Help with Platy

[Tmgarrison]

We had two Platy fish for almost a year in a 3.5 gallon tank. One morning, the male was dead where he had seemed his normal self the night before. We replaced him with a smaller version of himself. Two days later my husband remarks that female fish looked very pregnant. I’d had this pair for almost a year and they never had bred. So I come look. She’s not pregnant. Her scales were pine-coned. I also noticed the filter was barely circulating water. We went to the store to replace the filter and decided to upgrade to a 5 gallon tank with new filter. The female died that night and the new male the next morning. I was expecting it. So we waiting a while and ran the tank. Two weeks ago, we finally went for new platys, one male and two females. One female died two days later. We replaced her and also upgraded the filter. The one that came with the tank didn’t seem to work very well. The fish were swimming more, eating better, and doing their fishy thing. A few days later, one of the females was dead tonight when we came home with no visible sign of anything wrong. I’m stumped as to why we’re suddenly having problems with them dying. We’re doing regular water changes and water tests are showing appropriate levels. Any ideas or are we just having a run of bad luck? My son loves his fish so I’m trying to get his tank established again. The current fish were maybe an inch to one and half inches each. The idea was to transfer themto a bigger tank as needed. One Platy was supposedly pregnant when I bought her but she no longer looks it.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

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Any chance of a picture of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

------------------------
The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

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Fish that bloat up overnight and pinecone, have an internal bacterial infection. These are usually caused by poor water quality, dirty gravel and a dirty filter. It can also be caused by bad food.

Don't get any more fish until this is resolved.

 

[Tmgarrison]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

------------------------
Any chance of a picture of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

------------------------
The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

------------------------
Fish that bloat up overnight and pinecone, have an internal bacterial infection. These are usually caused by poor water quality, dirty gravel and a dirty filter. It can also be caused by bad food.

Don't get any more fish until this is resolved.

We know what happened to the first tank was the filter wasn’t working as well. We weren’t able to save those fish and I’m fairly certain the poor thing had dropsy. The other two had no bloat or visible signs of anything wrong. So I can say with certainty it was water quality.

We do water changes weekly, typically 25-50% depending on need. I stir thru the gravel to get any debris as well. We check the water using the API Master Kit which I prefer over test strips. We dechlorinate before adding water back in. We never clean everything in the tank at water changes so that necessary bacteria can be maintained. So if we clean plants or decorative pieces are cleaned, then we rinse the filter using the aquarium water. If it’s the filter’s turn, then we make sure debris is free of the plants but we don’t clean them. This has been our practice for over a year and his platys were doing very well till the filter issue. We have a lot of mineral in our tap water so it’s not uncommon for it to build up and cause issues in things. When a fish dies, we always check the levels. So far pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are as they should be.

Our biggest thing is that we switched his tank to a Top Fin 5 gallon one. I didn’t care for the filter that came with it and it was suggested that I switch to the Top Fin 10 which is submerged. It filters better but the current seems a little strong. However, there’s no way I know to baffle the filter. The platys are relatively smallish so as to not overcrowd the tank. My plan was to let them breed and my son get to keep 1-2 babies while the adults get moved to a larger tank at some point. The two females that have died have nothing discernible as to what the cause may be. No signs of distress. No bloat. Swimming and eating normally. No clamped fins. Just fine one minute and then just gone the next. It’s frustrating. We’ve been following all the usual steps. He loves his fish so I want to get his tank back to norm. I don’t have pictures of the two that died. The fish from the original tank is a moot point since we no longer have that tank at all.

 

[Colin_T]

If you don't have a gravel cleaner, get yourself a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link. Use it to remove the gunk from the gravel when you do a water change.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

---------------------------
Bigger water changes are better at diluting nutrients and diseases than small water changes. I recommend doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate each week.

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

---------------------------
Did you keep the old filter or did they get disposed of with the small tank?
If you didn't keep the old filter, the new tank will probably have to cycle again and this could mean you have ammonia and nitrite readings for the next month or so.

Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have a reading.

-------------
If you put the filter on the back of the tank and angle the outlet towards the front, it will create a lot of current in one section but there should be less water movement in the rest of the tank. You can face the outlet into a corner or towards the side to reduce water movement in the tank.

