I Think Platy Has Ick

[Sarah93108]

One of my female platy's has what I think is Ick. There are white flakey spots which looks like salt and some scales are a little raised. She's gasping for air at the top of the tank. I haven't noticed her scratching against anything. I raised the water temperature to 80 F and did a partial water change. I have aquarium salt and Quick Cure but have not used them yet. Can I treat the water if there is a breeding net full of fry in the tank? Do I have to remove the carbon filter cartridge?

Thanks for your help!
Sarah

**Update**

Please help! Last night I added 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt to my 12 gallon tank. Now she's floating straight up and down in the water and hiding behind the filter. She hasn't eaten anything since yesterday and is usually the pig of the group. I have to leave for the weekend and am wondering what to do with her. Any advice is appreciated! I have no idea what's wrong with her or how to treat it. Especially with the fry in the same tank. Someone suggested that I just flush her.

 

[Sarah93108]

**Update**

Please help! Last night I added 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt to my 12 gallon tank. Now she's floating straight up and down in the water and hiding behind the filter. She hasn't eaten anything since yesterday and is usually the pig of the group. I have to leave for the weekend and am wondering what to do with her. Any advice is appreciated! I have no idea what's wrong with her or how to treat it. Especially with the fry in the same tank. Someone suggested that I just flush her.

Sarah

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Platys don't do too well with constant salt treatment, you are better off with treating her with a chemical based med. Have you raised the airation in the aquarium at all? The warmer the temp of the water, the less disolved oxygen it has, and so you should sort something out with the filtration or get a bubble stone/machine etc in the tank to improve the oxygen content of the water in the tank to help ease the fishes condition.
What does "Quick Cure" claim to treat?

 

[Sarah93108]

QuICK Cure says it's, "A fast, effective cure for tropical fish parasite infestations like, Ick, ect." It's active ingredients are Formalin and Malachite Green. I don't know if she has Ick though. Would that cause her to not be able to swim? She's nose up, tail down and can't seem to get around very well. I'm leaving for the weekend in a few hours and don't know what to do!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

QuICK Cure says it's, "A fast, effective cure for tropical fish parasite infestations like, Ick, ect." It's active ingredients are Formalin and Malachite Green. I don't know if she has Ick though. Would that cause her to not be able to swim? She's nose up, tail down and can't seem to get around very well. I'm leaving for the weekend in a few hours and don't know what to do!

If she can't maintain her balance/direction in the water then that is a swimbladder disorder (it can be caused by either constipation or internal bacterial infection).
If she has small sand-like whitspots on her body then that is Ick/Whitespot. If you are leaving for the weekend then i would do a 40% water change with dechlorinator and start treating her with the Quick Cure but avoid using the salt treatment. Trying and raise the filter in the tank so it creates more surface aggitation/bubbles in the water too . How is her body weight- is she looking very skinny or bloated at all?

 

[MHunt]

Formalin and malachite green are the two main ingredients in most whitespot treatments. I am of the opinion that the tank should be treated very quickly as soon as whitespot is suspected or spotted. You know when you have it as the fish appear to have little grains of salt stuck to them. I held off the first time my fish had whitespot and suffered from problems for weeks, even months after as a result of that infestation. More recently one of my cherry barbs had a couple of whitespots on it, i treated the tank straight away, and it was gone the next day without any further recurrence since.

Good luck, and i hope the fish are ok.

 

[Sarah93108]

I just moved her to a small betta bowl. I treated the water with QuICK Cure and will just have to watch her. I don't see any of the white spots on her scales anymore. So that's a good sign. She is however tilted over (it seems a little bloated on that side) and cannot maintain her ballance. I won't feed her in the hope that it's just constipation. If it's internal parasites what can I do to help her? Can I treat the entire tank with the fry still in there?

Thank you so much!

 

[MHunt]

I just moved her to a small betta bowl. I treated the water with QuICK Cure and will just have to watch her. I don't see any of the white spots on her scales anymore. So that's a good sign. She is however tilted over (it seems a little bloated on that side) and cannot maintain her ballance. I won't feed her in the hope that it's just constipation. If it's internal parasites what can I do to help her? Can I treat the entire tank with the fry still in there?

Thank you so much!

If it was whitespot you need to treat the tank. The only time you can kill the parasite is when it is frees swimming in the tank. Even with the fry i would be inclined to treat the whole tank for whitespot otherwise it will keep coming back to haunt you.

Where are you in the world? If you're in the UK i would suggest Interpet 6 for whitespot, and interpet 9 for internal bacteria.
(No i'm not an employee of interpet I've just had good results using their meds)

 

[Sarah93108]

I am not certain it was whitespot. I'm really not sure what it is. All of the other fish seem to be doing fine. I'm in the USA so I'm not familiar with that medication. Do people usually medicate fry? If so do you need to lower the dosage amount?

 

[MHunt]

With ich you are treating the tank. If you really don't want to treat the fry, just observe them and see if they develop whitespot too. If they don't ok, if they do i would medicate as normal to kill the ich, and save as many of the fish as possible.

Good luck with the platy, i hope it gets better. If not, at least you can keep a couple of the next generation as replacements.

 

[Sarah93108]

Thank you so much for your help. I feel better at least trying to save her. I'm fairly new at this hobby and have found it to be really rewarding and fun. Unfortunately it's also difficult at times when they are sick and/or die. Hopefully this one will pull through over the weekend!

Sarah