Sick Platty

[shakierail]

One of the platties in the tank has stopped eating and constantly gulps whilst swimming. She's been like this now for about three days, and although still swims around with the other fish is less active than usual.

I've tried giving a mild dose of anti-bacterial (had another platty who died of dropsy in the past), but this has had no effect. I'm out of ideas...

Tank stats as of yesterday
Size 30"x12"x15" (think that's 16 gallons), age 1 year, biolife filter
pH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Water changes 20% each week.

Other fish in tank
8 Neon Tetras
2 Albeno Corydoras
8 Platties, most quite young, all bar 2 born in the tank.

 

[Starry]

I was in a similiar situation. My platy died today. She wouldn't eat, the color of her skin changed and then the last 2 days she started to "breath" heavy. She didn't eat for at least a week. She also had fungus growing on her. However, I think the fact that she had babies a month ago and then again a few days ago had a lot to do with giving her stress. I did some research and I believe that she may have had internal parasites. Not sure though. I think if I would of started earlier with the treatment, that could of had a bigger affect on the fish. Also, I do have ammonia present in the tank which I believe could of been part of the problem. My tank is still cycling. At least you have no ammonia in your tank.

I had 2 platys in the tank and the other platy started to grow the fungus also. I treated the tank with melafix and that healed the one fish, but it didn't help the other. I don't know what to say other than to maybe look into a different treatment. Try doing research on the internet. There are experts you can find through sites that you can e-mail questions. That can possibly lead you into finding what you can do.

 

[shakierail]

Thanks for the advice. Sadly she died yesterday, and was painfully thin at the end. No sign of any fungus however. I'm still investigating what it could have been though, in case any of the others starts showing signs of the same ailment.

 

[Starry]

I am sorry to hear that your fish died. I just did a large water change and I am going to continue to treat the water with melafix. I just noticed this morning that my surviving platy seems to have a brownish spot on her fin and I am afraid that the disease that killed the other platy is still in the water. Plus, when I found the dead platy, a part of her fin was gone so I am thinking that the other platy must of ate it. (Which the fin I believe had ulcers on it).

You might want to do a large water change and continue to put the anti-bacterial medication in the water to help prevent your other fish from getting sick.

take care

 

[jumpman]

I have also had problems with some platys....

I have three left now, that were bought as a batch of six. I always seem to find that females last longer than males, but only about half of my lot last longer than a couple of months........maybe just unlucky, but also my nitrate in the tap water comes out at .25, so probably reduces lifespan/more prone to sickness......

thought maybe you have a similar problem, but your readings are all 0.....

Not sure on this one, but none of my other fish seem to have a problem.....I have lots of live plants too........