White growth(?) on platy

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
šŸ¶ POTM Poll is Open! šŸ¦Ž Click here to Vote! šŸ°

Alex12

New Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2018
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Hello

Any suggestions on what the white area (rear of body) is on my female platy (pic attached)? Itā€™s only on that one side.

I purchased 1 male and 3 females at the same time around 10 days ago. The female platy pictures is the only one with this white growth problem. For the last 4 or so days she has been hiding behind the intake pipe and only comes out for food.
It also looks like the back of her top fin is detached slightly.
 

Attachments

  • 92BDBE48-D039-440B-B36B-98B25DE116F5.jpeg
    92BDBE48-D039-440B-B36B-98B25DE116F5.jpeg
    455.5 KB · Views: 165
It looks like a clump of fungus but could also be excess mucous.

How long has the tank been set up for?

Does the tank have a filter and if so, is it run continuously?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

Have you checked the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH?
If yes, what were the results?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before it goes in the tank?

What other fish are in the tank?

------------------------
The first thing to do if you ever see a sick, dead or unhappy fish, is a 75% water change and complete gravel clean each day until the problem is identified or fixed. This dilutes nutrients and removes harmful pathogens that might be in the water.

Make sure you use buckets that are for the fish only and have never been used for cleaning or anything else.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

------------------------
If you only have platies in the tank you can add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, swimming pool salt or aquarium salt. If there is no improvement after 48 hours then add another 2 heaped tablespoons of salt so there is 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no more than 4 weeks.

If you have other fishes in the tank, only add 1 heaped tablespoon of salt per 20 litres and if no improvement after 48 hours add another heaped tablespoon so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need to.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply, Colin.

Iā€™ve had the tank (200 L) about 8 weeks, but only added water about 3 weeks ago. I had setup some lava rock in the tank prior to filling. I added some plants (java fern, Xmas moss and Anubis) and let the tank cycle for about a week before adding the Platys.

Seachem stability was used for a week during the 1st week cycle. Water has been declorinated. I have a canister filter that utilises mechanical and biological filtration.
I do 20% water changes once a week since getting fish (so only 1 change so far).

Master test kit shows good readings all round.

Since I have plants in the tank, salt is a no-go, right? I have a small tank I could setup and place the sick fish in it along with the salt recommendation. Would this suffice?
 
The salt level I suggested is fine for most plants.

I'm not sure if your test kit has a test for ammonia. But that would be my concern in a tank that has only recently had fish added to it. If there is ammonia in the water you need to dilute it with big (75%) water changes each day until it is on 0.

20% water changes don't do anything really. Bigger water changes dilute nutrients and pathogens much more effectively, and the fish do better with cleaner water.

If you have to move the sick fish, do not lift it out of the water. Use a net to guide the fish to a plastic container and scoop it out. Then move the fish in the container of water.
 
Thanks Colin.

Ammonia didnā€™t read as 0, but it indicated that it wasnā€™t dangerous. Although I guess 0 is the ultimate level to aim for.

Iā€™ll move the sick fish via the method you suggested and add salt. Iā€™ll also carry out a 75% water change...although I do have to ask, since this is a heated tank, what is the best way to do the water so it is the correct temperature? I have a 20 L bucket and can see it taking sometime to replace the 75% (150 L) if I am heating a bucket at a time.
 
Any ammonia is bad for fish and causes them stress. Some fish tolerate low levels of ammonia better than other fish. But you want 0 ammonia at all times because it is the biggest cause of death in aquarium fish, and it's normally caused by too much food being fed to the tank.

In addition to the above, if the pH is alkaline (above 7.0) ammonia becomes a major issue. The higher the pH the more toxic it becomes.

If you have ammonia in the water, you should only feed the fish every second day until the filters have established. That usually takes about 1 month. The fish won't starve and the less food going into the tank, the less ammonia that will be produced by the fish, fish food and fish waste.

------------------------
If the problem is caused by ammonia, doing a big water change each day and adding salt should fix the problem and you should not have to move the fish.

If you do move the fish into another tank to treat, monitor the ammonia level closely because any ammonia produced by the fish will quickly build up in the smaller volume of water. Quite often it's easier and better for the fish just to leave them in the big tank so there is more water per fish.

------------------------
Depending on how warm the tank water is vs the tap water, will determine how you do the water change. If there is only 1 or 2 degrees difference then don't worry about adjusting the temperature. If the tap water is significantly colder than the tank (say 5 degrees or more), then fill the bucket with tap water and conditioner and add a bit of boiled water or hot tap water. Try to aerate it for a few minutes to mix it thoroughly and then add it to the tank. If you have a couple of buckets then you can have one aerating while the other is added to the tank.

Another option is to buy a couple of 75 litre plastic rubbish bins or a large (200 litre) plastic storage container and fill them with water. Add conditioner and aerate and then add some boiled water to get the temperatures similar. If you have a 200 litre plastic storage container you could put an aquarium heater in it for a few hours before using it.

------------------------
When you do a water change, make sure you turn the aquarium heater off 10 minutes before the water change to allow it to cool down. And leave it off for a few minutes after refilling the tank so the heater glass can get to the same temperature as the water. Then turn the aquarium heater back on.
 
Some great information, Colin. I truly appreciate it.

I got home from work not long ago and my wife let me know that the fish had died. Looking at its body, it looks like a fungus as it is white and stringy.

Iā€™ll still go ahead and carry out water changes and feeding less until ammonia levels read as 0.
 

Most reactions

trending

Members online

Back
Top