Dead Fish

[StarfireGraves]

Um,
 
This morning I woke up to find my little High fin Platy female, who was very pregnant (Could see eggs) To be upside down in the middle of the tank. She had been acting strange, staying toward the bottom, but I brushed it off. But I got up to find her on her back on the gravel in the tank. I was wondering what are some possibilities to cause this and if I should be worried about my remaining 4 platys. The others are active. Any help would be great.
 
Hugs and Smiles,
~starfire

 

[Ch4rlie]

Sorry to hear that.
 
Well, we need a little more information to go on before we have any ideas what the problem could be.
 
First, tanks size?
 
What is your full current stocking, you say you have 1 pregnant platy and 4 other platies, anything else in tank?
 
Then need tank water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate
(also let us know what kind o test kit you're using liquid or paper strip kit)
 
Water temp?
 
Any changes to tank, for example, new plants, decor, substrate etc etc
 
What is your water change routine, percentage of water changes and how often.
 
Have you cleaned you filter recently? 
If so, how did yo clean the filter.
 
And lastly, is your tank cycled?
 
Sorry if some of these question seem silly to you but the more information you can provide, the better, no such thing as too much information, but there is such a thing as too little information

 

[the_lock_man]

To flesh out that last question a little, cycling a filter is growing bacterial colonies which deal with the toxic biological waste produced by fish, and turn them into something which isn't quite so toxic.
 
What we are after knowing is whether you did that, what process did you use to achieve it, how long did it take you, and how long ago did you start it?

 

[StarfireGraves]

First, tanks size?
10 gallons
 
What is your full current stocking, you say you have 1 pregnant platy and 4 other platies, anything else in tank?
Nope, not since y goldfish jumped out and died.
 
Then need tank water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate
(also let us know what kind o test kit you're using liquid or paper strip kit)
I dont have test kits
 
Water temp?
Always between 72-73 F.
 
Any changes to tank, for example, new plants, decor, substrate etc etc
Nope, none.
 
What is your water change routine, percentage of water changes and how often.
A quart is taken out once a week and replaced.
 
Have you cleaned you filter recently? 
If so, how did yo clean the filter.
I have an under gravel and an over the back, I had cleaned it 2 days before, by rinsing with high pressured water as usual every 2 weeks.
 
And lastly, is your tank cycled?
The tank has been set up and running for about a year now.

 

[sawickib]

Filters should be cleaned in aquarium water, high pressure washing just kills all the bacteria on your filters, and they pretty much have to restart. So your ammonia and nitrites are probably to high but i cant be sure.

EDIT: every month they should be cleaned, and water changes weekly 10-25%

 

[StarfireGraves]

Filters should be cleaned in aquarium water, high pressure washing just kills all the bacteria on your filters, and they pretty much have to restart. So your ammonia and nitrites are probably to high but i cant be sure.

EDIT: every month they should be cleaned, and water changes weekly 10-25%

I would use some of the water from the tank but it gets so nasty and slimy it kinda grosses me out. Plus with having the under gravel filter with it, rinsing the filter for the over the back filtration shouldn't be a problem, my dad had done it that way for years. And yeah, I should pick it up from 5% to 10% weekly.