Platy dance?

[evil Nick]

My male platy just recently started flicking himself on my Anubis plant leaves.
At first I thought it was ick itch but he shows no signs of anything and then pieced together I just added a female. I looked up courting and it resembles what I saw. He goes up to the plant and then swiftly rolls against and flicks the leaf. Only this plant.
I just added a new female molly to and he seems to do this as soon as either female is there, both molly or platy. The molly seems to reciprocate this.

Is this normal behavior? Should this be in the sick fish forum?

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[evil Nick]

No one?

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[Fishfur]

Flicking a leaf sounds like flashing, and icy isn't the only reason fish flash. Flashing isn't usually part of platy courtship. It's more often a sign of something wrong, such as parasites. That he does it when females are near may not mean much.

Males will show off, but I'd be more concerned he has something wrong going on. Observe him carefully and test the water parameters to be sure everything is good that way. Probably not ammonia, if it were, they would all be showing signs, but flashing isn't typical behaviour for this fish.

 

[evil Nick]

Levels are great. All zeros. He only does it on this one plant, nothing else.
Should I try some garlic worms as a safe guard?

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[Fishfur]

Can't hurt.. just keep an eye on him in case something is brewing that's not obvious yet. If at all possible, I'd put a fish doing this in a QT. If it is something not so good, you stop it being spread and it can be easier to observe a fish in a smaller container too.

Hope it's just some odd behaviour, rather than something else.

 

[evil Nick]

this is exactly what hes doing

Ill keep an eye though

 

[J.Mcpeak]

That's flashing, possibly ich.
External parasites or similar.

That would be my first guess. Treatment will not harm the fish if done correctly.
Heat for ich, general external remedy for all else. (Just my opinion)
I've never used heat treatment but I have it on good advice from people here on AA that it works.

I've seen top feeders flick this way to send food up from the substrate, then it's eaten from the watercourse but this is not the same. Fish is too high in the tank!

The fish most definitely looks like it's scratching itself.

If the Molly is doing the same, that's the root cause.
For further reading see quarantine.

I hope this helps

 

[evil Nick]

That's flashing, possibly ich.
External parasites or similar.

That would be my first guess. Treatment will not harm the fish if done correctly.
Heat for ich, general external remedy for all else. (Just my opinion)
I've never used heat treatment but I have it on good advice from people here on AA that it works.

I've seen top feeders flick this way to send food up from the substrate, then it's eaten from the watercourse but this is not the same. Fish is too high in the tank!

The fish most definitely looks like it's scratching itself.

If the Molly is doing the same, that's the root cause.
For further reading see quarantine.

I hope this helps

it wouldnt be the female molly that did it back, because she was literally just added when it started. She only did it back like twice right after the platy. This is why I was curious if it was a mating thing and he was getting excited. He never did it before.

I will look into some remedies that might be safe for my tank just in case. I have plants and inverts in there.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

If any fish was added then something started, the cause is most likely to be with the new addition. I'm sure most would agree.

If something was happening before it's different.

It still looks like the start of ich, it often starts in the gill area and that platy looks very much like it is targeting that area specifically.

I could be wrong but it is easier and happier for you to err on the side of caution.

 

[Fishfur]

If it is Ich, unfortunately, isolating one fish is not going to help because the parasites are in the main tank already and so it will have to be treated.

Usually raising the temperature does the trick. If you have to use salt, you may have to remove the plants and inverts. Some meds are both plant and invert safe but be sure to check on that before you use them and follow directions. Using less than the dosage called for, usually people do that because they fear it will harm something in the tank.. well, it can just make things worse, not better. Best to dose as it calls for and do the water changes it calls for, to get good results.

Higher temps reduce the oxygen levels, so it can help to add an air stone or lower the water level to the point where the water returning from the filter splashes in. Both increase gas exchange, which helps increase oxygen.

This is the reason why having a QT is a good idea. If you get a new fish and it has something like Ich, then you only have to treat the QT, and not your main tank. Best to leave new fish in a QT for at least a month to be sure nothing untoward is happening. Cheapest insurance there is. And try not to do what I did- turn the QT into a shrimp tank !

 

[evil Nick]

If it is Ich, unfortunately, isolating one fish is not going to help because the parasites are in the main tank already and so it will have to be treated.

