Is she pregnant

[Kayla]

I have a 10 gallon tank and I have a platy that I’m pretty sure is pregnant. I have asked here before and was told she due soon her stomach is squared off and has been like this for 2 weeks. She is eating and swimming with the other fish, and I didn’t know how long after they squared off will they give birth and if this was normal.

 

[Colin_T]

Normally when you have an issue with the same fish and you have already started a thread about it, we like you to continue using the original thread because it has relevant information. It's not a big deal but it helps because we can go over the original post and check answers and go from there. Fortunately you don't have many posts and I was able to find your previous thread about this fish.

If she still hasn't given birth, she is either going to have a huge batch of babies, or she is full of worms. Possibly even both. The normal gestation period for livebearers is about 4 weeks so if she has been fat for more than 2 months and not given birth, then she has a growth inside her, or is full of worms. Worms being the most common cause of fat livebearers that don't give birth.

Intestinal worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 3-4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second and third treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

--------------------------
To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

 

[Kayla]

Normally when you have an issue with the same fish and you have already started a thread about it, we like you to continue using the original thread because it has relevant information. It's not a big deal but it helps because we can go over the original post and check answers and go from there. Fortunately you don't have many posts and I was able to find your previous thread about this fish.

If she still hasn't given birth, she is either going to have a huge batch of babies, or she is full of worms. Possibly even both. The normal gestation period for livebearers is about 4 weeks so if she has been fat for more than 2 months and not given birth, then she has a growth inside her, or is full of worms. Worms being the most common cause of fat livebearers that don't give birth.

Intestinal worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 3-4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second and third treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

--------------------------
To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Thank you so much this was really helpful. I am new to fish keeping and this is my first pregnant fish I actually didn’t know she was pregnant until she squared off. Is it normal for 4 month old plagues to have huge amount of babies their first time being pregnant?

 

[Colin_T]

Is it normal for 4 month old platies to have huge amount of babies their first time being pregnant?

No.
Young livebearers normally have small batches of young, (consisting of 5-20 babies), fairly regularly (every month). As the females get bigger and older, they have more babies (up to 100 or more), but produce them less often (every couple of months).