Bent Spine

[Luzi]

My platy is starting to develop an s-shaped spine! He's still swimming around, eating plenty and is even bullying my female but i'm worried that whatever is causing this will be contagious. It's still only slightly s-shaped so i'm hoping it can be fixed. It swerves right between his dorsal and head and left again between doral and tail.
2 platies in a 10L bowl. ph is fine, still waiting for my ammonia etc. testers to arrive.

 

[Paradise3]

A 10L bowl is only 2.64gal.
I would personally only use this as a shrimp tank not a fish tank.
Also i used to have a molly who in his last day decided to jump out of the tank and break his back. His back went s shaped.

Missy x.

 

[taffy1]

My platy is starting to develop an s-shaped spine! He's still swimming around, eating plenty and is even bullying my female but i'm worried that whatever is causing this will be contagious. It's still only slightly s-shaped so i'm hoping it can be fixed. It swerves right between his dorsal and head and left again between doral and tail.
2 platies in a 10L bowl. ph is fine, still waiting for my ammonia etc. testers to arrive.

There are a few things that can cause this.

1. Old age.
2. Genetics; born that way, appearing worse as he grows.
3. Sometimes certain vitamin deficiencies can result in a curved spine
4. Fish TB (highly contagious - even to other animals and humans, live bearers sometimes are more prone; often associated with weight loss.appearing very thin around the belly area, and belly area may appear more black inside)
5. Electric shock from faulty heater, filter, pump etc

If it is TB, chances are he won't recover. Only antibiotics that offer any hope for this is Kanamycin and Streptomycin; but has never been effective once the fish has the bent spine. But as long as he's eating well, there is still hope. Feeding a well balanced diet can help some if it is a vit. deficiency. If it's old age, he'll likely just slowly get worse. If it were an electric shock, I'd kind of expect that there would be some signs of trouble in the other fish as well.

Best of luck!

 

[Luzi]

They seem to be happy in their bowl - they have 5L each. The bowl has a lid so he won't have jumped out, but it may be vitamin deficiency. It's not an electric shock (the bowl has an extermal air pump) and I doubt it's old age as I've only had him a few months (though i don't know when he was born). how long do platies live?
I have another fish who has a hunchback, not a swayback, but she's been alive like that for a year(ish) and is even pregnant. I think it's probably genetic but i'll add some green veg for vitamins.
Thanks!

 

[taffy1]

In ideal conditions in an aquarium, platies live between 2 to 3 years on average.

 

[fluvial]

One of my young lemon teras developed a bent spine which over several weeks slowely got worse.
But she continued feeding and swimming and seemed to cope OK - until finally she succummed to the
disability and I found her dead one morning.
No idea what caused it, but don't think there is much I could have done to help her, and most importantly
it hasn't infected any of the other fish in the tank.
I think it was just a genetic disorder that she developed and it did eventually finish her.

 

[Jonty]

Pretty common with livebearers - my Endler mum got this after here second pregnancy and lived another year. However 10l is way too small - ideally Platys should have a 10 gallon (40l) tank minimum. Is the tank heated and filtered?

 

[Luzi]

I think it's genetic - it hasn't infected any other fish and he seems to be doing fine. This fish has always been a bit thinner than the others but he acts fine. I've been feeding algae wafers and bloodworms for vitamins but i don't think there's much i can do
The tank's a fish bowl so it hasn't got a filter but i do a 20% water change and a gravel vac every 2 days.
I know it sounds strange but my palties are coldwater fish. I've been keeping them at 20-22* in my main tank for a year with no issues.