New Female Platy acting strange.

[aqua_chem]

Two things. First, how old is the tank? Is it fully cycled, etc? In another post you called it fairly new, but how new?

Second, exactly how new was the platy? It might have had a bug before you got her, and then the stress of the move made her susceptible.

I had a male platy that would pester one particular female in no end. She eventually spent all her time hiding and stressed. So the male had to go. If you have a fish that is harassing a fish relentlessly, maybe like yours was, it makes the targeted fish much more susceptible to disease and death. It's often prudent to intervene at times like that.

Finally, you said that your platy was looking preggers. I've heard of female platies dying during birthing before when they were stressed out or older. Might have been what happened here.

 

[siva]

Thanks for the help and replies folks! I really appreciate it.

After Sunset died, I went ahead and did a 20% water change. Should I start doing daily water changes for a while? If so, how long?

I do not have any other tanks, so no worry about cross-contamination. I will not be getting any new fish for a while, as this episode has me sooooo stressed out. I'm very worried about my other fish. I don't want anymore to die.

I was watching my fish closely tonight after I fed them. I sat for about an hour, and just watched. I also examined all of my fish closely and watched each one's behavior. I noticed a few things:

1. My tank water looks clear. It smells nice too. No bad odors or cloudiness.

2. Most of my fish seem happy and are actively swimming around the tank, occasionally looking for food on the bottom, playing together, etc. One exception to this... see #4-6 below.

3. I can not VISIBLY see any signs of damage or sickness on my other fish. No spots or weird looking stuff.

4. Buzz (my Bumble Bee male Platy that was chasing poor Sunset around for the last few days) is now chasing around after one of my male Blue Mickey Mouse Platys (his name is Indigo).

5. Indigo, does seem a little stressed. He keeps his pelvic fins in tight and when he is not trying to get away from Buzz, he is usually hovering near the surface.

6. Twice I saw Indigo swim over to the filter intake tube and rub/slide his head against it. I thought this was very odd behavior.

EDIT: Oh yeah, what is the proper way to sanitize my aquarium equipment, for future reference? Thinking about getting a small quarantine tank tomorrow when at the pet shop.

The chasing is normal. Try to have more females than males to spread things out a bit, but even then one can sometimes be favored. You can keep all of one sex to eliminate that all together, which is also helpful in not getting over run with fry.

The rubbing is flashing. Unless you forgot to use dechorinator on a water change which could cause flashing, I would say you have a parasite. Get some parasite meds and treat the tank.

Bleach them, then rinse the heck outta them.

 

[Muse]

When you say your male Mickey mouse Platy is rubbing himself it sounds like he could have something wrong. I believe if I remember right it's called flashing or glancing check out this link it explains common fish diseases. Fish Diseases - Signs of Stress and Disease in Tropical Fish and Goldfish.

That link was very helpful! Thank you so much!

Unfortunately, when I went into town today, none of the stores I visited carried the recommended "Quick Cure". I really felt like I needed something though, because I don't want more fish to die. I settled instead for a product by API called "Gerneral Cure". It is an Anti-parasitic fish medication. Unless anyone here has objections to this product, I thought I would try it this evening after another water change.

Also, I did pick up a API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Even though the girl at Petco tested my water and said it was fine (she just did the strip tests just like the ones that I already had), I just want to be on the safe side from now on and have accurate and reliable readings.

Here are the results from my first use of the API Master Test Kit:
pH 8.2, Ammonia .25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5.0

Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

[Muse]

Two things. First, how old is the tank? Is it fully cycled, etc? In another post you called it fairly new, but how new?

Second, exactly how new was the platy? It might have had a bug before you got her, and then the stress of the move made her susceptible.

Tank is almost a month old. Only had the platy for 3 days when it died.

 

[absolutangel04]

Tank is almost a month old. Only had the platy for 3 days when it died.

Unfortunately, the ammonia is kinda high. You should do more frequent pwc to get that under control.