Pregnant Blue Platy

[Dnee1977]

Hi, I’m new to this forum. I just have a question regarding my blue Platy. I bought her a month ago, she was already pregnant and had some scales missing. I just wanted to know if it looks like she will give birth soon.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

She definitely looks pregnant.

Female livebearers (mollies, swordtails, platies, guppies) carry the babies for about 1 month before giving birth to free swimming young. If the fish has been fat like that for over 1 month, she could be full of worms. Livebearers regularly carry intestinal worms and in severe cases there are so many worms in the fish, that the fish looks pregnant. Once the fish have been dewormed they lost weight overnight as the worms get expelled, and then the fish start getting fat again.

 

[Dnee1977]

Worms?
I’ve never heard of that. Is there any treatment for that?

 

[Colin_T]

If you do get livebearers, deworm them as soon as you get them. Use Praziquantel to treat them for gill flukes & tapeworms, and Levamisole to treat them for thread/ round worms. You treat them once a week for 3 weeks and do a 75% water change 24-48 hours after treating. Don't use the medications together because you can overdose the fish and kill them.

The easiest way to treat them is to use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[Airecl]

Hi, I’m new to this forum. I just have a question regarding my blue Platy. I bought her a month ago, she was already pregnant and had some scales missing. I just wanted to know if it looks like she will give birth soon.

You have a beautiful Platy! I love her colours.
She looks very pregnant, starting to square off to me (usually happens up to a week before -ish)
Usually mine go to hide when they're due for a few days, so as long as you have plenty of plants/ornaments for her to hide in she'll be happy and you should end up with many platy fry!
Good luck - I ended up with hundreds within a few months lol

 

[Dnee1977]

Thank You both
I will give it another week to see if she gives birth, if not I will treat her for worms.

 

[Dnee1977]

UPDATE: She gave birth last night; this morning I spent 3 hours catching 37 extremely tiny babies
I just got a tank for my baby Swords 2weeks ago; now I need to get another one....right now they’re separated in 1-gallon tanks