Is My Platy Pregnant Or Dropsy?

[KristyJakubek]

Hi all, I am new here but I am scared. I thought my platy was pregnant but now I am worried it is dropsy. Her fins are pine coning slightly and I am worried. She has burrowed herself upside down in the bottom corner of my tank under my anemone....I don't know what to do.

 

[Far_King]

Generally if it's dropsy it's the whole body that bloats; pregnancy it's just the belly.  Dropsy can cause scales to protrude as well.
Given your fish is sadly upside down in a corner I would suggest that it's most likely dropsy I'm afraid

 

[the_lock_man]

Hi Kristy, welcome to the forum, I'm sorry we had to meet you in such unfortunate circumstances.
 
Sadly, I agree with FK's opinion above. Your fish in the photo is very unhealthy.

 

[KristyJakubek]

My platy died shortly after the post. I am so sad. I will test the water and see where my levels are at but I do regular water changes and all my other fish are fine. 

 

[Far_King]

I'm sorry to hear that.
 
Keep a close eye on the other fish just in case.  How long did you have her for?  Have you added any new fish recently?

 

[KristyJakubek]

we have had her since we started our tank about 8 weeks ago. I added a gourami about a week ago. I have a 37 gallon.

 

[Far_King]

It's possible she was already diseased before you got her or the gourami has brought in a disease or that she was just stressed and already weakened.
 
The link below will provide you with more information.
 
Have you checked your water parameters?  Do you do regular water changes?
 
http/freshaquarium.about.com/od/termsandtables/p/Dropsy.htm

 

[KristyJakubek]

I just finished running the water tests. No ammonia, no nitrates. I do about a 30% water change every Saturday.
 
I just don't get it. I wonder if since she was one of the 3 fish I used to cycle the tank originally that the original nitrate spike made her sick. It's been a while though and she was fine. I really hope my other fish don't get sick.
 
I usually add a table spoon of salt during water changes, as well as stress coat conditioner. I thought I was doing everything right.

 

[Asteria]

Have you tested nitrites? These are different to nitrates.
Nitrites are more poisonous


I am also sorry for your loss.

 

[KristyJakubek]

no, I haven't tested nitrites. I will have to look at my kit and see how to test for that.

 

[the_lock_man]

Hmmmm.
 
There's not really such a thing as a nitrate spike. Nitrate is what is produced when the 2nd type of bacteria eat nitrite. It basically stays in the water until you remove it by a water change, or it can be removed by (a lot of ) plants. A spike is a sudden rise from low to high - nitrate tends to build slowly and levels of higher than 20ppm are not unusual, and certainly not as harmful as even 1ppm of ammonia and nitrite.
 
To have no nitrate in the tank is unusual - most people have some nitrate in their tap water. A reading of 0ppm nitrate is either a tank where the cycle is not fully established or you are not using the test properly - do you have the API kit? This often gives false zero nitrate results.
 
The tests you need to run with an 8 week old tank are ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. In a cycled tank, with low-medium planting would be 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and around 5-10ppm nitrate on top of the background nitrate level.
 
I wonder if you've confused nitrite and nitrate? The cycle goes ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate.
 
Can you also tell me in detail how you cycled the tank?
 
With regard to salt, personally I disagree with its use - our freshwater fish do not come from environments where there is salt in the water. IN some instances, such as when treating whitespot, it has its uses, but not as regular additive, IMHO.