Think I've a dying Platy

[NatalieFinniss]

My Micky mouse Platy keeps wedging herself in places, she's always done this since I've got her but she's just wedged herself in the temperature thing and then when she got herself out she spiralled to the bottom on the tank and has now wedged herself head first in the rocks. I don't know what could be wrong with her

 

[Autumnsky]

Here are some questions - you have answered a few already, but this might uncover some issues.

First thing to check is water quality.

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

 

[NatalieFinniss]

She died in the night. She actually looked healthy, no marks or scratches on her body. The only thing I had noticed the day before was that one fin, the one by the gill was not as neat as the other one. But generally she looked well, nothing growing on her body or anything. I don't know what the water is, i'll test that tonight when I get home from work. I'd done a partial water change and clean out on Sunday afternoon and changed 10 litres of a 30 litre tank. I do this every 2 weeks or sooner if the water looks a bit dirty. I'm using all the same products and same food too, which they've been fed on since I got them. It's a fluval flake food. The tank was set up in July with the first fish going in August. I've only got Platys in my tank and I had 5 adults and a couple of tiny babies which suddenly show themselves. Audrey was one of my newest fish, I bought her about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I don't know about the filtration but it's a biorb tank so has a fitted filter in the tank. I hope I've answered all your questions. Thank you

 

[Autumnsky]

Sorry to hear about your loss of Audrey.

Please read the article in my signature and learn as much as you can about the cycle / nitrification process. There are many interesting things to learn about in that article to help you keep your fish better.

Your tank is nearly 8 gallons for US members. It is very likely she was ill could have been from internal parasite, if you noticed did she have clear, white or stringy poop? Could have been from constipation / blockage, but maybe from an internal infection as the swim bladder seemed to have been an issue since she wedged herself into spots.

Maybe hold off on adding any fish until we can find out about your tank if it is cycled and get it stable?

 

[Autumnsky]

So in your reading the article you will see what the cycled filter media is. You will need to go off a "fish in" cycle as you already have fish.

A couple extra articles I think are linked about that in the one in my signature.

 

[NatalieFinniss]

Thank you, I will have a read. Id really hate to be causing any suffering to my fish. They've become my little babies. Each one having a different character. I adore them. I'll post my water results tonight when I get home from work. Thank you again

 

[JoeMan]

If you've had it for a while it could have just died of old age. One of my mickys is super old and just hangs out at the top. Only has bursts of energy when feeding

 

[NatalieFinniss]

I'd only had her since 2 October. She had been odd since I got her, always hiding in the media at the bottom of the tank and coming out very rarely. I just thought she was taking time to settle in and wasn't very sociable.

 

[NatalieFinniss]

Hi, here are my water results. The Nitrate and pH are quite high but the Ammonia and Nitrite are both good.

 

[JoeMan]

Do big water change to get rid of that nitrate. Platys are pretty hardy fish though so I dont see how it could be that big of a problem... is there any aggression?

 

[NatalieFinniss]

I did a 30% water change on Sunday and that was the reading on Monday. I haven't seen any aggression at all, the 4 remaining Platys (all girls) seem quite happy. Would the water temperature have any bearings on anything, as the tank has only ever been room temperature but today I bought a heater which keeps the tank at 24.5 degrees centigrade. I thought what with winter coming they might need a bit of heat.

 

[NatalieFinniss]

Do big water change to get rid of that nitrate. Platys are pretty hardy fish though so I dont see how it could be that big of a problem... is there any aggression?

I though I would double check the nitrates in my tap water and this is the result [emoji51]. My tap water pH levels are high too.

 

[NatalieFinniss]

I have just tested some bottled spring water and these are the results for pH and Nitrate . Can I use bottled water for water changes because if I can, then I will start doing that?