Platy possibly dying! Help

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Esotericdreams

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Hello,

I recently starting a planted 10g tank. Its been going for about 3 months, 2 of which containing fish. I first added 4 mollies, then about 2.5 weeks ago, I added 1 molly and 3 platys. Within the last 24 hours, I noticed one of he platys (the only male) was not eating, no matter how much I tried to feed him.

About 12 hours later again, I tried feeding him and he still wont eat. His gills look inflamed, and there was white, kind of thick, poop coming off of him. He was mostly near the surface and is pretty lethargic. I checked the others for similar symptoms (specifically the other platys) and they all seem fine.

I did a 25% water change immediately. I'm not sure if Im noticing a major different. I did also find a fry peeking out of an area he was sleeping in as well.

Any thoughts as to whats going on? It sounds like ammonia poisoning, but I checked the ammonia a few hours after doing the water change. Its either at 0 or 0.25 (i always have a hard time telling with the test). Nitrites = 0. Nitrate = 0-20 (maybe 10ish).

I have aquarium salt, but I've read adding it would be bad for my live plants.

Also, how soon should I wait for another water change?
 
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First, do a 100% water change. it may be because adding too many fish that are stressed at once is raising the ammonia (there should be NO AMMONIA). You also have big stocking problems, mollies are too big for a 10g. They need a 30g minimum. Rehome the mollies, get rid of one female platy, and get another male (only if you don't want so many babies). Hopefully, a more experienced member can tell you about medicines. Maybe @Colin_T or @NickAu
 
First, do a 100% water change. it may be because adding too many fish that are stressed at once is raising the ammonia (there should be NO AMMONIA). You also have big stocking problems, mollies are too big for a 10g. They need a 30g minimum. Rehome the mollies, get rid of one female platy, and get another male (only if you don't want so many babies). Hopefully, a more experienced member can tell you about medicines. Maybe @Colin_T or @NickAu

I purchased a 30g Tank, so I'll be setting that up shortly. I've also quarantined the platy thats sick. I was going to leave the tank alone for about a week before I try to move them into a new tank.
 
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Depending on where you live, your water supplier could be using ammonium in the water supply. That will show up as ammonia in testing but really is not. Check with your supplier to find out or it may indicate it on your bill. I always ask this when ammonia is that low but still registering. You would have to remove the fish to do a 100% w/c and that would stress the fish out. I recommend a 50% w/c daily for a week and see how it goes. When you say he had thick white poop coming off of him, do you mean out of him? He could have internal parasites then. That could explain the red gills too. Let’s see if Colin comes on. Aquarium salt is good to help with gill function but I wouldn’t do it along with medication. Read on internal parasites and also on gill flukes although you can usually see them. Keep us posted and good luck! I do agree with trash.binh that the tank has stocking issues. Glad to hear you are going larger on tank.
 
Depending on where you live, your water supplier could be using ammonium in the water supply. That will show up as ammonia in testing but really is not. Check with your supplier to find out or it may indicate it on your bill. I always ask this when ammonia is that low but still registering. You would have to remove the fish to do a 100% w/c and that would stress the fish out. I recommend a 50% w/c daily for a week and see how it goes. When you say he had thick white poop coming off of him, do you mean out of him? He could have internal parasites then. That could explain the red gills too. Let’s see if Colin comes on. Aquarium salt is good to help with gill function but I wouldn’t do it along with medication. Read on internal parasites and also on gill flukes although you can usually see them. Keep us posted and good luck! I do agree with trash.binh that the tank has stocking issues. Glad to hear you are going larger on tank.

I tried checking on my water quality. I didn't get too many details on the type of treatments used on the water. My city using well water thats pretty hard (18.0 GH). I did another ammonia test on the 10g tank and I decided to do one on my tap water was well:


20181230_210010.jpg
20181230_211106.jpg

They look the same too me and I still always have a problem distinguishing this color from oppm to 0.25ppm. Im leaning towards zero though. I'd appreciate some opinions on this lol!

In addition:
20181230_210933.jpg

Nitrates and Nitrite seem to be zero.

