Cant keep Platties alive

[FishieQueen]

It seems to me that every time i buy a red wag platty, I will put them in the tank and then the platty will end up dying soon.

When i first started my fish hobby, which was during the summer, I started out with neon tetras and ran into a lot of problems, I had ich in my tank then it led to a fungus and all those bad things and eventually all my fish died and i started ALL OVER AGAIN from scratch. Wehn i started i figured that all the platties that i had were dying because of the problems in my tank. When i started over, I let the tank cycle and all that then put in some fish. These fish that i have now i got when i started over and they are about 5 months old and i am so proud to have them. Just recently I got two platties to see if i could make them live finally, but the problem ocurred again! Both of my platties died, but thank goodness none of it effected my other fish.

I dont understand why i cant seem to keep platies alive. There is nothing wrong with my tank. all my fish are alive, I tested the water b4 i got them everything is perfect. I am not sure whats goin on. They seemed perfectly fine when i bought them. Can any one help me please?

ALSO:
When the last platty died he had some sort of white stuff coming out of his gills when he was strugleing to breath. The first platty died within a few hours of putting it into my tank with the other fish, so i took out the last platty and put it into a hospital tank so that whatever it had wouldnt effect my other fish and eventually kill them too. The fish was ok for about two days then i was about to go get some more medicine for it and it was kind of freaking out int he tank, swimming all sorts of directions, it wasnt able to control where it went, then eventually died. I guess I am done with platties because I just cant keep them alive. I think they are so pretty, so im disapointed that i cant have them anymore. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME!

 

[platypus]

Hiya FQ,

Couple of questions:

When you get your platies from your lfs, is there any sign of illness in the tank? Are there any fish showing any sign of disease, or listlessness, or worse still are there any dead fish in the tank? It may be their problem, not yours.

When you transfer your fish to the tank, do you spend time 'equalising' them - i.e. letting the bag float in the tank for 20 mins, opening the bag, scooping a bit of water in every few minutes, before eventually letting them go?

I recently bought 6 platies and lost 2 of them. They developed ich really quickly, which spread to the whole tank, and then these two quickly got fungus shortly afterwards and didn't make it . Maybe these fish just don't like being transported, although I had heard that they were known as being a 'hardy' type. Just goes to show it's well worthwhile picking out the fish you want when you make a new purchase - I didn't do that this time and paid the price.

 

[FishieQueen]

Yeah I always let the bag float for about 15 mins then let them swim out on their own when they are ready to.

When i buy the fish, they seem to be ok, i usually look for my platties, or any fish i get, i want them out of a good tank where all the fish are swimming happily none at bottom or at top just swimming around like they are supposed to. These fish were doing that, maybe they just dont like to be trasported from place to place, to me, when i get them, I think they are more sensitive to that,a nd also, i live in arizona and its pretty hot here about 110 right now and maybe that effects them too?

 

[snowbirdmo62]

Fishie... have you tried adding some aquarium salt to the water? I use it in my tank, and it helps on stress, and also sometimes clears up infections in the water. You can get it really cheap at wal-mart, i am not saying that it will solve everything, but it does help the fish with gill function, and the stress from being moved. Good luck to you, and give it a try, it really does work!

 

[platypus]

a nd also, i live in arizona and its pretty hot here about 110 right now and maybe that effects them too?

Do you know what the temperature is in your tank? If it's getting really high, like over 85ºF or something, then this will affect the level of oxygen in your tank and could explain why your fish are struggling to breath. If so then there are loads of things you can do to keep the temperature down, like freezing ice cubes of tank water and then popping them in the tank, or floating a plastic bottle full of frozen water in the tank (I read that suggestion on here a few days ago, have never tried it but it sounds brilliant!).

How long does it take you to get from your LFS to your home? And can you think of anything on the journey that might have stressed them out? Extreme temperatures is definitely one, but also bumpy roads, exposure to chemicals, could all play a part. If the fish that you've had for 5 months are definitely OK then it may be that your tank is not the problem but the transportation is.

As snowbirdmo62 says aquarium salt is a great general tonic for fish provided they are tolerant of salt. I know that any scaleless fish, like loaches and corys, aren't tolerant, but I don't know about the others I'm afraid.

 

[FishieQueen]

My tank is always about 75 to 80 degress farenheit I always keep a watchful eye on the temp because before i had a prob. with it.

The petstore that i go to is only about a mile away, maybe not even that far and the roads arent bumpy. I gosh i just cannot figure out what the problem is with these platties, Maybe i am just not meant to have platties?