Sick Platty

[mfuchs]

My fish has become sick - it is constantly breathing hard and his scales are starting to stick out as if they are going to fall off. The outside of his gills are turning white.

Any idea what this could be. He is the only fish in a community tank that is displaying these symtoms.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Guest]

My fish has become sick - it is constantly breathing hard and his scales are starting to stick out as if they are going to fall off.

The scales sticking out is a dead giveaway, it is almost certainly Dropsy. It's bacterial, you could try maricyn dose as directed. You should quarantine him in his own tank if at all possible, dropsy is infectious, it could spread to your other fish.

Hate to be a bummer here, but every dang fish i've had with dropsy has died.

 

[mfuchs]

Well, you were right - he did die My question now is should I medicate the tank to keep the other ones from getting it or should I just cross my fingers. This fish had the symtoms for at least a week. The others show no signs of it as of now.

 

[Guest]

Well, you were right - he did die My question now is should I medicate the tank to keep the other ones from getting it or should I just cross my fingers.

Cross your fingers for now, at the very first sign of anybody else getting sick, hit the lfs for some maricyn. medicating if not needed is frequantly more trouble than it's worth. Sorry bout your fish.

 

[i3k]

You might want to do partial water change if you havent done so already...smaller chance of infection spreading.