Platties at bottom of tank

[sweetmoon]

Hey everyone, really hoping for some advice as dont want to lose my fish! I noticed the platies are staying around the bottom of the tank rather than swimming about, they tend to be near the heater. I had one die a couple days ago and I'm very worried more will follow.

I've had one molly which had obvious swim bladder symptoms so I'm worried the platy does too and that's why it's just floating around at the bottom but would multiple fish get it? I feed once a day with Tetra pro algae crips and bug bites.

Request for Help

Tank size: 60L

tank age: around 1 year, fish are that age too

pH: around 7.2-7.6

ammonia: <0.02

nitrite: 0ppm

nitrate: 5ppm

kH:

gH:

tank temp: 25.5oc

Test kit- freshwater api kit and Seachem alter my series

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): platy staying around bottom of heater, moving tail about but not really swimming, will occasionally dart across tank and will come to surface for food but way less swimming than usual. Other fish are moving about normally

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 25% weekly

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Seachem Prime and Stability, Tetra balance, api aquarium salt. Seachem tidal filter with Seachem matrix and purigen

Tank inhabitants: 2 mollies, 5 black widow tetra, 5 sunset platties

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): none

Exposure to chemicals: none

Thank you so much

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hi! We'd like to help if we can! I'm afraid we need as much info about the tank and the fish as possible in order to narrow down what may be happening, so don't be afraid to add as much detail as you can! Without being able to see and assess the tank and fish ourselves, we're reliant on any info you can give us!


If you can copy paste the template below, and answer as many questions as you can please, that would help. Skip any you don't know the answer to, but also include numbers where you have them. Like for ammonia, nitrite and nitrAte, we need exact numbers, and it helps to know which test kit you're using, since some are more accurate than others. Some clear photos of the tank/any worrying looking fish can really help - video is even better, since we can then see the fishe's movements and breathing rate. But if you do take any short videos, just know that the video upload function on the forum doesn't work. But if you upload to youtube and link it here, then we can view it.

You may cut and paste the template below and submit in your post:

Request Help

Tank size:
tank age:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[sweetmoon]

Hi! We'd like to help if we can! I'm afraid we need as much info about the tank and the fish as possible in order to narrow down what may be happening, so don't be afraid to add as much detail as you can! Without being able to see and assess the tank and fish ourselves, we're reliant on any info you can give us!


If you can copy paste the template below, and answer as many questions as you can please, that would help. Skip any you don't know the answer to, but also include numbers where you have them. Like for ammonia, nitrite and nitrAte, we need exact numbers, and it helps to know which test kit you're using, since some are more accurate than others. Some clear photos of the tank/any worrying looking fish can really help - video is even better, since we can then see the fishe's movements and breathing rate. But if you do take any short videos, just know that the video upload function on the forum doesn't work. But if you upload to youtube and link it here, then we can view it.

You may cut and paste the template below and submit in your post:

Request Help

Tank size:
tank age:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

Thank you so much I’ve added those details and pics

 

[Colin_T]

Swim bladder problems are rare and not contagious.

How long has the fish been sitting on the bottom for?

Is the fish eating normally?
What does its poop look like?

Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

How often and how do you clean the filter?

Can you post a video of the fish?
Upload video to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on the ends.

What is the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) 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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BASIC FIRST AID FOR FISH
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.