Is My Platy Hitting Itself?

[platy1]

ok so i bought fish on saturday 2/23/13. I brought  4 mystery snails, 2 platies,4 ghost shrimp ones pregnet. My red platy seems to to me like hitting itself to rocks all the decorations in the tank. I dont know if this is good or not the water is fine everything seems normal. Can someone please reply back quick thank you.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

This is called flashing, something is irritating or itching your platy and it is trying to make itself feel better.

How long has your tank been running? Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? If this is a new tank that you just added all these fish to, it is likely that your ammonia levels are spiking and your fish is reacting. Have you tested your water?

 

[techen]

I'd start with what are your water stats? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.
 
It could be brain damage, Could be bad water stats, Could be itch. Etc. We need more details.


Prairie beat me too it

 

[platy1]

tank has been cycling for a while idk how to find out the Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate test well is there any medication i should put to cure him

 

[Paradise3]

You need to buy a liquid Water Test Kit to test for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. How did you cycle the tank? And how long is a while? A week? Two weeks? A month?

 

[platy1]

the filter has been running for years and yes i definently change the filter if its dirty ive been adding a medcation for slime coat and i hope that fixes it i dont know what else to do

 

[Paradise3]

the filter has been running for years and yes i definently change the filter if its dirty ive been adding a medcation for slime coat and i hope that fixes it i dont know what else to do

 
Why do you change it if it's dirty? You don't need to change it, just clean it in some old tank water when you do a waterchange... I wouldn't add anything till you know what it is, you could do more damage than good.

 

[platy1]

wow didnt knew that so what medication should i put for my platy

 

[Paradise3]

Right, to get rid of the obvious ones you need to get a liquid water test kit(not strips, they are inaccurate) and test your Ammonia, Nitrite and  Nitrate as soon as possible. But for now, does the fish have any white spots on it? If no, doesn't sound like Ich(White Spot).If yes, then it sounds like White Spot. If not Ich(White Spot) then try this. Turn the tank light off and shine a torch directly on the fish. Do you see any gold "dusting" on the fish? If no, doesn't sound like velvet so may be something to do with your water. If yes, sounds like Velvet.