Female Platy acting shy

[dan_acc]

I'm new to this and I would appreciate any help. One of my female platies is acting strange. She stays near the bottom of the tank, especially in a little cave decoration where it's dark or near the baby hide-out decoration. She also wiggle's her body constantly and opens and closes her mouth rapidly. She looks a little fatter than the other female, but I'm not sure if she's pregnant. She's been acting like this for about 3 days.

ps. I've had this tank with 4 femal livebearer for 2-3 weeks and so far I've seen only 1 fry. I only saw it for a couple of seconds and I haven't seen any others. I'm looking forward to seeing some babies.

Thanks!

 

[Aqua_Princess64]

The opening and closing mouth thing may mean that sheis not getting enough oxegyn. She might have asthma. Just kidding. I actually am not sure. It sounds to me like she's sick but maybe not, I don't breed platys or anything. I breed guppies and mollies.

 

[allnatural]

I have several platy wild strains, blue platies, and blue spot platies. The hybrid platies like the ones you get in a fish store, will normally eat their fry. That may be why you haven't seen the little one. The wild strains do not eat their fry. All my platies are extremely active. If one has been sitting around for days, then it probably is sick, or does not like your water quality. I have noticed this kind of behavior when a fish goes into PH shock. This meaning that the fish was used to a low or high PH, and then placed into a tank (or a large water change) where the PH changed drastically.

As far as the oxygen, normally the fish will be at the top of the tank, if this is the problem, not the bottom.

Does the fish have any white spots on it? A common disease called "ick" will most likely be the problem. It is VERY common with platies that have been raised in the fish farms and shipped to fish stores. You may try raising your tank temperature to 82 degrees for a week or so to see if activity improves. I did this with my blue platies when I first got them. One of the fish came down with ick. At 82 degrees, the disease was gone within 10 days.

--Tim

 

[dan_acc]

No, there are no white spots. And the other fish are acting normal. My PH has been constant and these fish have been in for 2-3 weeks already. I did just check my water and my nirtrite level is in the stress area (3.0) Is there anything I can do about this. After reading posts here and comparing my two platies, I'm pretty sure this one is pregnant. She still eats and she'll occasionally swim around the top.

 

[dan_acc]

Update: This is strange. Now she has wedged herself down into the gravel.

 

[yhbae]

It sure sounds like she is pregnant. I have few females, and they almost always hide behind some objects and only during the feeding time, they show up. (But dissapears quickly once feeding is done). I can clearly tell which females are pregnant by looking at their behaviors. Do you have much places for them to hide? I put lots of plastic plants, pots and a big bowl of java moss which they like to dig into... (The male NEVER digs into the moss ball). Once given birth, she goes back to her normal playful mood for a week or two until she gets pregnant again... I've seen enough repeated patterns so far that I am no longer concerned about this shy behaviour.

 

[guppymonkey]

You said that nitrite levels were high so that could be effecting her as well. It really sounds like she is sick. I have had tons of pregnant fish and none of them acted like that.

 

[yhbae]

Wow, I missed your message about your nitrite level being at 3ppm - it is way too high as the above post has pointed out.. Time to do daily water change!

 

[dan_acc]

She died last night. She was trying to swim around and she just kept nose-diving (like something was wrong with her swim-bladder or something). My female swordtails were also taking bites out of her tail. Finally she gave it up. I guess it was the combination of the nitrites, pregnancy and other stress. I called Petco and they told me I was feeding too much, so I'll get the water cleared up and then get a few more platies. Thanks for your help, anyway.

 

[Alien Anna]

Sorry about your fish. The problem is not that you are feeding too much, the problem is that your tank isn't cycled. Follow the link in my sig for some background information and tips on what to do to get all your fish through this.

 

[Rosie4rd]

I have a platy aswell, but i dont know the gender of it. The are acting really strange it sits on the bottom of the tank and moves her fins alot, and when i clean the side of the tank she shoots into the cave or ontop of the filter and just sits there. It seems it is either scared or shy of my guppy's..
Is she ill ?

 

[Platygirl11]

It sound like you had toxins in your tank.
If she was only a little bigger than the other fish, she might have just been overweight, not pregnant.
Petco is not a very reliable source of advice...