platy problem

[01ACRViper]

i was directed to your board, hopefully i can find some help somewhere :hs:

one of my red wag platys has been very lethargic the last 2 days. when she's not eating, she's under a rock just sitting there. there was no color change at first, but now from her gills to the underside of her belly is turning yellow, which looks like it is just her natural orange losing color. it's a 10 gallon tank, nitrites are at 0, nitrates 10 ppm, ph 7.5, temp is 78. i do 1/4 water changes every 5 days, and i just added 5 fancy guppies. her symptoms began a few hours after the guppies were introduced, which makes me think it's stree related the tank has been up and running for 2 months, 1 month with 3 platys alone. there was a bacterial bloom last week, btu it subsided on its own after 2 days. any help will be appreciated

 

[Ani]

How many other platys are in with her? What sex are they?

xx

 

[01ACRViper]

just 1, another female

 

[Ani]

Hmm, any males in the guppy shoal. It sounds like your platy might be a bit stressed after the new arrivals. Is she eating?

 

[01ACRViper]

yeah, there are 3 male guppies. she only moves to eat, but when she eats she moves like everything was normal

 

[dwarfgourami]

What about your ammonia readings?

If the new addition of fish was too much for your bacteria to handle it would show up first as an ammonia spike and only as high nitrites after several days.

Ammonia can cause all sorts of unpleasant symptoms.

 

[Ani]

I've never kept guppies but it is possible that your stressed platy problem is due to your male to female ratio. You should really have at least two females to each male. Otherwise the girls can literally be mated to death. Your guppy girls are at risk of this. Your platy girl has probably freaked out at the change in the fish structure of the tank. If she's eating, I don't think she's ill. Check your ammonia levels as dwarfgourami suggests and keep an eye on her. I suspect she'll settle down. If you have room, it would probably help matters for all your girls to add one or two more female guppies.

xx

 

[01ACRViper]

ok well i took the guppies out and put them in my standby bowl, and left the platys alone in the bigger tank all day, still no imnprovement but at least it hasn't gotten worse. if things are still bad tomorrow i don't know what i'll do

 

[spanishguy111]

I'd bet you have dinoflagellates.

 

[Ani]

Hiya, any improvement since this afternoon? How was your ammonia test? I still think that as long as your platy girl is eating, she's probably not ill. I know you said you had no male platies but is it possible she could be pregnant? Sometimes that can make females take refuge somewhere safe. I've read that some livebearer females have the capability of storing sperm inside their bodies so they can reimpregnate by themselves. Not sure if platies can do this though. Does your female show any signs of pregnancy - perhaps from a male before you bought her? She should have a noticeably rounder belly and sometimes you can see the frys' eyes inside the stomach?

xx