Have A Problem But Have No Idea What?!

[shadowhywind]

Ok attached are two pics of a a "baby" platy. About a month ago, I removed 5 platys from my tank and gave them to my brother. Since that time, one has magically disappeared, 1 died yesterday, which looked like his bottom "blew up", and now theres him, which i don't have high hopes for. About 2-3 weeks ago he lost an older serpae tetra, which is kind of heard to explain, wish I had taken a picture, but almost like the belly half was missing and the tail was a bit higher then it should. But he was picked on from another tetra, so we didn't really think much of it till I noticed this platy.

Also in the last couple of days, I have noticed that all the fish are staying closer to bottom and not really swimming around to much. Also one or two of the tetras are doing the "shimmies" (shaking back and forth in the same spot).

Any help would be very helpful.

 

[WILDER]

Can you enlarge the pics please.


Is it definately bloating and not a big massive lump.

Have any fish shown any of these symtoms.
Being bloated with scales sticking out.
Lost any fish to looking skinny or bloated.
What does it look like when your fish go to the toilet.
Is the anus enlarged or red and inflamed.
Lost any fish to bent spines.
Do any fish have sunken in bellys.
Any black patches on the fish or darkening in colour.
Do any fish swim on there sides.
Seen any worms prutruding from the anus.

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

 

[fishyfeet]

without more info it could be anything, but probably linked to poor water quality, firstly test your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, if you have a test kit or strips to hand, do a large water change in any case this helps with most things.
I need to know the results of the test, before the water change if possible but i wouldnt wait if you nothing to test with. Also what your regime is, how often you change your water and how much, whats in the tank is it overstoked? What filter do you have and how do you clean it? It could be any of these or none. Does sound like a water problem though and a test kit would tell you exactly what. di

 

[shadowhywind]

without more info it could be anything, but probably linked to poor water quality, firstly test your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, if you have a test kit or strips to hand, do a large water change in any case this helps with most things.
I need to know the results of the test, before the water change if possible but i wouldnt wait if you nothing to test with. Also what your regime is, how often you change your water and how much, whats in the tank is it overstoked? What filter do you have and how do you clean it? It could be any of these or none. Does sound like a water problem though and a test kit would tell you exactly what. di

If i forgot anything just let me know. I just tested the water, Ph = 7.6+ , High range Ph = about 8, Nitrite No2 = 0, Nitrate No3 = 10-20, Ammonia = 0. According to our LFS in the past, we have extremely hard water so they have said that explains the high PH range. The nitrate has been high recently been we have been lowering that with weekly (5 to 10 gallon) water changes.
The tank is a 37/40 gallon tank (measurements = 30L x 23H x 12 W)
The filter is an emperor 280, good up to 50 gallon. We normally just have to rinse the inside of the filter with hot water, we also just replaced the filter cartridge this week.
We also did probably did somewhere between a 25%-40% water change about 4ish days ago.
The tank very understocked.. not sure of the name, but 2-3 longfin zebra looking fish, 1 serpae tetra, 1 pitbull pleco, 1 cory, 3-4 platys.

The rest of the fish seam fine, other then one or two of the platys shaking. No other fish other then maybe the one serpae tetra that died had a bent spine, like i said earlier, I am not sure what was wrong with that one. The one platy that died yesterday, we did notice had a white spot on his fine, and one white spot looked like above his eye, by the next morning he was gone. Also looked like he was losing his 'orange' coloring on his belly, but didn't think it was anything serious, since it did still have a slight orange tint to it.

Not sure if this has anything to do with it. But every once in a while after cleaning the gravel, we can see one or two white worm looking things swimming around the tank (there only about 1-2 cm big). Also everyonce in a while, if you look at the glass at the right angle, you can also see small specks of something moving around. Seriously no bigger then a grain of salt.

 

[Croftuz]

The filter is an emperor 280, good up to 50 gallon. We normally just have to rinse the inside of the filter with hot water, we also just replaced the filter cartridge this week.

Hi,

Just read this and im not sure if i read it right. The Filter contains the majority of your bacterial colony. Washing it in Warm water from a tap will destroy the colony, leaving your tank in a constant cycle. As will changing any media that houses the bacteria.

The stress of the high ammonia levels / nitrIte levels will finish off your less hardy or sick fish. Also it damages the fish that survive beyond the cycle reducing their lives and making them more prone to disease in the future. If your in a cycle you'll need to follow the instructions in the Beginners forum (very good info).

Im sorry if i read that wrong and your aware of this already!

~Paul

 

[WILDER]

Bent spine can be old age, injury, vitamin deficiency, fish tb, internal parasites.
If you could answer some of the questions I asked above. Might be able to help more.

 

[shadowhywind]

Sorry for the delay, got a little busy around here. Well we lost another 2 platys today, both looked like the belly kind of blew out.
So to answer the earlier questions. None of the fish looked bloated. Poop looks normal, haven't really seen any to say there is a problem. The anus looks fine. We may have lost 1 fish to a bent spine, but not sure. One other fish in the tank could also possibly have a bent spine as well. None have any sunken bellys. No Black/darkening patches/color. All the fish are swimming fine (other then the platys that were shaking in place), and no worms coming from the anus. We did just throw in a dosage of the API Melafix.
Anything else, let me know.

 

[WILDER]

Going to leave a link to fish tb just incase.

http/www.torrens.org.uk/NatHist/Aqua/disease/tb.html