Sick Platys, Please Help

[ihassomefishes]

hey guys,
i have 2 sick platys and was hoping to get some advice.

one has been clamping her fins since yesterday (dorsal and tail) and very rarely swims around the tank..i caught her flashing a couple of times, but i don't see anything on her.

the other stays at the top of the tank motionless, but if i have my air pump running he stays at the bottom and swims around..but he's sluggish and doesn't leave the corner of the tank. he looks totally fine, and i haven't seen him flashing or anything.

neither seem to have an appetite problem.

i have 8 platys and 5 corys, the others are fine, except for one of my red wag's has a piece missing from her dorsal fin (as of yesterday).

37g tank
76 degrees
pH-7.6
nitrite-0
nitrate-5
ammonia-reading at 1ppm, but i'm fairly certain this is from ammo-lock, i dosed the tank in case this was an ammonia problem. (my tank cycled fully but i stocked too quickly-i've been doing 20-25% water changes every other day, but it hasn't been higher than .25 at any time until i used the ammo-lock)

i'm going to do a 30% change right now.

please help, could this be as simple as a water quality issue? or should i be thinking about treating?

thank you!

 

[Harlequins]

It sounds like your platys are suffering ammonia poisoning,if your tank was fully cycled it should be reading zero and adding ammo-lock isn't helping your filter to build up beneficial bacteria.

How long has the tank been set up?
How long have you been using ammo-lock?

I would test your water daily and do daily water changes if necessary,and try to keep the ammonia has close to zero has possibly,has any ammonia is harmful to fish,they may survive it,but may suffer in the long run otherwise.

 

[ihassomefishes]

i've had fish for a couple of weeks. everything was reading at zero (after the proper spikes) for days after i got them, but got screwy once i added my corys.

i did a 30% change this afternoon..i just tested the water, and i'm still getting 1ppm. i don't understand how it's not changing! (does anyone know about post-ammolock readings??) my nitrates are zero, so it obviously diluted something.

i've been so careful about my water, i've tested every day, and i've changed the water anytime i got an ammonia reading (today makes the 4th day of readings)...the ammo-lock seems to have screwed everything up even more. i'm going to keep doing daily changes and stop the ammo-lock and hope things level out without any fish loss..the bigger of the two seems to be faring much better now. hopefully the smaller will be better after another substantial change...

 

[SlyPolak]

What test kit do you use.............strips are USELESS by the way

 

[ihassomefishes]

i have an API master test kit..so it's liquid.

i just tested the water, it's reading 4ppm of ammonia. this can't be right can it?!

 

[ihassomefishes]

i'm worried that daily water changes is going to keep my tank from re-cycling..

 

[SlyPolak]

i'm worried that daily water changes is going to keep my tank from re-cycling..

Water changes will NOT recycle anything as long as you dont kill you filter and have something to feed the bacteria (ammonia).... 4 PPM ?? HOW.... how long did you cycle for?? If it is TRULY 4ppm and your fish are still alive KEEP DOING WATER CHANGES!!! like 90%
AMMONIA = POISON


Did you add all your fish at once and maybe overloaded your filter??? WATER CHANGES WATER CHANGES WATER CHANGES WATER CHANGES

 

[Harlequins]

It would be best to remove the ammo-lock has it doesn't appear to be doing owt.

Keep testing daily and if there is ammonia showing do large water changes to bring it back down,so if you get a reading of 1ppm and you did a 50% w/c then it would take it down to 0.50ppm ,so wait a while then do another 50% w/c,this should bring it close to zero.

Waterchanges will not affect your filter cycling,has long has you dechlorinate your tap water before putting it in the tank,w/c's can only help when you have ammonia or nitrite in the tank otherwise the fish will be poisoned and die.

You say you've had the fish a few weeks,how long before this did you set up the tank?

 

[ihassomefishes]

my water changes don't seem to be changing my ammonia levels at all.
everyone is still alive, i'm still testing at 4 w/ the API kit.
i got an ammo-alert thing for inside the tank, and it's been consistently reading at zero...i'm so confused.

i'm going to do another big water change..i've been doing at least 20% changes every day this week.

my tank was set up a week before i got fish (i know it was too fast..), but i used bacteria in a bottle and stocked really slowly at first..i was getting readings of zero consistently, until one of my corys died and i couldn't find him (i still haven't...so this could be the problem)...but, the ammonia spike happened right after the ammo-lock, so i don't know which is to blame.

one of the two sick platys is doing much better. she isn't 100%, but her fins aren't clamped nearly as often.

 

[SlyPolak]

If you think a fish died your best bet would be to search EVERYTHING and get rid of the body, this could be the root of all your ammonia problems,,,,, I am also surprised you are'nt getting an algea bloom with a carcass rotting away in your tank.

ALSO, how old is the API test you are using?? The print on each bottle is the manufacture date so I would say if you're 3 years back it has expired..... SHAKE it like crazy and try again....... IDK

 

[ihassomefishes]

i looked everywhere for the little guy. i did a 30% change and moved everything..and went through all the gravel with my vac, he's no where to be found...and my filter doesn't have a big enough space for him to have gotten sucked up. so...it's a total mystery.

i have no algae or cloudy water or anything, the only problem is the ammonia.

i just did a 35% change, and tested immediately...my ammonia is reading between 1 and 2ppm...so, should i do another big change later tonight? or should i wait until tomorrow?

my kit is brand new, all the bottle dates are late '09 early '10. i've tested a million ways, it's all the same. the ammo-alert supposedly only tests for free ammonia, so that's why i thought the ammo-lock may have been giving me false readings. i don't know what's going on...i'm just hoping i can get through it without losing any fish.

i was thinking about getting a bottle of cycle (that's what i used to start my tank) to see if that might help. what do you think?

 

[SlyPolak]

NOOOO CYCLE!!!!!!!!! All those bottled bacteria things are full of garbage....... How would the bacteria survive in the bottle without food
I would say you are safe to do another water change, and dont worry about going over 35%.. as long as you get the temp. right you could go to 50% EASY....... If you never found a body I dont know what to tell you... how long ago was the death??? Maybe some fish nibbled at it and some got sucked up in the filter, just check theres no "leftovers" on the pad or whatever kind of media you have....

 

[ihassomefishes]

hahah, the cycle worked fine in the beginning!


i checked my ammonia again, and it's holding at 1ppm...i think i'm going to stick with daily water changes until this resolves. if my ammonia is higher in the morning, i'll do two tomorrow.

i pulled out the filter pad, there's nothing stuck to it.

if the ammonia is from the dead cory (he died a week ago), how long would it take to resolve?

 

[Harlequins]

Basically by the sounds of it your filter is still cycling and ammo-lock is only going to hold this back.

Have a read in the beginners section,theres a link under my signature pic,have a read up on fish in cycle,has i said before any ammonia in the tank is harmful,the longer you leave the fish in water thats reading ammonia the more they will suffer.

The other thing is your getting false readings because of the ammo-lock,remove this and test the water again.

20% w/c to be honest wont do much,you need to do 50%-75% waterchanges to remove the ammonia.

 

[ihassomefishes]

i just tested again, i'm at 2ppm...is it normal for it to be rising so quickly?

i'm going to do two big water changes today to see what happens since i can't keep up with one a day.

do you have any suggestions for reducing the stress on my fish? ammo-lock seemed to make them happier, but i'm definitely not using it again.