Some people face the outlet towards rocks, driftwood or clumps of plants.

-------------
Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better. However, do not clean the filter if it is less than 6 weeks old because you can wash out the beneficial bacteria and mess up the cycling process. If the filter gets dirty and the flow rate is reduced during the first 6 weeks, clean it but be gentle.
Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water like you have been doing.

You can clean the filter and do a water change on the same day.

 

[Tmgarrison]

We know what happened to the first tank was the filter wasn’t working as well. We weren’t able to save those fish and I’m fairly certain the poor thing had dropsy. The other two had no bloat or visible signs of anything wrong. So I can say with certainty it was water quality.

We do water changes weekly, typically 25-50% depending on need. I stir thru the gravel to get any debris as well. We check the water using the API Master Kit which I prefer over test strips. We dechlorinate before adding water back in. We never clean everything in the tank at water changes so that necessary bacteria can be maintained. So if we clean plants or decorative pieces are cleaned, then we rinse the filter using the aquarium water. If it’s the filter’s turn, then we make sure debris is free of the plants but we don’t clean them. This has been our practice for over a year and his platys were doing very well till the filter issue. We have a lot of mineral in our tap water so it’s not uncommon for it to build up and cause issues in things. When a fish dies, we always check the levels. So far pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are as they should be.

Our biggest thing is that we switched his tank to a Top Fin 5 gallon one. I didn’t care for the filter that came with it and it was suggested that I switch to the Top Fin 10 which is submerged. It filters better but the current seems a little strong. However, there’s no way I know to baffle the filter. The platys are relatively smallish so as to not overcrowd the tank. My plan was to let them breed and my son get to keep 1-2 babies while the adults get moved to a larger tank at some point. The two females that have died have nothing discernible as to what the cause may be. No signs of distress. No bloat. Swimming and eating normally. No clamped fins. Just fine one minute and then just gone the next. It’s frustrating. We’ve been following all the usual steps. He loves his fish so I want to get his tank back to norm. I don’t have pictures of the two that died. The fish from the original tank is a moot point since we no longer have that tank at all.

If you don't have a gravel cleaner, get yourself a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link. Use it to remove the gunk from the gravel when you do a water change.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

---------------------------
Bigger water changes are better at diluting nutrients and diseases than small water changes. I recommend doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate each week.

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

---------------------------
Did you keep the old filter or did they get disposed of with the small tank?
If you didn't keep the old filter, the new tank will probably have to cycle again and this could mean you have ammonia and nitrite readings for the next month or so.

Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have a reading.

-------------
If you put the filter on the back of the tank and angle the outlet towards the front, it will create a lot of current in one section but there should be less water movement in the rest of the tank. You can face the outlet into a corner or towards the side to reduce water movement in the tank.

Some people face the outlet towards rocks, driftwood or clumps of plants.

-------------
Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better. However, do not clean the filter if it is less than 6 weeks old because you can wash out the beneficial bacteria and mess up the cycling process. If the filter gets dirty and the flow rate is reduced during the first 6 weeks, clean it but be gentle.
Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water like you have been doing.

You can clean the filter and do a water change on the same day.

 

[Tmgarrison]

I do have a gravel cleaner. It’s also how we remove water from the tank with a little hand pump. It makes it a lot easier for water changes. I probably do a 75% change about every third water change so I can get the sides of the aquarium cleaned better too.

We couldn’t use the old filter on the original tank because it no longer worked. The filter with the bigger tank was used for maybe a week and a half before switching. While current was low, we also noticed debris and a slick of some kind forming on the surface within 24 hours of a water change. It was suggested we switch filters. The one I have now seems to be filtering better but that current is a little more than I like. I can’t angle it much. It’s submersed except for the output sits at water level. I can turn the head some or even remove the tube but it doesn’t make much difference. It may not be the right filter for the tank. I’ll play with it a bit but I think I might need to go shopping.

My husband says I should just go ahead and switch up to a larger tank but this little one belongs to our 4 year old in his room. If I can get the current slower, I might consider getting him a Betta and moving the platys to a bigger home.