Safe To Medicate Tank With Fry & Pregnant Fish?

[FrogGirl]

Is it safe to put medication in the tank with newborn fry & pregnant livebearers?

Some of our tuxedo platys have had a few shiny/discolored spots on them, the last time we had been at the LFS some of the tuxedo's there had the same thing & when we asked about it they said they weren't sure, didn't know what it was. I hadn't really been able to find out anymore information about it but we've had a few tuxedos die over the last few weeks & there one right now that looks in kind of bad shape. He's got a lot more bad spots on him & rubs against stuff all the time. After spotting a different platy today with what looks like a large whitish spot on her I wondered if it could be some sort of fish fungus so I've been trying to read & figure out if that might be what it is. I am thinking whether fungus is affecting all of them or not that we do have some fungus problem & probably need to dose the tank. The problem is we have newborn guppy fry & several pregnant platys & a pregnant sword tail.

From what I was reading using Methalyne Blue might be ok but I just wanted to check with people who might know more about this. We have some medication from dealing with ich more than a month ago.

 

[Caprichoso]

You would be better off doing daily 25% water changes for the next week or so, then following a regiment of approx. 50% water change each week. Medication is not good to use unless you absolutely know what's wrong with the fish, otherwise you're just taking a stab in the dark. Illness in fish is almost always the result of less than ideal water parameters/conditions. Better to do the water changes IMO. Also, a water test might be a good idea to do to make sure that you don't have any ammonia or nitrite in the water.

Good luck

 

[FrogGirl]

About 2 weeks ago when I first thought there might be a problem we did all the tests on the water & everything came back fine. The main problem we were having is since the temperature outside has gone up the temperature in our tank has gone up. We turned the heater off a month or two ago & on some advice from some forum members started putting frozen bottles of water in the tank. We did a water change then but it took us 2hrs & we haven't been able to get time to do it since. I know we need to do a water change about every week but I can't do it by myself & we either are never home when my husband is off work or haven't hardly been home long enough. I was hoping to do a change this weekend but my family decided we're working on our backyard this weekend.

I'll make sure we test the water again just to make sure that's all fine & hopefully one night this week maybe we can get a chance to do a water change

 

[Caprichoso]

I understand that it can take some time but it's essential to the good health of the fish. Have you considered buying a Python water change system or something you can use to siphon the water out? I do 50% water changes each week on my 140 gallon and from start to finish it's under an hour. I'm not very strong and have no problem doing the water change by myself. Something for you to consider as it makes doing the water changes very simple.