I think they're constipated.

[Aneamals]

I have two male platys in a 10 gallon quarantine tank.

Yesterday, I noticed the blue one's tail fin and top fin were getting dark edges. Today, I find the fins are still with dark edges, and he's swimming oddly: twisting side to side. The red one doesn't have dark edges on his fins, but he's also swimming a bit oddly. And I found a shocking amount of poop in the tank, after I've changed the water about 2 days ago. There is poop coming out of their butts too as they swim side to side. I'm pretty sure they're constipated.

I'm surprised though, I thought I was feeding them really little. Only once a day, about 2 pinches of flakes. But I guess that was too much in fish language.

I feel really bad for them, I think the dark edges on the blue one is because he's stressed about his constipation. I hear feeding them peas can help, but the only thing I have is canned peas, meaning salt and preservatives, which I don't think is good for fish. Any other options? Should I change the water, and remove the piles of poop, even though I've already changed their water about 2 days ago? I shouldn't feed them for the next few days, right? So they can poop it all out?

Oh, and I'm feeding them API Tropical Premium Flakes for Community Fish, and sometimes Omega One freeze-dried bloodworms as a treat. I want to get them New Life Spectrum when these flakes run out.

[Aneamals]

I just have NO luck with fish, my first fish died in 3 weeks because I used a 3 gallon tank to quarantine him, and the ammonia rose very quickly. Then these 2 new fish got a sort of ich at the beginning of their quarantine, but they healed. Now, they're very constipated today. I just hope I don't kill them again.

My mom just bought me some frozen peas, and am going to microwave 2 peas now, and feed them to the fishes. I hope it works.

[Aneamals]

Ok, I mashed 2 peas and picked out tiny pieces and dropped them into the tank. They are picking at the pea pieces continuously, but most of them times they don't swallow the whole piece. Either way, I think they're getting the peas into their system. I really hope they feel better tomorrow.

[dragon14]

I don't really have anything helpful to say, but I hope your fish get better! Keep us posted

[Haileyjade]

I've never kept platys, but for Bettas an Epsom salt bath works. Also try feeding frozen daphnia. Good luck!


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[Aneamals]

Ok, well this morning, I see they didn't eat all the pieces of peas, but I'm sure they ate most of it. Seems the slightly bigger chunks, they didn't like. I don't notice any twisting side to side with poop coming out of them... yet. It may happen again. At least they don't look like they'll die soon! They might actually make it!
I don't know if I should change the water though, there's a ton of poop and pea pieces.

[ppo8820]

They may have a parasite, especially with the large loads of waste, odd swimming, etc. The fins are usually fin rot or a fungus, which is also not a good thing. What is your water test showing? Sounds like bad water quality.

[Aneamals]

Originally Posted by ppo8820

They may have a parasite, especially with the large loads of waste, odd swimming, etc. The fins are usually fin rot or a fungus, which is also not a good thing. What is your water test showing? Sounds like bad water quality.

It was 0.25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate. But this morning, because of the poop and uneaten pea pieces, the ammonia rose to 0.50. I changed 1 gallon of the water now, and removed all the pea pieces and poop. And for precautions, added some more prime, and after some time I added some bottled bacteria to keep the ammonia down while I'm gone, because I'm not going to be home until tomorrow.

[Aneamals]

Ok, I'm still not going to be home. So I asked my mom how they're doing. There supposedly isn't that much poop with sounds pretty good, no more huge piles. She said most of them are just dots of poop, not huge strings like before. I told her to put a tiny pinch of flakes now, don't want the ammonia to rise while I'm gone. She will also add a half cap of Prime, for precautions.