New member

[Mdd2000]

Hi! I’m new here! I found this website while trying to learn about dropsy (pretty sure my platy has it). I have a 10 gallon tank with 1 platy and 3 mollies plus 3 African dwarf frogs. I’ve had this tank for probably a few month now. The tank has two live plants, a filter, and a heater of course. Recently we have had some trouble with our tank and I am seeking help.

Just recently we had a molly die with what I think was swim bladder disease (according to google), plus I also think my beta had this same issue back in may before she passed. They wouldn’t swim and would just lay around. My Molly was not herself and seemed quite big. But then we also had a spike in nitrite and nitrate in our tank. We got some treatment for it and have been changing about 10-20% of the water almost everyday to try and lower it. Well it has lowered some but now my platy is sick. Reading through other post it seems she has dropsy. She is real thick and her scales are sticking up. She keeps laying on the rock we have in our tank as well.

I am just lost with what to do since this will be two fish we have lost within a week. We do water changes weekly (expect right now since the spike), all water is treated with stress zyme and stress coat plus a easy balance plus to help with the nitrite, and we only feed the fish and frogs once a day. I am curious to know what I am doing wrong and if there is a way to save my platy.

Thank you so much in advance.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Dropsy is usually caused by an internal infection and causes the fish to bloat (swell up) overnight. The scales normally stick out from the body around the belly area. The fish stops eating and does a stringy white poop.
There's not normally any cure for it.

Swim bladder problems are rare and either cause the fish to float up to the surface when it stops swimming, or sink to the bottom when it stops swimming. However, if a fish eats too much dry food or swallows air while eating from the surface, the air in its intestine can cause the fish to float up when it stops swimming. To check this, stop feeding dry food for a week and feed frozen or live foods. If there is air in the fish's intestine, the fish will fart the air out and be able to swim normally.
There's no cure for swim bladder problems.

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If there is any ammonia or nitrite in the water, or more than 20ppm nitrate, the fish can have major problems too.

What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of the aquarium water?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

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Small water changes are useless when it comes to diluting things in the water. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

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Pictures and video of the fish?
If you use a mobile camera, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen. Videos can be uploaded to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?
Have you added anything in the 2 weeks before this started?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

 

[connorlindeman]

WElcome to the forum!

 

[Emyn9]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

 

[emeraldking]

Hi & welcome to TFF...
Colin has already given you a number of tips. Hopefully, this will be of some use to you...