My Platy is injured

[ncstater1919]

What should I do? i have 2 platys in my tank and one is jsut fien and he eats and swims around and stuff but the other one stays at the bottem and does absolutly nothing. his entire fin on one side is gone and his top fin was bitten into and his tail was bitten into. i noticed that he was injured when i was about to put him in the tank. should i take it back or jsut leave it??

 

[Annastasia]

Do you have a quarantine tank? Because I'd say the best thing to do would be seperate him.

So wait, you have two males and one just developed this problem? Or you just got them and one came with this problem? If you have had them and he got this problem..it's because you have two males together, and they will fight. The dominant male will terrorize the lesser aggressive one. You'll usually need at least 5 males to spread out aggression.

Still, whatever happened, I would seperate him, keep his water sparkly clean, add a little salt, and perhaps some Melafix. Watch him, and see if the area becomes red or imflammed, or "fungus-ey", because then you will probably have to take more serious action.

Best of luck!

 

[ncstater1919]

alright well i only have one tank and im not sure if there both males but it came with this problem and i watc hthem normally and the other platy jsut kind of ingores the hurt platy thank you for ur help

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Sadly that often seems to be the case. You don't see the problems between them because it most likely happens after lights out. You could take the aggressor back and ask for a female.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Annastasia]

Sadly that often seems to be the case. You don't see the problems between them because it most likely happens after lights out. You could take the aggressor back and ask for a female.
Hugs,
P.

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If you are going to get a female, get at least two. You need to have at least two females per male, so one does not get constantly followed around, and stressed out. Though if you do get females, be prepared for TONS of fry!

Also, what are you water params (Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate)? And what size tank?

 

[ncstater1919]

my tank size is 5 gallon i have too many fish because no one told me that its only 1 1" fish per gallon so i have one austrailian rainbow, one tiger barb, 3 ghost shrimp a albino placo and my 2 platys i have tried everything to lower ammoina! i always change 205 of the water 2 times a week and i test with testing strips my Ph is perfect no chorline my ammoina is really high and i also use a liquid medication that "supposedly" removes ammoina but i have not have any luck yet. and i odnt no how to tell the gender differances of my platys how would i be able to tell that?

 

[Annastasia]

Your ammonia won't go down until you get rid of some of the fish...can you take the Tiger Barbs, Rainbowfish, and Pleco back? Because those will get waaaaay too big for your tank. So get rid of those guys, and then your ammonia should go down. The ammonia may be your Platy's problem....

And you can tell gender by looking at the anal fin...the female's will be fan-shaped, the males will be a point facing towards thier tail.

 

[ncstater1919]

the probelm is.... that the only way u can return them is if they die and i otn wanna kill them cause thats jsut wrong the rainbow fish is kinda aggresive when it comes to eating but the tiger barb is very tiny and is my favorite i think i might have to give any my platys or rainbow fish to friends but they might get so stressed from moving that they will die, wow fish keeping is VERY hard mabye i should jsut get a goldfish or soemthing thanks alot Annastasia and Miss Dib Dabs

 

[Annastasia]

Uh...the Tiger Barb is a schooling fish, and needs friends. He can't stay in a 5. I'd say he needs a 20g minimum, with at least 6 other friends. And Tiger Barbs can be very nippy and aggressive, so you'll need to see which tankmates you can keep with him.

Also, don't kill your fish, but usually any fish store will take them back...so search around your area. Or offer them on here. Or better yet, get a bigger tank.

Fish won't get stressed from moving if you do it right. The key is long acclimation time.

 

[Barracuda518]

If this happened after the fish was in the tank, it could have very well been that tiger barb. They are very good fin nippers, and if its a 5 gallon tank, that makes it even worse...

 

[ncstater1919]

I no the tiger barb is a schooling fish but that also means it is more aggresive when in groups, he seems to enjoy himslef always follwing my rainbow fish also the injured platy was already injured when i bou8ght him and i didnt not notice at first that the fins were in this condition at first becuase i had 3 other fish at the time wiht me until i got home and put him in the tank, i should have taken him back that same day and got a new one but i figured that it would not be worth to drive for 30 minutes with these gas prices so high to return the fish.

 

[paulthegreat]

On the tiger barb you got it wrong. They become less aggressive when in a proper group. They become more aggressive when they do not have the proper social interaction. I would guess that the barb is what attacked the platy and once one is injured well law of the jungle.