Sick platy

[platypus212]

Hi all,

I have a relatively new (8 weeks) 5 gallon aquarium, planted, with 2 glass catfish and 2 platys. The catfish have been in the tank about 6 weeks and are doing well. The platys are a more recent addition (9-10 days). I brought home 3 platys initially (2 females, 1 male) but the male died within 24 hours. Of the 2 remaining, the larger female looks fine, eats well, is very active, but the smaller one has what looks like blood under her gill opening and even a little in her head. However, until today she's been eating and active. This afternoon & evening she's been hiding behind the filter box right at the surface. Her fins are clamped to her body and she hardly moves. Also, I just noticed there's something white on the lower edge of her tail fin. But -- she did come out to eat.
Water tests within normal range (Ammonia=0; Nitrite =0; Nitrate=10-20) except pH (7.8) which is a little higher than usual (normally 7.4 to 7.6). I added a piece of driftwood to lower the pH as I don't want to mess around with a lot of chemicals.

I would appreciate any advice and thanks for reading!

 

[dkpate]

I hope someone who knows more about platys and glass catfish will see this.
Does the white on her tail look like fungus? Kinda fuzzy? Since you say her fins are clamped, I wonder if it is a fungus. I had some 7 harlequin rasboras, and their fins looked like someone had melted them, so I treated the tank with Melafix, and managed to save two, which are now doing great! They were probably sick when you got them.
Since you only have a 5 gallon tank, you might run into some problems soon. Platys are livebearers, and female can store sperm for around 3 months, so you could be overwhelmed with fry very soon!

 

[platypus212]

Thanks for your reply! Unfortunately, I came home today after a 24-hour absence to find my little platy was dead. Since my original post, she seemed to improve (fins not clamped and less white on tail) and I was hoping she was on the mend. I have to conclude what some have been telling me (although not the guy selling me the fish!) that a five-gallon tank is too small to support so many fish. I think the white on her tail was probably the result of injury. The red gills remain a mystery, and whatever was going on there is probably what killed her (water tests perfect). Meanwhile the other 3 fish look and act fine. The remaining platy will have to look to the catfish for companionship because I will not be adding any new fish!

 

[dkpate]

I am glad you aren't going to add any more fish.
Make sure you keep an eye on the other fish for the next few days too, just in case.
What are you using to test the water?

 

[platypus212]

Hi again,
I've been using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. I've compared the results with the test strips my local pet store uses and they've been in sync, so I guess I trust them. The strange thing now is that the remaining platy pooped out (not quite accurate since she trailed about 1/2 an inch of the stuff for a while) a little of the white stuff I haven't seen since I first added them both to the tank. I hope it's not a sign of parasites! The pet store where I bought them said they'd had that batch of platys for about 3 months with no sign of disease. Fish are such a mystery. My aquarium experience thus far has been anything but relaxing (except for a brief period right after I got the platys when I enjoyed watching them eat algae)--every day I wonder what's going to go wrong next!

 

[dkpate]

The white poo can also be from stress.

 

[dkpate]

And the API test is the best IMO.

 

[platypus212]

Well I had wondered about the white poo. That it's a result of stress would fit the circumstances. And it seems unlikely that it could be parasites; the glass catfish are just fine. I wonder how my platy will fare without another platy friend in the tank ....

 

[dkpate]

I have never really heard of platys being social, but I am no expert in that area!