What's new
By:
Filters

Platy emergency

EllieTheJellyy

EllieTheJellyy

New Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
29
Reaction score
2
Location
UK
Long time no see! My fish tank has been doing beautify and I have needed no help until now.

So one of my fish had her tail stuck around the filter tube (picture below) about 2 weeks ago so I freed her and she was fine afterwards. She then has got it stuck again sunday night (I have now built a mountain of stones round it but left just enough room for the filter to still work). I noticed she was swimming diagonal and has a arched shaped back (I didn't notice this before) she also has a jagged tail.

I did an emergency search on the internet and it says she has a bent back or spine also known as tuberculosis and I should euthanize her immediately as it is contagious. Obviously I do not want to do this so I have moved her into a temporary tank for a couple days (it isnt set up with a filter because I had no time, although it is the water from the main tank with treatment in) but I hope to get her back in the main tank ASAP.

I have checked the water with my freshwater test kit and it is showing that the water is good. None of the other fish (4 platys) are experiencing any symptoms.

Shes eating and pooping fine, just the swimming, back and tail is the problem.

https://gyazo.com/077fa84aac8eb5b86e7cf4386903bcbe

https://gyazo.com/3a14c8448c471de000ff039d704e4575

https://gyazo.com/29a595635d69ac7423747f49751e747e
 
If this happened just since the injury I would say she damaged her back. If it has always been that way then it could be TB. In that case I would keep her separate from the other fish. If it’s an injury, watch her and see if she can survive like that. You really need a larger tank for these fish also. Good luck! Keep us posted.
 
She is surving just looks a bit lonely, how long would you suggest leaving her separated? And yes the tank is small because it's my sisters tank for one snail. I wasnt really prepared for having an emergency like this.
 
You can buy round/ cylindrical sponges for some brands of internal power filters. These sponges have a hole through the centre and they fit over the intake strainer of most external power filters.

If you put one of these sponges on the intake of your filter, it will stop the fish being drawn into the filter and being damaged.

--------------------------
The curved back could be Tuberculosis or the fish could have intestinal worms. Either way, all the fish in the tank will have whatever the platy has. You can try deworming the fish and see if it improves. You can feed the fish more often (3-5 times per day) for a few weeks and see if the fish fills out.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two when feeding more often to keep the tank clean.

--------------------------
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

--------------------------
The tail appears to have a bacterial infection setting in (the red inflamed area at the top half of the tail). You can add some salt to try and fix it.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres 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, 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 will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

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.

--------------------------
You can use salt and the deworming medications at the same time.
 
Colin_T said:
You can buy round/ cylindrical sponges for some brands of internal power filters. These sponges have a hole through the centre and they fit over the intake strainer of most external power filters.

If you put one of these sponges on the intake of your filter, it will stop the fish being drawn into the filter and being damaged.

--------------------------
The curved back could be Tuberculosis or the fish could have intestinal worms. Either way, all the fish in the tank will have whatever the platy has. You can try deworming the fish and see if it improves. You can feed the fish more often (3-5 times per day) for a few weeks and see if the fish fills out.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two when feeding more often to keep the tank clean.

--------------------------
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

--------------------------
The tail appears to have a bacterial infection setting in (the red inflamed area at the top half of the tail). You can add some salt to try and fix it.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres 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, 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 will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

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.

--------------------------
You can use salt and the deworming medications at the same time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, is this definitely an infection? Can it be caused by old age or the injury? Shes about 2 years now + the time she was at the fish shop. The other fish are fine and it doesn't look like they are infected. I'm going to set up another thank to keep the injured fish in but I don't want to treat the other fish if I'm not sure anything is wrong with them.
 
The top part of the tail looks red and inflamed, which is typical of bacterial infections. Salt should treat it because it doesn't appear too bad.

Deworming medications are safe to use and all fish should be treated as soon as you get them.

-----------------------
If it's TB, then the fish will have pooped out TB cells while it was in the main tank.
If it's intestinal worms, it would have pooped out worm eggs while it was in the main tank.

It's fine to keep the fish separate, however I would deworm all the fish in all the tanks you have, just to rule out intestinal worms as the cause.
 
