Is my platy sick? Help

[Coeurloyal81]

Hi there

I have a community tank with some tiger barbs, danios, and 2 female and 1 male platys. Over the past couple of days my male platy (who just happens to be quite a bit smaller than the females) has been hanging out at the bottom of the aquarium and not eating very much.

Prior to this he used to be a pretty active swimmer and would join in the "feeding frenzy" at the top of the water when I put in the food.

I know that he can swim when he wants to, he doesn't seem distressed and aside from my regular water changes I haven't changed anything about my aquarium.

Is this something that commonly happens with platys or is he sick?

What should I do? I would really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!


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[Delapool]

How did you go with the platy? Could be just stress from something.

 

[Coeurloyal81]

Still the same. No change. He just sort of hangs around and hides as much as possible. He is pretty skinny. I'm sure he's going to die but really don't know what to do about it.

Thanks for asking!

 

[Delapool]

Hmmm, hard to know. Had anything changed in the tank or anything added when he started behaving differently? Is he being harassed by any other fish maybe?

 

[Coeurloyal81]

I added a red reneckii plant to the aquarium about 3 weeks before he started changing, but other than that nothing new. So not sure if there is a correlation?

He gets chased around a bit by some of my tiger barbs, but no more than any of the others I don't think. He is so much smaller than my other female platys so I wonder if maybe he just isn't getting enough of the food because the others get to it faster than him?

 

[Delapool]

Tricky, was he always skinny and a bit off or did it just start recently?

Best chance I have found is if he can go in a breeding net or spare tank where he has some quiet and has a chance to recover.