Poorly Platy

[PescaPalace]

Hello all,

pretty new to fish but I have a pretty flat platy and has been for at least 2 weeks.

Admittedly he is about 2 years old so could be on his way out but was previous healthy. We upgraded the tank to 40L and introduced more fish. After a week he started flashing and rubbing on the plants and filter. Later, his fins dropped and he began to hide in the corner of the tank.

we cycled the water numerous times, added filter culture, and salt. Salt was 1 tbsp per 20 L, later to 2 tbsp per 20L. There was a slight improvement in the fish, with the flashing and rubbing reducing and his activity increasing but still tucked fins and hiding.

we have isolated him and kept the water conditions as above with little result. No visible signs of white spot or velvet but he still scratches on all the plants and filter when he moves for food.

Some loss of color under the gills and above an eye from the rubbing….I think. is there anything else I can do?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hi, a few questions, what filter are you using? Did you transfer the filter from the old tank to the new, and how have you been washing or changing the filter media? ( the material inside the filter).

Do you have a water testing kit? One that tests for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate?

What do you mean, you cycled the water?

If you can also copy/paste then fill out the below template, the more information we can get, the better the chances that we can figure out what's going on with the poor little guy. He's very stessed.

Tank size:
tank age:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[PescaPalace]

Hi, a few questions, what filter are you using? Did you transfer the filter from the old tank to the new, and how have you been washing or changing the filter media? ( the material inside the filter).

Do you have a water testing kit? One that tests for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate?

What do you mean, you cycled the water?

If you can also copy/paste then fill out the below template, the more information we can get, the better the chances that we can figure out what's going on with the poor little guy. He's very stessed.

Tank size:
tank age:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

Hi and thanks for your response, please see answers below:

Filter:
Isolation tank (essentially his old home)- Fluval 1 plus with new media (old ones got ditched)
New tank - Internal cartridge filter CF1 with new media
No transfer between old and new tank, haven't changed the media since we got it (4 weeks), rinsed in water removed from the tank when changing water

Water testing:
Basic tetra 6 in 1 strips, no ammonia though.

Cycled water - Sorry, I mean a water change - roughly 30% each week. We were clearly overfeeding them in the new tank and the nitrite was super high so we reduced the feeding and started more regular water changes

For the isolation tank
Tank size: 20L
tank age: 15-17y
pH: 7.9
ammonia: NA
nitrite: 1.54
nitrate: 47
kH: 10
gH: 9
tank temp: 21/22

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Clamped fins, hiding/lying motionless in the bottom corner, reduced appetite - somewhat improved in isolation tank, scratching itself on plants and filter repeatedly when he does move about. No visible signs of white spot or velvet but some loss of colour below his gills and above his eye from the scratching i think,

Volume and Frequency of water changes:
30% once a week (this was in the new tank, he has only been in the isolation tank for approaching 1 week).
When transferring him to the isolation tank we used 70% new water and 30% from the other tank.

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Filter boost - both tanks
tap safe when changing water
API aquarium salt - both tanks now at 2 tbsp/20L

Tank inhabitants:
Isolation tank - sick platy, plastic plants (use previously) and a small java fern offshoots

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
New tank - cory x 2, minnows x 3, mollies x4, platy x 1, unknown plant??

Exposure to chemicals: NA

many thanks in advance