Platy Burst Open! Extreme!

[ch0626]

Please help! I have had my fish for over a year now, sucessfully, with no sickness. I have a 20 gal tank with one female molly, one male platy, and one female platy. The female platy was a fry that I raised from birth. I woke up this morning to feed my fish and the female platy is completely burst open on the side with a whole bunch of white stringy stuff floating in the water. I am assuming these are her intestines. I know there is probably no saving her, but I would like to know what to do and how to prevent this from happening. A long time ago, on a much smaller scale, this happened to another platy of mine. Thank you. 
 

 

[the_lock_man]

We could do with a closer view of the fish, but it looks like the scales of the fish are sticking up, giving the fish the appearance of a pinecone. Is that right?

 

[ch0626]

It is very hard to get a good picture of. It is on her lower side, near the front of her body. She had a hole in her side with a whole bunch of white stuff protruding out of it. She is still alive. Now most of the white stuff that was dangling is gone. When you look at her body, she has a hole in her side. It looks like a canker sore of a human almost. It is an open hole but it is still white in color. There is no red. For awhile, her stomach was a tad swollen. Last night I looked at her and the spot that busted open today was still covered but looked like something pointy was poking against it. When I looked at her this morning the spot was completely busted open. 

 

[ch0626]

 
 
 
 
Here is a couple of picture of what she looks like now. She has a white very large circular wound. Please help

 

[ericNH]

Oh my, that looks bad.  I wish I could help but I know very little about fish diseases.  SOMEone out there has got to have some idea...

 

[ch0626]

Someone has told me this could possibly be a miscarriage and she will die. They said if there were too many fry they can kind of explode out of their side and push up their scales. Can anybody help me? Could this be true??

 

[attibones]

It looks too close to her head to be a miscarriage or "baby explosion." I've no idea how else to treat it except with perfect water conditions: frequent water changes, warm water, low stress environment. 

 

[This Old Spouse]

Could she have been attacked by the molly?

 

[the_lock_man]

I'm just wondering if it's a very extreme case of dropsy.
 
In any event, I think I'd be inclined to euthanise.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Hmm.... not quite sure!
But in this case it would be the best to euthanize.