Usually raising the temperature does the trick. If you have to use salt, you may have to remove the plants and inverts. Some meds are both plant and invert safe but be sure to check on that before you use them and follow directions. Using less than the dosage called for, usually people do that because they fear it will harm something in the tank.. well, it can just make things worse, not better. Best to dose as it calls for and do the water changes it calls for, to get good results.

Higher temps reduce the oxygen levels, so it can help to add an air stone or lower the water level to the point where the water returning from the filter splashes in. Both increase gas exchange, which helps increase oxygen.

This is the reason why having a QT is a good idea. If you get a new fish and it has something like Ich, then you only have to treat the QT, and not your main tank. Best to leave new fish in a QT for at least a month to be sure nothing untoward is happening. Cheapest insurance there is. And try not to do what I did- turn the QT into a shrimp tank !

Ill check a couple places and see what plant and invert Ich meds might be available as a fail safe. Still see no signs of anything, he still ONLY does it when one of the females enters the area (Odd) and no other fish has since reciprocated. Ive tried turning the heat up a bit but my heater (that came with the tank) seems to really only get the tank to 80, maybe a degree or two higher with the light running.

All the fish are very active, social and eat healthily. I am looking for something to use as a QT in case I do HAVE to pull my snails, shrimp and plants out. Ive had fish with ich in the past, its not fun but its usually noticeable fairly quick.

Im keeping a careful eye.

I tried finding some organic minced garlic yesterday but couldn't. Then remembered I had minced in the fridge, but it turned out it was in oil.
Ill get some cloves and send them through my nutri-bullet with some water and soak some food and worms in it for safety. I also found some anti biotic pellets in a post on here I might get. Someone said they crunch them up and feed them to their tank fish. Worth a shot.

 

[Fishfur]

Just so you know, antibiotics don't work on Ich. It's a invert itself, as it happens. Maybe you could put a heat lamp over the tank to help raise the temps ? I ran across a great article on treating Ich, if I can find it again I'll post the link.

 

[abbyn]

I think that's normal

 

[evil Nick]

I think that's normal

Yeah Im starting to think it is to. He literally ONLY does it when this one female molly I JUST introduced is near him. They follow each other CONSTANTLY and he lures her over to this anubis then flicks. She reciprocated once and thats the ONLY time I saw her do it.

Im keeping a vigilant eye and looking into a second heater in case the temp needs to go higher but really I have not seen ANY fish do odd things.

Im trying to record it for you guys but the fish is messing with me like that singing frog in looney tunes.
As soon as my phone comes out he swims away. He doesn't do it constantly by any means. And again ONLY when the female is there. So weird.

All my fish are super energetic as of now, and eat fine. I have a female platy and a second female molly (my dalmation) but this new gold molly and him seem infatuated with each other. Kind of creepy lol.

Im still hoping alls good though.

I always intended to have a QT tank but the miss's didnt want a second tank, plus we are short on usable room. Im already looking to upgrade so some of the stuff Im replacing such as the filter and heater from my kit will be used for that I guess.

I do want a small nano for a pea puffer still but priorities I guess.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Antibiotics don't work on the cyst stage of ich but they are perfectly adequate at destroying the free swimming phase.

Other than that, this is perfect.

 

[evil Nick]

Just so you know, antibiotics don't work on Ich. It's a invert itself, as it happens. Maybe you could put a heat lamp over the tank to help raise the temps ? I ran across a great article on treating Ich, if I can find it again I'll post the link.

this was a good one for me

Using Heat to Treat Ich in Freshwater Tropical Fish - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish

Antibiotics don't work on the cyst stage of ich but they are perfectly adequate at destroying the free swimming phase.

Other than that, this is perfect.

plus wouldnt you want the immune system to be strong while you treat?

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Until I joined aa I always used meds on ich, I haven't had it since I joined but if it happens I will use heat and more O2.

Severely infected fish normally die. Meds don't help the fish, they attack part of the parasites life cycle but another way is to increase heat. This stops reproduction.

That must be safest if the fish can handle the T' no unnecessary meds, but;
If you have stock that will not tolerate the T' necessary to prevent ich reproducing then you are forced into using some type of anti parasite.

The immune system is not at it's best if you have infected fish.
Healthy fish will be ok providing they can tolerate the conditions.