Help! Sick Platties

[c_rogers]

I have a 10 gal community tank, with a pair of platties, 2 silver hatchets, and 5 small neon tetras. This tank has been up and running for about 6 weeks. The platties were previously healthy and had been displaying mating behavior, but are now hiding all the time except to eat, they swim erratically, and have closed fins. I don't see any sign of ich or any other damage, and the other fish are healthy.

Should I move them to my hospital tank? What treatment should I give them? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Water parameters:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
pH: 7.0
GH: 5 degrees (89.5 ppm)
KH: 10 degrees (179 ppm)
Temperature: 80 F

 

[Devilishturtles]

Ok, well I am not an aquarium expert but I used to have platies when I first started setting up my 10 gal, and they had a similar problem to yours. If I'm not mistaking, closed fins is a symptom of a type of fungus? I would go to your local pet store and buy some fungus clear and aquarium salt. Add the aquarium salt and fungus medicine as directed and see if it helps. Again, I am not an expert, but this always seems to help for me Good Luck

 

[Allivymar]

Mystery fish diseases are the pits aren't they

I would move them. Could be disease, could simply be stress. Either way, getting them into a calmer environment where you can keep a really close eye on them would be a good idea. Clamped fins do not always mean fungus; they always DO mean stress although the underlying cause is what needs to be determined. It doesn't appear to be your water parameters; they look ok.

I wouldn't treat yet, but thats me. I don't like to throw meds in until I know what I need to use; some meds can stress a fish even more, and if they don't need it, well, it just doesn't make sense to me. Are they showing any other signs yet? Color changes? Breathing hard? Any marks, lumps, bumps?

 

[c_rogers]

OK, I moved them

I moved them to my 10 gal hospital tank so I could actually watch them. They hid so well in the community tank that I couldn't even find them without flushing them out with a net. They have good color, whole fins, no sores, no bumps or lumps, no ich... They appear totally healthy except for their behavior. It's almost as if they're terrified of something. Previously in the community tank they would swim around freely. Now they hide all the time at the bottom with their fins clamped, and their breathing seems a bit rapid. I've been keeping fish for quite awhile, but I've never seen anything like this. I'm stumped! I'm wondering if the fact that both platties are affected while none of the tetras are is a clue. Could it be some sort of internal parasite that wouldn't have any outward appearance? Arrrrgggghhh! I'm frustrated!

Thanks for your reply, I'll post their condition tomorrow.

 

[azn dreamer]

um...has it been bullied by any other fish in the tank?...what is your nitrate reading? it just probably stress...

 

[c_rogers]

I don't have a nitrate test kit; guess I'll go buy one tomorrow. The weird thing about this is that BOTH platys are sick, the neons and the hatchetfish (which are supposed to be fragile) are all fine. As far as I can tell, the platys were never bullied in the community tank. The neons chase each other around, but that's about it. They've been in the hospital tank for a day now, and no improvement. They still hide on the bottom, breathe rapidly, have closed fins, and dart when they do swim. The only positive thing is that they're still eating.

I'm at a total loss here. Should I treat them anyway with antibiotics?