Sick platies :(

[Ellenquacker72]

My little pygmy platy is hiding all the time. He was fine until yesterday when i noticed him doing this. He is completely hidden from view mostly at the bottom of the tank in the baby ferns. He doesnt come out for food, just sits there. When i was doing a water change and vaccuming out the tank, he was scared out for a little while. I didnt see anything unusual he doesnt seem to be hurt or anything. The water params are 0, 0 and <25. So i dont know what could be wrong with him he sometimes gets bugged by the other 2 in there,But this has never happened before.
Another one has had a large swelling at the base of his tail, under his skin for a few months now. My best guess is that it is melanoma, which ive read can be fairly common in black platies. And hes mostly black. Does anyone know if theres a treatment for this?
And my last one seems to have a white spot on his fin that wasnt there before. It doesnt look like the ich symptoms that ive seen in petstores. It just looks like something got stuck onto it.

This has all gotten me pretty freaked out since it happened all in a few days. Any suggestions to help my platies would be helpful. Thanks you.

20 gall tall, 3 male platies, and 6 pygmy cories.

 

[Ellenquacker72]

Could this be culmnaris??? I noticed theyre fins looked a bit ragged.... If it is, is there any treatment i could do witb out medication? All i have is mela and pima fix!! I also have aquarium salt...But would it hurt the cories? How much should i add? I heard maracyn one and two are good, but i wont have a chance to get it in the next few days.
Please somebody this is very scary...

 

[Ellenquacker72]

On second thought, it probably isnt that. Looking at pictures online, it doesnt quite fit. None of them have a white or discolored patch on them. Just the little weird thing on the one fin. Could it be ich? Its not fuzzy or anything, and its only in the one spot. Not like a grain of salt either. But i have no experience with these things so i could be wrong. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Is it possible to get some photos? Ich literally looks like grains of salt so it doesn't sound like it.

 

[aqua_chem]

Could it just be male aggression? Male platies can be down right nasty to eachother, but usually there's a female involved. Could the White bit be preliminary fin rot?

 

[Ellenquacker72]

Im beginning to think that the guy with posible cancer is kind of stressed, and is bothering the one into hiding. Thats the only thing i can think of. He came out to eat today, so i have hopes that it was a temporary thing.
The white bit doesnt seem to be on the edge of the fin, and i dont think its any smaller than it was, its just got a white blotch stuck to it that isnt fuzzy or like ich. I tried to get a picture of it, but its hard enougn to see just looking at it since that fins always moving.

 

[Ellenquacker72]

Update: the white thing on the fin seems to be mostly gone... Dont know what it was, it looks like it is barely there now. Its very weird.
But that is nothing compared to what happened tonight, it was really Really strange; i went down to feed them, and the pygmy with the frayed tail was out, and came out to eat. This has happened a few times over the past while, but not usually. He was pooping, which is well- normal. But i came back a bit later, and it was long and swirly. It just got longer and longer. I swear, it was 2.5 inches long coming out of a 1 inch fish. I thought he was spilling his guts out or something. Then i tried to quarantine him (ive had a tank running for a few days now) and it fell off. He hasnt been eating barely at all lately, so how can this happen? I tried looking up if it was a worm or something, but none of the worms or parasites seemed to fit what is going on with my platy. So confused.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Long stringy poop can be a sign of internal parasites.
http://www.allabout-aquariumfish.com/2009/03/how-to-detect-fish-internal-parasites.html?m=1

 

[Ellenquacker72]

I concidered that. But the poo wasnt white or stringy in any way. It was completely normal, except that it was super long. And my fish have never had live food. They get veggie flakes, shrimp pellets, shelled peas, and the occasional freeze dried bloodworms. Which is why i had ruled out internal parasites.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Maybe constipation. That is another reason for long poo. Freeze dried food can do that.

 

[Ellenquacker72]

They barely ever get the freeze died stuff though... Oh well. Maybe he'll start acting normal now. I thought of constipation, and tried to get him to eat the peas i gave them. Ill try them again today.