Platty problem

[rorrism]

I am having strange things going on in my tank.

the tank is 100L and the stock is:

1 plec - sold as clown, looks like a common or sailfin ~3.5" nose to tail
5x platties (1 male, 4 female) from 1" to 2"
3x clown loach 2@ 3", 1 @ 2-2.5"
2x albino cory 1.5"
2x dwarf gourami 1@ 2", 1@ 1-1.5"

My plec has always had some light spots on its right hand side but these have spread to the left hand side. They are rather large and strange looking, but I'll post about these in the catfish forum...

The problematic platy is looking very ill she has lost A LOT of weight and appears to be struggling to swim to the top of the tank. There is also a lot of reddening of her gills. She was pregnant before all this happens but there is no sign of any fry or the like in the tank. Is there a chance that fish has been attacked by any of the tank mates or could this be an infection? There have been no additions to the tank for about 3-4 weeks and this appears to have happened quite suddenly. Unfortunately I don't have a spare tank to house her.

The fish get fed once a day on Hikari floating pellets and are given an algae wafer every other day. The clown loaches eat from the top and the albinos eat the pellets as they sink to the bottom of the tank.

I have tested the water for nitrites and all is clear?.... i also did a 20% water change and changed the wool filter yesterday.

Any suggestions?

 

[Def]

When you say "struggling to swim", can you describe it a bit better? It might be a swim bladder problem. Does she eat?

An easy way to take a close look at platy's (if they're used to you and "tame") is wait for them to swim to the front of the tank. Very slowly put ONE finger on the tank glass next to them. 9 times out of 10, they'll spot your finger. IF you then move your finger VERY SLOWLY left or right, the platy normally turns and swims to follow the finger for a few seconds. A handy way to get a good visual check of platys, because they normally swim too fast...

 

[rorrism]

I say she is struggling to swim, she is sitting on the bottom of the tank and will not venture any further than about 2 inches from the bottom. When one of the clown loaches swam up to her she swam off very quickly. It looks like she is a bit lethargic. I haven't seen her eat and when I put food in the tank she swam away and hid in some of the wood.

 

[Def]

Are her fins clamped? Platys that sit on the bottom with clamped fins are usually in a really bad way, sorry to say. Do you have a quarantine tank? You could take the risk that moving her to quarantine and using some stresscoat will help....

 

[rorrism]

Not too sure what you mean by her fins being clamped.

She can swim if she wants to, she just chooses not to. I don't have a quarantine tank unfortuneatly......

I'll add some stress coat when I get home.

Last night Nitrite was zero. I do not have nitrate or ammonia test kits but last time I had my water tested (about 2 weeks ago) nitrate was <20ppm, Nitrite and Ammonia were zero....

Thanks