When will platy drop fry?

[Fishguy13]

Hello, my female mickey mouse platy has been pregnant for about a month and still has not given birth yet. I was wondering why she has not done so yet?

 

[Colin_T]

She could be full of worms.
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.

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.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

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 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.

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To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

 

[Fishguy13]

Thanks, just still have a few questions.
Will it spread on to other fish?
Will kill her?
So is she actually pregnant?

 

[Colin_T]

If one fish has intestinal worms, then every fish in the tank will usually have them.

Worms suck the blood out of the fish and the fish eventually die. If the fish are fed well they can produce more blood and live longer but eventually they still run low on blood.

She might be pregnant (gravid) but if she hasn't given birth in a month, then she probably isn't.

Your best bet is to deworm every fish tank you have and see if they get skinny after being treated. If they do get skinny then they definitely had worms and the females should start to produce babies a couple of months later.

 

[Fishguy13]

Ok thanks, sorry just a few more questions
She is acting normal do they do that when they have worms?
And she is squared and has been like that for a while now is that normal when they worms?

 

[Colin_T]

She is acting normal do they do that when they have worms?
And she is squared and has been like that for a while now is that normal when they worms?

yes to both questions.

The fish act normally when infected.
I had female mollies that were huge and looked like they were ready to give birth any day. They remained like that for 2 months and never produced any babies. I dewormed them and the following day they were really skinny. I fed them 3-5 times a day for the next month and 2 months after they were dewormed, they all produced batches of babies.

 

[Fishguy13]

Ok thanks for your help