Is My Platy Sick Or Pregnant?

[WillyRBeek]

Platys are known to be very prolific breeders, but i've had mine for 6 or 7 months now and they've never had any fry. I was told how you can identify male and female platys(Although my information may not be correct, as I was told it by a LFS employee. It has to do with the fin on their belly). Anyway the one that I think is pregnant is the one I was under the impression was a male, which is my first cause for concern. Also, I just found it kind of sitting on the gravel, not moving too much. Once I tried to catch it to put it in the hospital tank though, it started to show a lot more life.

Anyway, it's fins look fine, but it's scales look to be really...I'm not sure of "frayed" is the right word, but they're really noticable anyway, which is a change because until today, it had always looked relatively smooth. What makes me think it could be pregnant though is that it's body is looking very, very bloated.

Can anyone confirm if it's sick, and if so, what sickness it may have?
Or if it's pregnant, what measures should I take to protect the fry?

I also posted this on the Tropical Fish Forum, and I was told to repost it here, as I might receive more responses. He also said that if the scales were sticking out like a pinecone(Which is accurate), that it could be something called "dropsy"...

 

[LauraFrog]

Pregnant platys do not 'pinecone'. This does sound like dropsy. Pregnancy is a four-week process and the fish swells up slowly with no disruption to the scales - sudden increase in size is an illness. Dropsy is a very broad term for a range of diseases that cause sudden abdominal bloating and is usually fatal. Have you got him in a hospital tank?

Dropsy is usually caused by bad water quality, but sometimes it just happens. It is usually bacterial and by the time it gets to this stage (with the immense bloating, lethargy and pineconing) it's virtually hopeless - the swelling is caused by accumulation of fluid inside the fish due to multiple organ failure. To be honest I would euthanise, but if you really want to try there is a small chance that antibiotics might work. If you catch it early antibiotics are effective about 50% of the time.

 

[WillyRBeek]

Pregnant platys do not 'pinecone'. This does sound like dropsy. Pregnancy is a four-week process and the fish swells up slowly with no disruption to the scales - sudden increase in size is an illness. Dropsy is a very broad term for a range of diseases that cause sudden abdominal bloating and is usually fatal. Have you got him in a hospital tank?

Dropsy is usually caused by bad water quality, but sometimes it just happens. It is usually bacterial and by the time it gets to this stage (with the immense bloating, lethargy and pineconing) it's virtually hopeless - the swelling is caused by accumulation of fluid inside the fish due to multiple organ failure. To be honest I would euthanise, but if you really want to try there is a small chance that antibiotics might work. If you catch it early antibiotics are effective about 50% of the time.

I ended up putting it out of it's misery last night. I had put it in a hospital tank as soon as I realized something was up, and immediately did a 20% water change, but it got progressively worse as the day went on, till last night it was just laying on it's side in the hospital tank, barely moving.

I doubt it was caused by bad water quality though, as all my ammonia/nitrate/nitrite stats are at 0 and I do 20% water changes every 4 or 5 days. Speaking of which, I did a 20% change yesterday, but should I do another change today, just to make sure that this Dropsy doesnt' spread?