Platy's not doing well..

[rseg80]

My Platy's wont leave the top of the tank


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.).

Platy's wont leave top of the tank, not eating much

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
pH 7.8
Nitrates undetectable by my test kit
ammonia undetectable by my test kit
temp 72C

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?

30 gallons
Running to 2 years but I haven't had fish in it for 8 months I added a little bit of ammonia from time to time.

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.

Marineland Pf0170b

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?

10 Platy's one died right away 9 lived happy for a month then they rose to the top after I put my heater in and 4 more died

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?

I have been doing about 5 gallon water changes every day for a week now sometimes twice a day.

My hose for my gravel vacuum doesn't fit my sink fittings so I haven't vacuumed lately but I scrub it with the scrub brush and let the filter clean it. I have only about half an inch of gravel anyway.

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?

a month and a half

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?

Put my heater in after a cold weekend, it's still in but turned off.

9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

tetra flakes

My fish were fine for like a month and then all of a sudden they wouldn't leave the top of the water. I have two bubble stones running so I assume there is plenty of oxygen. I thought my tank was recycling but I had a ton of algae growth when I forgot to change my water one week. The fish seem a little better after I do a water change but it doesn't last long. I even took some water from a neighbors tank and put it in and they seemed much better but that didn't last long. I'm not sure what to do next.. Please advise

Thank you in advance

 

[Calypso77]

What are your nitrites? With ammonia and nitrates being at 0 doesn't sound like a cycled tank you have to have nitrates showing up...

What test kit are you using? If it is stripes they can never be taken serious, you need a liquid test kit. What is the temp of your tank?

 

[rseg80]

I have aquarium pharmaceuticals inc. Freshwater master test kit. The Nitrites are 0ppm. Ammonia is 0ppm. I do not have a test in the kit for nitrates so I use the strips. The strip comes up a very light pink, for the lowest reading on nitrates. I can't imagine them being high anyway. I've been doing so many water changes.

 

[rseg80]

temp is about 72F not celcius sorry

 

[rseg80]

anyone? They are still at the surface. I do not know what to do.

Thanks for any help anyone can give

 

[Ursi]

I'm just going to throw some ideas that I have, but I'm not sure what's going on here, is your filter external or internal, and do you know whether you need to change the filter media? if so when did you last change it?

Try keeping the tank at a constant temp thats ideal for the platys. Also as they are at the top, are they sucking in air? I've read that if the water surface is disturbed by the filter there will be more oxygen in the water.

If I were you I would do 50% changes every day for a while, keep testing your water too, And see if that makes any difference

 

[Bearchumjs]

When you do pwcs is the new water also 72? I'm wondering if the water is warmer so they seem better but then it cools so they go back to the top. I'm assuming you have a light on the tank so the surface could be slightly warmer than the rest of the tank. What if you were to try to increase the temp over the next couple of days to 76? Their ideal water temps should be 72-79. Maybe they need it a little warmer than 72.

Also, maybe you can test your tank for stray voltage? It's a long shot but maybe your heater is releasing some stray voltage.

I hope I've been able to give you some new ideas to troubleshoot and look into. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[rseg80]

Thanks for all these ideas.

The filter is external and I never changed the media just clean it ever so often. I am afraid of losing all the bacteria. I also know people that never change it so I was kind of following that. I took the filter out for a while and it didn't change the fish's behavior much. I can try changing it.

I also unplugged the heater for a while to see if that changed anything.. and I turned the light off completely for two weeks.

I'm going to try upping the temperature. The tap water is room temp when I add it. I condition it and let it sit for a while. I did add warmer water from another tank and it seemed to help them so I am going to try that.

Just as an update to those helping me I lost two fish today. I thought things were getting better because I did not feed or do water changes for three days because I am in the northeast and my fish are at my school and my school was closed due to Sandy. I was convinced at least one would have died but none did so I thought it was getting better and I didn't change the water when I got back and sure enough one was dead this morning and another is pretty much dead. I immediately did about 40% water change.

 

[Ursi]

My filter is external and I have to replace certain parts of it every now and then, but without researching your filter I wouldn't know.
You need to try and keep the water at a constant temp with the heater in, they could be that they want warmer water? I keep mine at 26C constantly, that may help.
Sorry for your losses

 

[Bearchumjs]

Thanks for all these ideas.

The filter is external and I never changed the media just clean it ever so often. I am afraid of losing all the bacteria. I also know people that never change it so I was kind of following that. I took the filter out for a while and it didn't change the fish's behavior much. I can try changing it.

I also unplugged the heater for a while to see if that changed anything.. and I turned the light off completely for two weeks.

I'm going to try upping the temperature. The tap water is room temp when I add it. I condition it and let it sit for a while. I did add warmer water from another tank and it seemed to help them so I am going to try that.

Just as an update to those helping me I lost two fish today. I thought things were getting better because I did not feed or do water changes for three days because I am in the northeast and my fish are at my school and my school was closed due to Sandy. I was convinced at least one would have died but none did so I thought it was getting better and I didn't change the water when I got back and sure enough one was dead this morning and another is pretty much dead. I immediately did about 40% water change.

Im sorry you lost more.

I think keeping the water at a constant temp will help for sure. Let us know how things go.

 

[rseg80]

update

I have three platies left... The final three seem more active but still spend a significant time at the top. One of the platies seems to be gulping a little. They are eating just a little not a very good appetite. The temperature is a steady 76F. I have slowed down my water changes for a little bit because they seemed great one day so I thought it was the temperature that was too low but then the next day one was dead and they were back at the top so I did a 40% water change and they haven't been right since. I'm going to replace the water filter as my next step... After that I do not know what to do.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Are you using a water conditioner?

 

[rseg80]

yes

I use Jungle... Start Right.. removes chlorine and chloramine immediately and contains aloe. I use a capfull per 5 gallons, which is half a cap more than recommended.

 

[rseg80]

last update

Well I am down to 1 fish out of ten. I did a partial water change about 15% on friday left for the weekend and came in to two dead fish and one struggling. checked the pH and it was down to 6. I didn't check it in a week or so since I was doing so many water changes. I did a 40% water change and the pH is up to about 6.8. The lone survivor is not happy but the fins are wiggling a little more. Not sure why my pH was so low but I checked the hardness and the water tested on the soft side so I'm guessing pH fluctuations may have been killing my fish. I'm going to try to pick up some crushed coral and see if that helps stabilize my tank.

 

[Bearchumjs]

That's a good idea about the coral. I hope you get it figured out soon. I'm so sorry all the fish are dying. When I started out my 55 gal every single fish I put in there died. I probably lost 10 fish all together.