posted.

Nitrate seems high at 40ppm but could be due to wots in your tapwater, have you tested that?

Other than water quality problem it could be ectoparacites on the skin.....does the named platty scratch there bodies on the gravel or ornaments within the tank? any spots

Possible paracites are;-

Ich (known as white spots on the surface of the skin)
Flukes (cause the fish to flick and heavily breathing, usually sits on the bottom of tank or hangs under the waters surface)

Ammonia could be toxic dpending on the ph level of your tank. You said its 0.5ppm this should be 0ppm could cause clamping of fins and cause the fish to sway/rocking motion?


HTH

 

[sweeney_jones]

Thanks guys,

To answer questions . . .

Tank is 80cm x 36 x 30 . . something like that

ALL my platties look swollen, I have seen very young fry over the past day so assumed the female was preg. Even my smallish (1cm) fry look swollen.

One of the males is really bad, he has protruding scales and is at the surface. The others seem really healthy and are feeding actively.

In fact, I have noticed that over the past week my fish are feeding REALLY well, the platties get really aggresive . . . well, as aggresive as a platty can be !

There are no visible parasites, no spots or anything. The fish look very healthy. They do rub on the plants and rocks tho !

One last thing . . . phosphates are high, I have lots of hair algae and my LFS guy has tested for phosphate.

So, water change to start, what then ???

Thanks again
Bob

 

[WILDER]

Pinecombing of the scales is the last stage of dropsy so that fish has had it i'm afraid, there is a anti internal bacteria med by interpet you could give that a try, but I would of rather used antibiotics alot stronger, also if you have no scaless fish get some tonic salt as it helps with dropsy.

 

[sweeney_jones]

Thanks guys,

Both PLatties didn't make it ( This thin looking female, and the really fat male. I'm now concerned about the rest of the tank as the other male platties are bloating.

I can use salt, I have 2 corys, 2 khuli loacg and a bristlenose !?

So I'll give the anti int bacteria from interpet a go. Will myKillis be OK with this ?
Anybody suggest anything else ?

Bob

 

[WILDER]

I don't think the anti internal bacteria med by interpet won'tl be strong enough as it is only good in mild cases of illness, try and get a waterliffe one if they do one.

 

[bigfish]

Waterlife do a product called Octozin for the treatment of;

sleeping sickness
hole-in-the-head
dropsy (early stages only)
malawi bloat
sea water angel fish & clownfish disease

its a tablet based treatment and it requires 3 seperate applications to complete treatment.

dosage

add 1 octozin tablet per 22.5 litres (5 imp gallons) on days 1,2,3

I haven't managed to treat them successfully as they pop their clogs b4 i can give treatment.

sorry to hear about your platies