New female platy does not eat and stays at bottom of tank

[Adascalu]

Hello!

I have a female platy that I just bought 3 days ago. Everytime i look at her she is staying at the bottom of the tank swimming just enough so it is stationary. It does not eat even if i drop food in front of her. It is in a 25 litre tank with a male platy and 2 other bigger fish from a species I do not know. The other fish do not seem to bully her and they just ignore her. They are fine and quite lively so I do mot think it is because of the water quality.

Is it normal for a new platy to behave like this for the first couple of days?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello, and Welcome To forum!

Yes, it is very common for new fish to not eat. When I got my betta fish, he didn’t eat until after 4 days

It could be stress.

What are your water parameters?

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[Essjay]

Can you tell us the water quality - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate - and the parameters - pH and hardness please.

You should have testers for most of those, and hardness should be on your water provider's website. With 2 platies and 2 other bigger fish in a tiny 25 litre tank, the water conditions may be not as good as you think.

The other issue might be the male platy. Male livebearers constantly harass females, which is why it is recommended to have a lot more females than males so each female gets time off while the males chase another female. But more females is not an option in a tank this size.


What are the other fish?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

No, it's not normal for platies to sit on the bottom and ignore food.

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video 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.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

 

[Adascalu]

Hello, and Welcome To forum!

Yes, it is very common for new fish to not eat. When I got my betta fish, he didn’t eat until after 4 days

It could be stress.

What are your water parameters?

(Please consider voting for the July POTM contest, by clicking the banner at the top of your screen, Thanks!)

I do not know the water parameters. It is the first fish tank my family has and so we do not have the kits to measure it. But the other three fish have had no problems for the past 4 months, so I am certain that was not the problem.

 

[Adascalu]

Can you tell us the water quality - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate - and the parameters - pH and hardness please.

You should have testers for most of those, and hardness should be on your water provider's website. With 2 platies and 2 other bigger fish in a tiny 25 litre tank, the water conditions may be not as good as you think.

The other issue might be the male platy. Male livebearers constantly harass females, which is why it is recommended to have a lot more females than males so each female gets time off while the males chase another female. But more females is not an option in a tank this size.


What are the other fish?

As I said just above, I do not have kits to test the water quality, but I will get some. Every time I looked at them, the male platy was acting as normal and was ignoring the new fish.

Unfortunately, 12 hours after I made the post I looked at the aquarium and the female platy was dead and has floating vertically next to the water pump intake. I had looked at it 2 and a half hours before and she was statying at the bottom but could still move if i tried to catch it with a net. I felt so sorry and I am not sure what I did wrong.

 

[Adascalu]

Hi and welcome to the forum

No, it's not normal for platies to sit on the bottom and ignore food.

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video 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.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

------------------------
How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

Here is a link to a vide of the other three, since the new platy died last night:

. Could anyone please tell me the species of the 2 bigger fish?

The tank has been set up for 4 months.
I change the entire water about around each 10 days. I did not change the water for the three days I had the female platy.
The filter is white cotton like material, above it is a tube with holes in it through which water is pumped, after it passes through the filter the water then drops back into the aquarium.
I replace the and clean the pump and tubing filter every 10 days. I clean the tuping with jets of hot water and some cotton swabs.

 

[Adascalu]

Might it be because when I brought it home i just dropped it into the tank with some of the water in the bag? After that I read you should but some water from the tank into the plastic bag gradually so it can get accustomed.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

You are supposed to float the bag in the tank, and add a little bit of tank water every 15 min. That might be why they are stunned.

 

[Colin_T]

The 2 gold and 1 silver fish are mollies (Poecillia sphenops). A couple look like lyretail mollies, which simply means they have little filaments on the top and bottom of the tail. One is definitely a male but the camera needs to be turned on its side (not held vertically) so I can see them better. Or just take a clear picture of the fish and I can sex them for you.

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If you take a glass full of tank water to the pet shop, they can test it for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

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You should change 75% of the water every week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If possible use a gravel cleaner to clean the gunk out of the gravel at the same time. You can get a variety of gravel cleaners but you only need a basic model like the one in the following link.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

Leave the fish in the tank when you clean it. Just use a gravel cleaner to drain some water out and clean the substrate, then fill the tank back up.

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Try to find a sponge to go in your filter. Then you can squeeze the filter sponge out in a bucket of tank water before re-using it.

Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better. However, do not clean a filter for the first 6 weeks because you can prevent the beneficial filter bacteria from establishing.

You should squeeze out the white filter floss in a bucket of tank water and re-use it. Add some sponge when you can and keep the sponge and white floss together for a couple of months, then remove the white filter floss and don't replace it.

You can buy sponges from various brands of filter and use a pair of scissors to cut them to fit in your filter.

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Don't add any more fish for at least 1 month, preferably 2 months.

Reduce feeding to 2-3 times per week and do a 75% water change and gravel clean 4-8 hours after feeding them.

When the filter has established in about 6 weeks time, you can feed them once or twice a day and do a 75% water change once a week.

If you can find some floating plants for the tank, it will help keep the water cleaner and make the fish feel more secure. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is the best floating plant for livebearers (mollies, guppies, platies, swordtails). It normally grows on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate.