Is this platy okay?

[Sgooosh]

Hello! I recently separated this senior platyfish from my main tank, and I see thet his color and skin smoothness isn’t as consistent as before.

Is it okay if I reintroduce him to the main tank? he is active and willing to eat, and i’m worried for his long term well being if he’s just in this container.

 

[Colin_T]

He is skinny and looks a bit chewed up. Has he been dewormed and treated for gill flukes since you got him? If not, I would deworm them all and see how he goes.

Flubendazole will treat round and tape worms as well as gill flukes and would be the medication of choice. Otherwise Levamisole and then Praziquantel.

Maybe add some salt for 2 weeks to clean up any external protozoan parasites that might be on him and to help his tail heal.

This link is for deworming fish.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[Sgooosh]

He is skinny and looks a bit chewed up. Has he been dewormed and treated for gill flukes since you got him? If not, I would deworm them all and see how he goes.

Flubendazole will treat round and tape worms as well as gill flukes and would be the medication of choice. Otherwise Levamisole and then Praziquantel.

Maybe add some salt for 2 weeks to clean up any external protozoan parasites that might be on him and to help his tail heal.

This link is for deworming fish.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

---------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

okay, I’ll do some of that. Should I do salt first or deworming?

 

[Colin_T]

You can do both at the same time. Add salt and deworm them.

If you only want to do one at a time, use salt first because his fins are in pretty bad shape. If there's no improvement after a week of salt, look into a broad spectrum medication like Waterlife Protozin or something similar.

 

[Sgooosh]

You can do both at the same time. Add salt and deworm them.

If you only want to do one at a time, use salt first because his fins are in pretty bad shape. If there's no improvement after a week of salt, look into a broad spectrum medication like Waterlife Protozin or something similar.

okay, that sounds good. His fins don't seem to be rotting, he was in rough shape from being nipped by the other fish earlier, and the color has not grown back on the new fin. (He is also losing some spots of color on his dorsal fin which hasn't been nipped)

 

[emeraldking]

Do I see a small hump on his head?