Platies

[missPenguin]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your help yesterday re 'Just Checking post'. I carried out my partial water change and the good news is the fish [as of 7.30 this morning when I left for work] are still alive and don't seem to be clamping their fins as much and blue's fin rot doesn't seem to have got any worse. As a precaution, I have left their light off and not fed them [to discourage waste].

Tonight I intend to:

1. test the water and if necessary do a partial water change
2. Treat for fin rot

However I have another question: Should I have used platies for cycling the tank?

I did so on the advice of a well established aquatics centre who told me that platies manufactured bacteria in their gut and are very hardy. They knew all my test results, how long the tank had been set up for and the fact i was a beginner.

Have I been mis-advised? [everyone here seems to talk about cycling with zebra danios!]

 

[dwarfgourami]

The three fish commonly recommended are platies, zebra danios and black widow tetras. Any fish used to cycle a tank will be exposed to toxins; the three fish mentioned are the ones that are considered best capable of withstanding the stress, but it is still a stress, and can easily make the fish susceptible to illness. Sometimes danios don't make it either.
Sounds like you're doing the right thing about treating though. Keep water clean, treat for finrot, and if you have only platies in the tank you can add a little aquarium salt to help healing.

 

[missPenguin]

The three fish commonly recommended are platies, zebra danios and black widow tetras. Any fish used to cycle a tank will be exposed to toxins; the three fish mentioned are the ones that are considered best capable of withstanding the stress, but it is still a stress, and can easily make the fish susceptible to illness. Sometimes danios don't make it either.
Sounds like you're doing the right thing about treating though. Keep water clean, treat for finrot, and if you have only platies in the tank you can add a little aquarium salt to help healing.

Thanks loads!

My other half has just spoken to the shop where the fish were purchased [they may not have been aware of the problem with the fish and given the tank was half full when we bought our fish, they need to know to avoid selling any more fish] and they appolgised profusely and said it probably wasn't my water and if I had any queries just to ask so I guess they have restored my faith!