Platy Acting Very Strange...

[WillyRBeek]

A few days ago, I noticed one of my platys was acting very strange. Normally she's out swimming around, without a care in the world. The last few days though, she's spent most of her time hiding, either in the little rock cave, underneath the driftwood, or in a cluster of plants. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her. Her scales all look fine, her fins look fine, she doesn't have any weird spots on her. The water stats in my tank are also fine...What's going on here?

The only thing out of the ordinary i've noticed(Besides her behavior) is that she seems to be swimming a little differently. Instead of just zipping around like platys usually do, she seems to be wiggling her back end around excessively...

Any thoughts?

 

[GSD]

Are there males in the tank? A pregnant female ready to drop will often become shy and will hide alot.

 

[mychilly]

This is exactly how my pregnant platies act. Is she pregnant?

 

[WillyRBeek]

I don't think she's pregnant, she doesn't seem to be any bigger than usual. There's 1 other platy in the tank, but i'm fairly certain that it is a female as well. I was told that you can tell what sex they are by one of their back fins, or something of that nature. Is that true?

 

[WillyRBeek]

I was thinking: Could it be constipation? If so, how would I go about treating that? I seem to recall someone saying something about boiled peas?

 

[mychilly]

Males have a sex organ called a gonopodium which is an anal fin( a rod fin) used to fertilize the eggs. The female has an anal fin ( regular small fin) in the same area. The female has a gravid spot that become dark (anal area) when full of babies. This is the eyes of the fry she is going to have. I hope this is helpful.

 

[WillyRBeek]

Males have a sex organ called a gonopodium which is an anal fin( a rod fin) used to fertilize the eggs. The female has an anal fin ( regular small fin) in the same area. The female has a gravid spot that become dark (anal area) when full of babies. This is the eyes of the fry she is going to have. I hope this is helpful.

Is there anywhere I could find a picture of this? It would really help with identifying the difference!

 

[mychilly]

Here is a link for you to check out. It describes symtoms and treatments. Try this http/www.fishyfarmacy.com/Q&A/behavior.html

 

[WillyRBeek]

Well, it definately wasn't pregnant. Found the poor thing, stiff as a board, laying on the bottom this morning

 

[mychilly]

So sorry to hear that.