EllieTheJellyy said:
She is surving just looks a bit lonely, how long would you suggest leaving her separated? And yes the tank is small because it's my sisters tank for one snail. I wasnt really prepared for having an emergency like this.
Click to expand...
I thought that was as your main, my apologies. Was she like that before the accident?
 
It very well could be fish TB. @Colin T should this fish be euthanized? Could it have broken his back and when stuck in the filter? It does look like Fish TB.
 
Colin_T said:
You can euthanise it if you like but I would treat them for worms first and increase the feeding. It could also be scoliosis. An interesting link I found on Dr Googly suggests scoliosis in fish can be caused by heart problems and high temperatures.
https://www.wired.com/2016/07/fish-creepy-curved-spines-help-explain-scoliosis/

How warm is the tank water?
How often do you feed the fish?
Click to expand...

The tank temperature at the moment it 25c (they're varitus platys so it should be different from platys I believe) but it could have risen since England has had a heatwave recently.

I feed them once a day and give them about as much they'll eat within a minute. I have been away on holiday so they have gone 3 days without food but the person at the pet shop said that was fine.

I would rather not euthanise her but if shes in pain / uncomfortable for the rest of her life then maybe it's best.
 
They aren't Xiphophorus variatus platies. They actually look like swordtail x platies. However, it doesn't really matter what species it is, 25C is fine for all of them.

--------------------------
Fish can go for days or even weeks without food and 3 days isn't an issue for healthy adult fish. However, if a fish is infested with intestinal worms, then it needs lots of food to help it produce more blood so it doesn't die from low blood pressure or anemia.

If you want to keep the fish and try treating it, deworm it asap, and feed it 3-5 times per day with a variety of dry, frozen but defrosted, and live foods. Feed it until it is full, then remove any uneaten food. Continue feeding it this way for 1 month after you have finished deworming it.

--------------------------
If the fish is still eating and can still swim relatively normally, then keep feeding and looking after it.
If the fish stops eating, or gasps at the surface, or has trouble swimming, then it's time to euthanise it.
 
Colin_T said:
You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole.
Click to expand...

As you are in the UK,
praziquantel is in eSHa gdex
levamisole is in eSHa-ndx
flubendazole is in Kusuri Wormer Plus (powder)
 
Colin_T said:
They aren't Xiphophorus variatus platies. They actually look like swordtail x platies. However, it doesn't really matter what species it is, 25C is fine for all of them.

--------------------------
Fish can go for days or even weeks without food and 3 days isn't an issue for healthy adult fish. However, if a fish is infested with intestinal worms, then it needs lots of food to help it produce more blood so it doesn't die from low blood pressure or anemia.

If you want to keep the fish and try treating it, deworm it asap, and feed it 3-5 times per day with a variety of dry, frozen but defrosted, and live foods. Feed it until it is full, then remove any uneaten food. Continue feeding it this way for 1 month after you have finished deworming it.

--------------------------
If the fish is still eating and can still swim relatively normally, then keep feeding and looking after it.
If the fish stops eating, or gasps at the surface, or has trouble swimming, then it's time to euthanise it.
Click to expand...

Alright thanks for the help, I will pick up some de-worming treatment today. She is eating and acting normal still its just the back problem.
 
Hi everyone thanks for helping. Last night I moved her into the other more permanent tank treated with tap safe and safe start. I tested the water and it was good. Straight away she sank to the bottom but then started swimming diagonal. I was up most the night observing her but I eventually fell asleep.

This morning she was swimming on her side, I tested the water again and it was good. She has been having lifeless moments and been struggling to swim. Her back is also twisted.

Now she is fully lifeless but moves a fin or her mouth when I went to check on her (all my fish always come right up to the glass and get so excited when they see me, probably because I feed them) I've put a towel over her tank with a little light.

I need to go out soon to look after my nan but I just dont know what to do with her.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Help! My betta fish is injured
2
Replies
21
Views
685
Jinx_
Jinx_
B
Guppy with mouth fungus
Replies
7
Views
336
Colin_T
Colin_T
theplatylover
Interesting platy behavior, thoughts??
Replies
10
Views
663
Colin_T
Colin_T
Connershawzz
Delhezi bichir tail getting worse please help
Replies
7
Views
611
Colin_T
Colin_T
M
Fantail Goldfish Tails
2 3 4
Replies
47
Views
1K
Mfish123
M

Most reactions

Useful Links

Back
Top