Feeling Defeated

[Kamdavid]

Last month I had a platy which was beautiful. Turns out she ended up having a disease or something , and passed away. She was beginning to scratch on plants , etc . Well I noticed yesterday that my new female platy is rubbing on plants now too. And out of all the fish , just this one is doing it ?!? The others don’t do it and have absolutely nothing wrong with them. I cannot get a successful batch of fry , and it’s starting
To frustrate me. This is the only female I have left. I’ve lost about 4 females. I’m ready to give up.

 

[AbbeysDad]

What other fish do you have?
How long has the tank been setup?
Flashing is often a sign of [poor] water quality or ammonia. What is your partial water change frequency/volume?
Have you tested the water? If so, what are the results?

 

[Kamdavid]

I have three young mollies. They were born about a month and a half ago and one adult molly. I have one male guppy. The two platies. A Pleco. One angel.

tank has been up and running since the beginning of March.

did my parameter check two days ago.
pH- 7.4
Ammonia- 0ppm
Nitrite-0ppm
Nitrate- 5 ppm

the female platy is the only one doing it.

I do weekly water changes of 50 percent.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

If your fish are scratching, most probably it's due to skin flukes or gill flukes. Flukes are parasites and this infection is deadly.

Did you fish had fast breathing before it died? Then it's most likely due to gill flukes.

You may have to treat your tank for at least 1 month.
I have been treating my tank for gill flukes for 2 months.
Whenever I stop the treatment(thinking that I have eradicated them), the flukes will come back and some fish will die again.
I have many fish died in the past due to gill flukes.

The two symptoms are scratching and fast breathing.
But when the fish reached the stage of fast breathing, it might be quite late already.
You can treat it with Praziquantel to see if it works. If not, you have to use other medication.
I'm currently using Flubendazole as the flukes in my tank are immune to Praziquantel.

Currently, I don't see any more symptoms after treating for 2 months.
But I'm still monitoring.
The difficulty in treating this gill flukes is due to the eggs that cannot be destroyed by any medications.
The flukes can only be killed when they are in free swimming stage.
And the eggs can be dormant for a long time in your tank before they hatched.

This is the medication that I'm using now.
It's called Wormer Plus and its main ingredient is Flubendazole.

Kusuri Wormer Plus 5g

KUSURI WORMER PLUS, AQUATIC FISH WORMER,FLUKE & PARASITE KILLER, DISCUS WORMER, DISCUS MEDICATION, BUY KUSURI Australia, DISCUS DISEASE, DISCUS MEDICINE

www.sydneydiscusworld.com

But if you prefer to restart the tank again instead of doing treatment, do let me know.
You have to sterilize many things and your filter media might need to be disposed off instead reusing it again.
I had restarted my tank a few times. Changing new tanks, filters and everything.

 

[Kamdavid]

no fast breathing at all. And wouldn’t my other fish be affected by this as well ? It’s always just been one fish.

 

[Colin_T]

pictures and video of the fish?

 

[Kamdavid]

Here’s pictures

 

[Kamdavid]

Here’s pictures

pictures and video of the fish?

And a video

 

[JuiceBox52]

Are the gills always that red? Have you added anything new to the tank?

 

[Salty&Onion]

Are the gills always that red? Have you added anything new to the tank?

I agree.

Did you cycle the tank?

 

[Kamdavid]

Are the gills always that red? Have you added anything new to the tank?

They have always been that pink color. And yes the tank was cycled. All the other fish are doing great

 

[Colin_T]

The fish looks fine and the red gills is from pale gill covers and is nothing to worry about.

The fish doesn't appear to be pregnant/ gravid.

 

[Kamdavid]

The fish looks fine and the red gills is from pale gill covers and is nothing to worry about.

The fish doesn't appear to be pregnant/ gravid.

She was newly introduced from a company online. They kept female separate. Last week or so she was introduced with my male. And he went right after her. So at the most only one week pregnant.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

no fast breathing at all. And wouldn’t my other fish be affected by this as well ? It’s always just been one fish.

By right, the scrathing part will affect other fish unless the number of flukes is very small or the infection has just started.

Fast breathing will be at the last stage. So, not every fish will be affected at the same time.
Fast breathing happened when most of the gills are infected with the flukes and plus the bacteria(secondary infection). This will suffocate the fish and caused it to breathe fast.
This is the terminal stage which will kill the fish if there is no early treatment.

The quickest way of treatment is by using two tablespoons of salt for every 20 liters of water. Treat for two weeks.
Salt can kill some parasites and bacteria.

 

[utahfish]

Leading cause of disease in fish just like humans is stress. Eliminating stressors can minimize disease, stressed fish are more susceptible to disease. In your current tank with what you have said the leading stressor to your mollies/platys is the Angel fish. Angel fish are cichlids after all and will be aggressive and territorial, and when kept alone can exhibit even more aggression as its shoal which helps it feel safe is absent. Angels are shoaling fish that belong in groups of no less than 5 which require at least a 100 gallon tank or a bonded breeding pair which should be kept alone in at least a 40. Not too mention platys and mollies are hard water fish and angel fish soft water fish.
Rehome the Angel and your mollies and platys will be less stressed less prone to disease and more prone to mate.