I donāt know what to do... my platy has its fins clamped to its body. Itās a male and was totally fine, then suddenly this happened. The others are fine, I have 3 more males. I have a fairly new tank (2nd October) and I have been doing regular water changes. I donāt have a heater but the temperature stays fairly the same as I have the heating on. I did a test a pet shop yesterday and they said the ammonia and nitrate were 0 and nitrite was 1 or below. I was told not to feed them today otherwise they all have a great appetite. He is barging one of the fish since yesterday. Iām really confused and would love some advice as im pretty worried. Thanks
Help! My platy suddenly has its fins clamped
- Thread starter Katsplaty
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If the nitrite level is above zero, you need to do a water change immediately. This is most likely the cause of the clamped fins.
Reducing feeding will help as less food = less ammonia, and less nitrite. Live plants in the tank will also help as they remove ammonia leaving less to be converted into nitrite. Even a few stems of elodea left to float will help.
Can I suggest you get your own test kits asap - liquid ones are better than strips - as you need to test the water every day for both ammonia and nitrite and do a water change if either read above zero.
If the room temperature drops below 20 deg C in the middle of a winter night, you will need a heater.
Re the barging, are you certain they are all males? If the shop told you they were, at least one may be a female as shops can't be trusted.
Reducing feeding will help as less food = less ammonia, and less nitrite. Live plants in the tank will also help as they remove ammonia leaving less to be converted into nitrite. Even a few stems of elodea left to float will help.
Can I suggest you get your own test kits asap - liquid ones are better than strips - as you need to test the water every day for both ammonia and nitrite and do a water change if either read above zero.
If the room temperature drops below 20 deg C in the middle of a winter night, you will need a heater.
Re the barging, are you certain they are all males? If the shop told you they were, at least one may be a female as shops can't be trusted.
I did a water change then gave them some food today (as I didnāt give them any yesterday) his fins were out this afternoon and he was swimming happily now a few hours later he is laying at the bottom, he is in one of my caves an not moving. Iām really worried... he was fine. He was doing some barging himself only today. I donāt know what may have happened. What can I do?
I want to save him, heās such a beautiful fish.
I changed around 15% of the water.
I really donāt know what to do
Whilst writing this one of the fish made him move... his fins are really clamped. He is now hitting his body against things...
Ps. Definitely all males and will buy a heater
I want to save him, heās such a beautiful fish.
I changed around 15% of the water.
I really donāt know what to do
Whilst writing this one of the fish made him move... his fins are really clamped. He is now hitting his body against things...
Ps. Definitely all males and will buy a heater
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Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
Add salt (see directions below).
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate will not affect plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
Add salt (see directions below).
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate will not affect plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
Thank you... I was going to mix some salt as I came across one of your other posts but, when I woke up today his fins are out again.., not sure whatās going on.
I took out my live plants last night in order to add salt and put my original artificial plants back in.. he seems himself now...
not sure whatās going on. His fin doesnāt look as high as the others but, his tail is out.
Would you still add the salt?
They are all platys... would it be the same as all other livebearers? I heard theyāre different.
Thanks for your help
I took out my live plants last night in order to add salt and put my original artificial plants back in.. he seems himself now...
not sure whatās going on. His fin doesnāt look as high as the others but, his tail is out.
Would you still add the salt?
They are all platys... would it be the same as all other livebearers? I heard theyāre different.
Thanks for your help
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