Newbie, Platy Appears To Have Miscarried - Help Please.

[Timbo Baggins]

Hello everyone, I've just joined the forum. I have a platy that was pregnant, and she was very big. This morning when I fed them, I saw she had obviously given birth, new fry in the plants and her size pretty much back to normal. But she has this red/white kind of sack hanging out of her rear end, and in that looks like a fry in it?? It quite freaked me to be honest. She doesnt seem to distressed, but is hanging around the top of the tank. Has she miscarried and will the sack be passed, or do I need to do something? I am going to attempt to put a picture up of it.

Your anticipated help and suggestions will gladly be received,

Regards, Tim.



I cant get the image to open in this forum, sorry??

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum.

Your platy has a prolapse where, during labour, she's pushed out her 'womb'. I'm afraid there's nothing you can do to treat it, but some of them do get better in their own time. All you can do is make sure she has good, clean water and that none of your other fish pick on her.

To post pics on this forum, you need to upload them to hosting site, like Photobucket or Flickr, and put the 'IMG' code in your post.

 

[Timbo Baggins]

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:68436]
Thanks Emo, she's seems pretty peaceful and up to now been left alone, she ate a bit of food when I fed them an hour ago - but she does seem to be breathing heavier than normal? To be expected I suppose. The water is good, I do a 25% change each monday. I managed to attach the pic in the emergency forum, perhaps you could have a look? - I showed it to the LFS and they sold me salt?? Should I use it after the water change, it apparently reduces stress? Is she in any pain? I've had her from when I set up my tank, which is my first, and she has grown to a lovely size, I'd hate to think she's suffering! Thanks again for your advice, fingers crossed she'll get through it. I think I've got the pic on this post now, I'll get there!

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes that does look like a prolapse of some sort. You could try the salt; it certainly wouldn't do any harm, unless you have other fish in the tank, like catfish, who don't like salt. If that's the case, a salt bath for her (just use your water change bucket) might be worth a try.

There's no way of knowing how much pain she might be in, I'm afraid; fish, like most animals, are very good at hiding how sick they are to avoid attracting predators I feel I ought to warn you that it doesn't look good, but you never know; fish can come back from the most horrendous injuries.

 

[Timbo Baggins]

Thanks for your honesty, life's cruel, but nature will take its course!! Like I said, there's the part formed body of a fry in the mass. Really not nice. Do you have any idea on how long I should give her? Or literally just see what happens? As for the salt, I have lots of platys, including fry in various stages of growth - including hers, ironically! I have phantom tetras and an algae loach, is it safe to use, or shall I give the salt bath a try - I take it I just dose the bucket and put her in for a while? I really appreciate your knowledge and assistance by the way,

Im still very new to all this, but so far, until today, have only had 2 losses, in the last 11 months.

 

[phantomlink]

It does suck to lose a fish, but if you look on the bright side you have a bunch of babies to look after now who can one day swim in the tank with the rest

 

[Timbo Baggins]

Yeah true, but she's was one of the founders of my tank, there's plenty of her babies in my tank!! Bless her, I'm upgrading to a 3ft tank soon, and my nephew is having my current 2ft tank, I'm going to stock it with the babies. I do love this hobby, or should that be lifestyle!! Lol! We'll see how she gets on, yer never know??

 

[phantomlink]

Hopefully she does well, I've read stories that fish who prolapse and recover dont do so well next time they give birth, sometimes killing themselves in the process

 

[Timbo Baggins]

Great! I'm gonna see how shes looks tomorrow, if she still looks bad, then I'll put her out her misery - cant stand the thought of her suffering! Ill keep you all informed