petunia100
Aquarium Advice Activist
I have two female platies who are pregnant. They both have gotten whitish scales. It doesn't look like ich, I don't know if it's a fungus or just stress from being pregnant. It looks like the scales have lost their color, it is not "hairy or furry". Today the female who has been pregnant the longest has developed some brownish in the white areas. I have had diatoms in my tank recently, not terribly badly though, weirdly it kinda looks like diatoms. Both fish are active and eat, although the larger female has started hanging out behind my large plant more and is acting shy. I think that she's close to having her fry. I just tested my water parameters and the ammonia is 0 ppm, nitrates are <5 ppm, and the nitrites are 2-5 ppm. I have been having problems with my nitrites during my cycling and have been doing 30% water changes every other day during the last week to help out, the ammonia has come all the way to the 0 though so that's good. Is this problem with the scales something I should treat or is it from being stressed and "pregnant". All the other fish in my tank (20gal) are acting great, and do not have this discoloration.