Not Again....:(

[SouthernCross]

Over the last two months, I lost two platies, about a month apart.

The first pertained to this thread:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...t=0&start=0

Could have been a parasite (she kept eating) but did show bent spine symptoms, in that she would curl her tail around towards her head kinda an odd (C or S shape when viewed from above).

So did the second fish (bending) however this fish went down a lot more quickly (lost her within two weeks, not months like the above one) and eventually stopped eating altogether. It got extremely skinny too. I had tried with Sterazin, and a worming med, with no apparent luck, although this fish also got a bout of ich (could have been related to the stress of all those meds although never treated all at once, but after each other) and died during that treatment.
Her threads (most of my tank info in the first one):
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=203249&hl=
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=204755&hl=

I'm starting to think maybe this could have been fish TB? The first fish died in the main tank but the second had been isolated in my 5 gallon.

But now it looks like my gorgeous red and black wagtail platy male (there's a pic of him in the first linked thread) is acting strangely and I'm worried he could be coming down with the same thing - he doesn't look skinny/swim wobbly yet (those were the first signs with the other two) but today all he's done is hover in the back corner of the tank near the heater and literally just stare at the tank wall all day. This isn't like when he's looking at his reflection (he does this frequently on the wall with the black background - he paces along flaring his fins at himself) but literally looking at the side wall straight on, barely moving. If I waved my hand near him he's move away, but then come back to that spot. When I just fed for the day, he didn't move, didn't seek any food at all.

I'm so worried.

What on earth should I do? I'm going to re-set up the hospital tank tomorrow (I'd dried it out after the second fish died last week to make sure there were no bugs left in it) and put him in - I have a big chunk of filter floss in my main tank filter I can pop straight into the 5 gal so it'll be cloned again. I'll catch him and put him in there - but what should I do? If it is TB, I hear it can't be treated, and I'm not sure why he's come down with it. All my other fish seem unaffected - it seems strange to me that its only platies going down. I don't want to leave him in there in case he can affect the others...

Any ideas? I'm at my wit's end...

 

[merry78]

heya, did you end up dosing them with vitamins? i don't know what's wrong with them, but if it were a mammal (that's possibly the dumbest thing i've said in a long while) i'd say it sounds like chronic deficiency of some nutrient or other....
re: sterazin, did you end up getting any internal parasite meds (praziquantel -sp?- or similar based)....if you haven't been able to get a hold of any since your other posts, drop me a line and i'll send you some through the mail...if you live anywhere on the east coast it should get to you next day...
best of luck.....

 

[SouthernCross]

Yeah, the second thread on the second fish is about the parasite med I used - its active ingredient was praziquantel.

But as I said, I'm not even sure if it is parasites anymore....

As for deficiency...I feed them a variety of prepared foods - quality flakes (regular and spirulina) pellets, shrimp pellets, fresh veg (usually peas), algae/spirulina tabs, freeze dried bloodworms (rarely, I know theyre not that great) and they're always stealing the catfish wafers from my cories.

I still have two other healthy female platies in the tank.... (for now)

 

[SouthernCross]

Help? Anyone?

*Editing to add comments*

Well I just fed them again this morning, and he did come out and go for the food, but it seems he's just spitting it back out. He is swimming around a bit more this morning - not wobbly yet but appears to 'shudder' occasionally.

I thought I might try treating with a bacterial med - I have Pimafix. Should I try this? There's one on my online shop I could order that is a tetracycline tablet. What do you think?

Should I still isolate him? I'm getting the tank set up again now, I've taken the gravel out of it though. Should I treat the main tank too?

Someone please respond.

 

[merry78]

if i were you i'd pop him in the hospital tank, so when you treat him and (hopefully) find the med that improves his condition, you will have the med ready for the main tank if required, but not before. (to avoid stressing your others.) Also, as you are familiar with the early signs of this illness, it's a fair bet that you can identify it in your main tank if other fish start to go down, before it gets critical.
so, i'd isolate him and use what you find out re:effective meds for your other fish later if necessary.
i'm sorry i can't help you, i hope you find the problem and can treat it very soon. best of luck.

 

[SouthernCross]

Thanks merry

Ok, just updating.

He went in the hospital tank. Tried Pimafix the first night - no real change. But then I noticed the next day that all his tummy area had gone kinda whitish and there was kinda like gold dust near his head - instantly I thought this must be what velvet looks like, looked it up, and a lot of symptoms match. The gold dust, the skin thing, lack of appetite and 'shimmy' swimming. So this could be completely unrelated to the other fish I've lost.

I'm watching the fish in my main tank - nobody else is showing symptoms so far (but I would have thought velvet was like ich and would be in the water? Should I treat it or not?) in the meantime will keep close watch.

 

[bubblesburst80]

i hope your fish recovers soon and all your others are safe from the velvet

xXx

 

[SouthernCross]

Thank you very much

I meant to add too that I switched to Protozin, and today his tummy is back to being red again. I'll run the course of Protozin and make sure he's all ok before he goes back home.