Female Platy Died, I Am Dumbfounded!

[rpgmomma8404]

My water is fine other than the nitrates being a little high (I had to skip a water change this week due to Halloween and health problems). Nothing seemed wrong with her as far as I could tell. I'm pretty sure she ate this morning too when I fed them. The only thing I can think of is my male swordtail has been kind of a jerk towards her. They were all fine at first but he seems to like chasing her around the tank and picking on her. Is it possible that he killed her? Or the stress of him chasing her around did her in? I know the 15 gallon is too small for them. I'm in the process of cycling a 29 gallon and re-homing the goldfish that are currently in the tank. Will be switching them to that tank once it's ready. 

This is the third female platy that I have had that has died. I'm not sure if it's just something I'm doing wrong or platies are more sensitive than I thought?

 

[Kehza]

Nitrates are rarely an issue to be perfectly honest unless the levels are very high for long periods, sometimes you can get "a runt" fish as I call them which are usually smaller, weaker and more sensitive. The stress of being bullied, and having smaller space is probably the likely cause, although you might have had an Ammonia spike, which rises and settles by the time you check the water conditions. 
 
Keep an eye on your remaining fish for any odd behaviours or conditions just to be safe. Of my 3 years of keeping aquariums I've lost a few fish for unknown reasons where they appeared to be perfectly healthy, and the water conditions were fine. 
 
Is the tank oxygenated well? 

 

[rpgmomma8404]

Nitrates are rarely an issue to be perfectly honest unless the levels are very high for long periods, sometimes you can get "a runt" fish as I call them which are usually smaller, weaker and more sensitive. The stress of being bullied, and having smaller space is probably the likely cause, although you might have had an Ammonia spike, which rises and settles by the time you check the water conditions. 
 
Keep an eye on your remaining fish for any odd behaviours or conditions just to be safe. Of my 3 years of keeping aquariums I've lost a few fish for unknown reasons where they appeared to be perfectly healthy, and the water conditions were fine. 
 
Is the tank oxygenated well? 

Two filters and a air pump on it.
 
I've noticed that my larger female swordtail is now picking on the smaller one since the female platy has died. That is really the only behavior I've noticed lately. 

 

[Kehza]

How many swordtails are left now? They're generally peaceful fish but iv had many peaceful fish bully one another when only 2 remain, being quite territorial etc. In most cases it's usually the males that will bully one another.

What are your PH levels? and is the temperature monitored at all?

 

[mark4785]

What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?
 
A high nitrate level doesn't normally affect the health of a fish directly but it can do so indirectly by causing large algae outbreaks (which can suck all of the oxygen out of the water) and other mostly controllable issues along those lines.
 
I have witnessed fish be "bullied to death" as bullying behaviour usually causes the victim-fish to avoid food (which the bully is often eating) and become very stressed due to being chased and nipped. This can happen with fish generally labelled as peaceful and which are suitable for a community aquarium.
 
I would definitely recommend checking your ammonia and nitrite levels as a high nitrate level could be a sign that the other 2 water parameters are high or have been high too as they both eventually oxidise into a relatively similar amount of nitrate. I do suspect that your water quality is to blame here due to the inappropriate size of the aquarium for it's occupants and the high nitrate reading.

 

[rpgmomma8404]

What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?
 
A high nitrate level doesn't normally affect the health of a fish directly but it can do so indirectly by causing large algae outbreaks (which can suck all of the oxygen out of the water) and other mostly controllable issues along those lines.
 
I have witnessed fish be "bullied to death" as bullying behaviour usually causes the victim-fish to avoid food (which the bully is often eating) and become very stressed due to being chased and nipped. This can happen with fish generally labelled as peaceful and which are suitable for a community aquarium.
 
I would definitely recommend checking your ammonia and nitrite levels as a high nitrate level could be a sign that the other 2 water parameters are high or have been high too as they both eventually oxidise into a relatively similar amount of nitrate. I do suspect that your water quality is to blame here due to the inappropriate size of the aquarium for it's occupants and the high nitrate reading.

Thanks for the information. I know they were too big for the tank, my boyfriend picked them out without discussing it with me in full. Good news though is I now have all three swordtails in a 29 gallon tank currently by themselves. I made sure the tank was cycled before I transferred them and used old media from my other tanks.