Platy Died Yesterday

[smmetz]

So, I get home from work yesterday, and a platy is dead in my 10 gallon tank, stuck on the filter intake. (not that that killed it)

Anyway, I didnt notice anything unusual about the body - and the other fish looked fine to me. The amonia and nitrites are 0, ph 7.2, and nitrates are 10-15.

Should I keep a closer eye on the other fish? At this point, I don't think it was any disease, parasite, water condition that killed the fish, since there were no signs and the others look fine. What do you think?

 

[Phoenixfish]

how old was it? had it had any problems in the past with desease etc?

 

[smmetz]

I got the platy sometime around November last year, so I've owned it for about 4-5 months. (I only starte keeping fish again in Oct last year) It was a female, looked pregnant to me, never had any outbreaks of anything in my tanks. The fish was about 2" long, including its tail. I have a couple other platies that are a little bigger, not sure if this one was not full grown yet, or just a runt.

 

[WILDER]

Just a few daily water changes on the tank, good luck.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

It may be worth just giving the tank a half dose of anti internal bacterial meds just to be on the safe side, as livebearers like platys can be particually prone to internal bacterial infections, and these can kill quite suddenly.
Are the other fish in the tank behaving normally? No agression or anything?

 

[smmetz]

Thanks for the tips. I did a 20% water change today, and plan two 10% changes tomorrow.

I dont have any meds, since I have not yet had sick fish (that I knew of) Maybe I'll pick some up next time I'm at the pet store.

Unrelated to the dead fish, I'm dealing with an algae problem in both of my tanks, and so that is why I am doing lots of water changes. I just found out I have 1.5-2 phosphates, and got some stuff for my filters to remove it. (the fish died before the water changes, so that was not the cause) Hopefully the frequent water changes will help get rid of the algae, and anything the dead fish may have left behind.