skinny platies

[Stefan3289]

I have a 10 gallon tank of 5 platies (seems as if there was 1 male and 4 female

4 out of the 5 platies gave birth (and we have two of the babies we managed to save and they are very healthy)

However, they all turned very skinny and one of them recently died. I tried to increase the amount of food I give them but they still are very skinny and some of them seem to have “arched” backs.

What should I do? I read about when platies get old they turn skinny but I don’t think this is the case.

 

[Colin_T]

Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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What does the fish's poop look like?
Are they still eating well?
Over what time frame did they get skinny, a day, week, month, etc?

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the water?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

 

[Stefan3289]

Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

------------------
What does the fish's poop look like?
Are they still eating well?
Over what time frame did they get skinny, a day, week, month, etc?

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the water?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

------------------
What does the fish's poop look like?
Are they still eating well?
Over what time frame did they get skinny, a day, week, month, etc?

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the water?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

I’ll first answer the questions and then I’ll post the picture and video.
- The poop is usually yellow or red (I feed them tropical flakes) and it’s long.
- They all eat normally except one that sometimes hides in one of the caves.
- This happened almost as soon as they gave birth, which was about a month ago or two ago.
- all the water parameters look good as I just did a 60% water change and I usually do a 50% about every week or two. I always clean gravel substrate.
- I have had this tank for year but they themselves have been in the tank for probably 4-6 months.

Here is the video link for them swimming.

- the two orange ones that look amazing are the babies that grew up
- the big orange one is the one I believe that is a male since he is big
- two yellow one are the skinny ones with the third one hiding

 

[AmandaN]

I would say those fish are either sick or being starved to death. Are you watching them consume food? If theyre not interested in food.. then I would treat with general cure very carefully. I feel like those fish are close to death.

Heres a pic I found of someone else's platy fish that had a parasite. It looks similar to yours..

image source

 

[Colin_T]

That is definitely not normal. It could be worms and gill flukes or something bad like TB. I would try treating them for worms and gill flukes and see if they improve. The fact they are eating and pooping normally is a good sign and would suggest it is most probably internal parasites.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.
Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[Stefan3289]

Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

------------------
What does the fish's poop look like?
Are they still eating well?
Over what time frame did they get skinny, a day, week, month, etc?

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the water?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

------------------
What does the fish's poop look like?
Are they still eating well?
Over what time frame did they get skinny, a day, week, month, etc?

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the water?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

I’ll first answer the questions and then I’ll post the picture and video.
- The poop is usually yellow or red (I feed them tropical flakes) and it’s long.
- They all eat normally except one that sometimes hides in one of the caves.
- This happened almost as soon as they gave birth, which was about a month ago or two ago.
- all the water parameters look good as I just did a 60% water change and I usually do a 50% about every week or two. I always clean gravel substrate.
- I have had this tank for year but they themselves have been in the tank for probably 4-6 months.
View attachment 100768View attachment 100769

That is definitely not normal. It could be worms and gill flukes or something bad like TB. I would try treating them for worms and gill flukes and see if they improve. The fact they are eating and pooping normally is a good sign and would suggest it is most probably internal parasites.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.
Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

Would general cure work as well by API? I have enough to treat the tank since I treated my other tank a while ago or should I get the specific medicine you suggested. The only issue with that is the amount of time it would take to ship it as all the stores I know of where I get my pet supplies are closed other than online.

 

[Colin_T]

API General Cure has Praziquantel and Metronidazole in. The Praziquantel will treat tapeworm but the Metronidazole should only be used on internal protozoan or bacterial infections.

It is preferable not to use Metronidazole because improper use and mis-use can cause drug resistant bacteria that affect people, animals birds, reptiles and fish. However, if you can't get Praziquantel or Levamisole or Flubendazole, then use the API General Cure and look for the other medications.

If you can find Flubendazole, it will treat all the intestinal worms and you won't have to use the API General Cure or Levamisole.

 

[Retired Viking]

They really do look bad, @Colin_T is pretty knowledgeable when it come to fish diseases. Good luck with your fish, I hope they get better.

 

[Stefan3289]

API General Cure has Praziquantel and Metronidazole in. The Praziquantel will treat tapeworm but the Metronidazole should only be used on internal protozoan or bacterial infections.

It is preferable not to use Metronidazole because improper use and mis-use can cause drug resistant bacteria that affect people, animals birds, reptiles and fish. However, if you can't get Praziquantel or Levamisole or Flubendazole, then use the API General Cure and look for the other medications.

If you can find Flubendazole, it will treat all the intestinal worms and you won't have to use the API General Cure or Levamisole.

I have been searching for flubendazole but I have not been able to come across it since I read an article saying it is a “control” drug and they are hard to obtain. Should I then treat with the general cure?

 

[Colin_T]

if you can't find the other chemicals then use the general cure

 

[Stefan3289]

if you can't find the other chemicals then use the general cure

Thank you so much for your help @Colin_T and @AmandaN.
Especially to you Colin as you’ve helped me multiple times on several of my posts.

 

[Stefan3289]

Update:
I have finished the APA general cure treatment but I have lost two fish. The two very skinny ones and the two babies are alive. How long will it take for them to get back to normal, or could it be possible the treatment didn’t work?

 

[Colin_T]

If the medication worked they should improve over the next month. However, it's possible the medication did nothing and this could be a genetic weakness in those particular fish, especially if all 4 females developed the same problem straight after giving birth.

How often do you feed them?
Maybe feed them more often (3-5 times a day) for a few weeks and see if that helps.

 

[Guest14017]

Many Koi and large scale goldfish keepers report praziquantel as not effective with flukes in their systems anymore. It has been over used as a prophylactic in the hobby.

Kusuri Fluke - M is Flubendazole based and attainable in the USA over the counter. Tad pricey though and hard to dose in very small tanks.

They look like typical sunken belly sick fish. Sunken belly is CONTAGIOUS and will spread. The sick fish need to be removed. I had a very tiny Tiger Barb show signs of it one morning a few months back. I immediately removed him and euthanized him. No others have been affected.

Magnesium sulfate has been shown to have good results with sunken belly or internal parasites. If they will still eat, try soaking their food in a 3% solution and feeding it to them.