Fish Dropping One After Another?

[RyanTheFishGuy64]

Hello.
I have a tank of Platies and I seem to have a predicament. In September of this year is when I got a load of platies added to my sparse tank. My order came with a "free fish" that only had half a tail and I was instructed that it would heal over time. The fish always had a hard time swimming and eventually died. Very quickly after that, one of the fish I had previously had, dropped dead for no known reason in the same week. About a month went by and one of my other fish (my first in the tank) dropped dead aswell. I could see no reason but this one at least showed symptoms of something wrong. This one hid in the plants for about a week, started laying in the rocks for a couple of days, didn't eat while it lay in the rocks, then died. The same happened to the next, and today I had one more die. I have went from six to two in about three months. I also find it odd that they were never sick at the same time, only right after one would die, another would start acting lethargic. Parameters Nitrate: 30 (doing wc today) Nitrite: 0 Ammonia:0. Any help? I dont want my last little guys to start this and I also want to add a few more fish because I only have 2 as of now and I dont want my filter to crash from lack of ammonia. Thanks!

 

[Munroco]

I suppose its possible that they were mature fish when you bought them, could be old age. They would likely be from the same parents so could have been the same age. This is probably rubbish but I thought I'd give this a bump hoping someone oelse can help.

 

[RyanTheFishGuy64]

I suppose its possible that they were mature fish when you bought them, could be old age. They would likely be from the same parents so could have been the same age. This is probably rubbish but I thought I'd give this a bump hoping someone oelse can help.

Thanks for the shot!

 

[DrRob]

It's an odd one. When fish appear perfectly well and then just die it's always tough to trace.
 
The ones that appear to go downhill in towards their ends worry me more. Internal parasites would behave this way, weakening them slowly until the reach numbers that can't be managed. Fish TB is usually more obvious.
 
Do they appear particularly thin?
 
Most importantly, with platies, are they all the same sex? If not then there is definitely something wrong if there are no fry being produced or they're not surviving.

 

[RyanTheFishGuy64]

It's an odd one. When fish appear perfectly well and then just die it's always tough to trace.
 
The ones that appear to go downhill in towards their ends worry me more. Internal parasites would behave this way, weakening them slowly until the reach numbers that can't be managed. Fish TB is usually more obvious.
 
Do they appear particularly thin?
 
Most importantly, with platies, are they all the same sex? If not then there is definitely something wrong if there are no fry being produced or they're not surviving.

Three were shipped in and I ordered all females (to suit the two males I already had.) and when they came, all were male except for one So I had 4 males and one female. I watched her frequently to make sure no bullying occurred.  She was rarely ever pregnant, and when she was, she would drop less than 5 fry... I have had one fry survive, and it is now big enough and living with the community. The waste isnt stringy, (which Ive heard is a big stomach parasite identification) At the moment I only have one platy left and I'd rather not add any and hurt them too.