I have two female platys in a 5 gallon tank, heated, filtered, salted...all the luxuries. Lately, the bigger of the two has been hiding a lot, and whenever I come near the tank she completely, for lack of a better word, wigs out. Swimming really frantically all over the place, almost jumping out of the water, that kind of stuff. My other smaller one has seemed normal until the past few days when she started hiding as well. Both of their dorsal fins are clamped to their bodies and their tail fins aren't fanned out as usual. The bigger of the two already has some reddish/orange on her, as she's a sunburst, but it looks like there might be some more blotchy red spots appearing; she already has a big belly so I'm not sure if that has swollen at all, maybe a little and it almost looks as though her spine is curved. Neither of them are eating at all. Right now I'm treating the tank for an internal infection such as dropsy, I started the treatment yesterday so maybe it's too soon to tell but I really have no idea what I'm dealing with. Any input, ideas or help would be much, much appreciated!!
Platys with internal bacterial infection?
- Thread starter lalalameg
- Start date
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lyric112209
Aquarium Advice Activist
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- Sep 2, 2012
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I'm curious to hear from someone if they know what this is....i also had 2 Mickey mouse platties..they hid all the time..never ate..then one day looked like they had seizures then floated to the bottom of the tank...also had red splotches and the fin thing you mentioned..
jlk
Aquarium Advice Addict
Was the tank cycled before you added them? What are your tank parameters? Water change schedule? Salinity? What meds did you add? How long have you had them? I would suspect a water quality issue before anything else but some more info will help!
aqua_chem
Aquarium Advice Addict
Two platies in a 5g certainly makes me consider water quality issues as well.
Skin lesions plus spinal deformities is also indicative of fish TB. I've had platies with it before, and it's not good at all. I would research that as well.
Skin lesions plus spinal deformities is also indicative of fish TB. I've had platies with it before, and it's not good at all. I would research that as well.
Yes, the tank was cycled. I've had them for about four months before this started without any new additions. I tested my water and everything was in the normal range (lost the numbers already, sorry!) I usually do a 10-20% water change a week, although lately I had been doing it every two weeks. I gave them Maracyn 2 and followed the directions appropriately. There is one tablespoon of aquarium salt in with them.
Although after I've given you all of this information, I think I may have solved the problem...I think I was overfeeding them and didn't even realize they were hardly eating any of it, so that was all rotting and polluting the water. I got so overwhelmed I just changed all of the water as the gravel had rotting food way below the surface. Sure enough, the water was filthy (I do only use the paper strips for testing that aren't very accurate at all). I put them back in and they seem to be doing a lot better! The large one still hides some and rests on the bottom so I'm kind of expecting her to die, although she's still with me! The other one perked right back up and they're both eating again. Usually I don't let my tank get that dirty and looks like I've learned my lesson to stay on top of it! As soon as I can confirm they're both healthy again I'll be moving them into my new 20 gallon tank and will hopefully avoid all the woes of a 5 gal!
Although after I've given you all of this information, I think I may have solved the problem...I think I was overfeeding them and didn't even realize they were hardly eating any of it, so that was all rotting and polluting the water. I got so overwhelmed I just changed all of the water as the gravel had rotting food way below the surface. Sure enough, the water was filthy (I do only use the paper strips for testing that aren't very accurate at all). I put them back in and they seem to be doing a lot better! The large one still hides some and rests on the bottom so I'm kind of expecting her to die, although she's still with me! The other one perked right back up and they're both eating again. Usually I don't let my tank get that dirty and looks like I've learned my lesson to stay on top of it! As soon as I can confirm they're both healthy again I'll be moving them into my new 20 gallon tank and will hopefully avoid all the woes of a 5 gal!
