Possible parasite on downtrodden platy :(

[Fishphoria]

Hi all. I’m a total beginner fish keeper. My brother has given me some fish so I’m still learning!
I have 9 platy and a Bala but one of my platy has had clamped fins for the last few days. At first I thought it was stress but I’ve noticed he’s swimming erratically, he’s lost weight and he swims at the surface quite a lot. I’ve increased oxygen levels and done a partial water change to see if that helps but it’s not. I was wondering if it’s possibly parasites like gill fluke or maybe an internal worm/parasite? I know stress can bring it on?
I’ve purchased some interpet parasite treatment which is arriving tomorrow, do you think I should use it and hope it works? He’s a lovely little fish and I’ve grown quite attached to him.

Any advice greatly received.
I’m headed to my local aquatics shop tomorrow also to pick up water testing kit and some other bits because I’ve only just learnt about this.

I’m meant to be moving them from the 42L tank my brother gave me to a bigger 120L tank but I’m now thinking I’ll treat them first as I don’t want the stress of the tank move to be too much for my poorly platy.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Most fish health issues are caused by poor water quality. Before you add chemicals, test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Until then, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the water is tested.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

How long has the tank been set up for?

If you can post a picture of the fish it helps with identifying issues.

The following link has some information about what to do if your fish gets sick. It's pretty long and boring but worth a read. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help you fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

 

[Fishphoria]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Most fish health issues are caused by poor water quality. Before you add chemicals, test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Until then, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the water is tested.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

How long has the tank been set up for?

If you can post a picture of the fish it helps with identifying issues.

The following link has some information about what to do if your fish gets sick. It's pretty long and boring but worth a read. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help you fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

Hi and thank you for the reply. I’ll have a read of the link, thank you. I went to my local aquatics shop and showed them photos and explained his behaviour and also his poop being clear/white and his body looking almost iridescent and they gave me a parasite treatment for him. Unfortunately I can’t seem to load photos on here as they’re too big. But I’ve been advised to treat them in the tank and then move the unaffected fish to the new tank when the week has passed, do a 50% water change and keep sick fishy in the tank for a second treatment.

I do regular weekly changes of 50% (as it’s only a 42L tank) and use aqua care bio boost and water conditioner in the dosage advised on the pack. I’m picking up some Water testing kits just after Christmas when I get paid so I can properly keep an eye on it. Gravel cleaner is used regularly too when I do the water change and temp is regulated and I check regularly to see it’s still right.

 

[Fishphoria]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Most fish health issues are caused by poor water quality. Before you add chemicals, test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Until then, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the water is tested.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

How long has the tank been set up for?

If you can post a picture of the fish it helps with identifying issues.

The following link has some information about what to do if your fish gets sick. It's pretty long and boring but worth a read. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help you fall asleep.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

Oh it let me add a pic. This is him. He’s the only one affected out of all my fish physically although a couple of others have the clear stringy poop.

 

[Fishphoria]

Oh it let me add a pic. This is him. He’s the only one affected out of all my fish physically although a couple of others have the clear stringy poop.

I should’ve added that I noticed he had clamped fins so did a big water change last week but this hadn’t helped. He’s still eating though.

 

[Colin_T]

If the images are too big to go on the website, change the camera's resolution to its lowest setting (about 2MB) and the images will be smaller and should fit on here. If they still don't fit, put them on an image hosting website and copy and paste the link here and we can use the link to view them at the other site.

Make sure you use a camera flash when taking fish pics.

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The fish in the picture is a male. You can sex livebearers (mollies, platies, swordtails, guppies) by looking at their anal (bottom) fin. Males have a long straight anal fin called a gonopodium. Females have a fan or triangular shaped anal fin.

If you have other male platies in the tank, they could be picking on the one in the picture.

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How long has the tank been set up for?

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If you take a sample of the tank water to the local pet shop, they can test the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH for you. Write the results down in numbers when they do the test. If they say "The water is fine", ask them what the results are in numbers. Then post the results here.

If you can't get back to the pet shop for a while then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the water is tested.

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This fish is a bit skinny and has noticeable red gills that could indicate poor water quality or an internal infection.

An internal protozoan or bacterial infection will usually cause the fish to stop eating. Whereas intestinal worms will make a male fish go skinny but it still eats well.

Gill flukes cause fish to breath heavily, have flared gills and the gills lose colour (go pale) as the blood is sucked out of them.

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Without knowing the water quality I would be careful about adding chemicals/ medications because they could make the fish worse if it is a water quality issue.

Any idea what the ingredients are in the "Interpet parasite treatment"?

 

[Fishphoria]

Hey! So I went to my local aquatics shop and used a recommended parasite treatment.. platy has improved sooo much after 1 week! I’ve moved the healthy fish over to the new big tank and on the advice of the person I spoke to, I’ve done a 1/2 water change and I’m treating poorly platy again for a second week before moving him over. He’s not 100% yet but his fins are unclamped and his scales don’t as look velvety/slimy anymore.

 

[Colin_T]

What medication are you using?

 

[Fishphoria]

What medication are you using?

It’s an aqua care bacteria and parasite treatment which was recommended by the aquatics shop. I did a large water change before using the medication. I’ve been keeping on top of cleaning the gravel and water changes and adding the bio boost and tap water treatment and I’ll be buying my own water testing kit tomorrow so I can tell you what the results are of the water quality. It was definitely something wrong with him as his appearance has improved so much since treatment. He definitely lost weight so I think it matches what you said about internal parasite/bacteria as he was still eating fine and still is now. I’ll grab a photo of him tomorrow to show how much better he looks. If it was the water quality then surely all the fish would be showing signs of red gills? It’s only him that’s been hit with any symptoms, my other 8 fish are healthy and happy and unnafected