I did like you said and did some research on gill flukes and internal parasites. To clarify, the white poop was coming out of him. I've been monitoring the other fishes poop and breathing - they appear to be normal. The male platy is pretty thin in comparison to the other fish. He's still refusing food. I added the salt and the other fish seemed to benefit from it. Although, the male platy is still in the same condition. I unfortunately had to stress it out and move it out of a tank into a makeshift quarantine container. I made sure to use some old tank water in the quarantine (25% old tank water and 75% new water). Also moved over a plant and decoration, as well as made sure the temperatures between the old tank and new tank were similar before moving him in. I bought Melafix today, so I have that on stock. Haven't administered any "treatment" other than the aquarium salt yesterday. I heard that API's general cure is good too.

I'm all ears for suggestions.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

How many tanks do you have?
From the first post it sounds like you have a couple of tanks with plants?

How long has the tank been set up? (the tank with the sick fish)

What is the pH and GH of the water?

Can you post a picture and short 20 second video of the sick fish?

------------------------
You have had the new platy for about 2.5 weeks.
Last night it stopped eating and started hanging out under the surface and not swimming about much.
It is breathing heavily and has red gills.
It is doing a stringy white poop.

Are any of its scales sticking out from the body?

The symptoms listed above would suggest an internal bacterial infection and these are hard to treat successfully. I will have more idea when I see pictures of the fish but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Just keep the fish isolated and keep the water clean and see if it lives much longer.

If the fish is losing weight and has a stringy white poop, then it probably has an internal protozoan infection. You can try using Metronidazole but it might not help. I think the API general cure has Metronidazole in.

-------------
Don't use Melafix or Pimafix, they don't do a damn thing for internal infections.

------------------------
Don't bother trying to feed fish if they are not eating. Fish can go for weeks or even months without food and won't starve to death. In fact most fish die from poor water quality caused by too much food going in the tank.

When you do a water change each week, do a 75% water change and gravel clean any areas of gravel where the plants are not growing. The bigger water change dilutes nutrients and disease organisms more effectively than smaller (25%) water changes.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
 
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Hi and welcome to the forum :)

How many tanks do you have?
From the first post it sounds like you have a couple of tanks with plants?

How long has the tank been set up? (the tank with the sick fish)

What is the pH and GH of the water?

Can you post a picture and short 20 second video of the sick fish?

------------------------
You have had the new platy for about 2.5 weeks.
Last night it stopped eating and started hanging out under the surface and not swimming about much.
It is breathing heavily and has red gills.
It is doing a stringy white poop.

Are any of its scales sticking out from the body?

The symptoms listed above would suggest an internal bacterial infection and these are hard to treat successfully. I will have more idea when I see pictures of the fish but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Just keep the fish isolated and keep the water clean and see if it lives much longer.

If the fish is losing weight and has a stringy white poop, then it probably has an internal protozoan infection. You can try using Metronidazole but it might not help. I think the API general cure has Metronidazole in.

-------------
Don't use Melafix or Pimafix, they don't do a damn thing for internal infections.

------------------------
Don't bother trying to feed fish if they are not eating. Fish can go for weeks or even months without food and won't starve to death. In fact most fish die from poor water quality caused by too much food going in the tank.

When you do a water change each week, do a 75% water change and gravel clean any areas of gravel where the plants are not growing. The bigger water change dilutes nutrients and disease organisms more effectively than smaller (25%) water changes.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Hello!

Well, I have 1 cycled 10g tank with live plants. I recently purchase a 30g Tank that has not been filled yet. Im still doing a little more research on how to properly transfer the fish from my 10g to the 30. I set up a quarantine tank today (meaning its brand new) for the sick fish that's about 2g (i used 25% of old water and 75% new water). So in total, 3 tanks. All water changes or top ups are done with water conditioner/dechlorinator.

pH is 7.5 and GH is 18.

The male platy is pretty thin in comparison to the others. For an analogy, it's like look at two people who are the same height and one weighs 100 lbs and the other weighs 160lbs. The male platy is the former and the other fish are the latter.

The platy doesn't appear to have Dropsy, no raised scales.

Since establishing the 10g tank, I've always done weekly water changes - about 60-70%. Due to the way it was acting, this was the first time I did a 25% water change. I thought it'd be too stressful to do my usual routine. Also, I always gravel vacuum and every other week, I'll scrub the decorations. Last week, I believe I partially cleaned the filter pipe - it was getting gunky. I just recently learned I could also rinse the ceramic rings I have in my filter.

Okay, I'll try the API kit then!

Currently can't upload any videos. I've tried compressing them, changing the type, this site wont allow me. Later on, I'll come back and use an embedded video for you to see. In the meantime, here are some pictures:

20181230_222928_Moment(2).jpg


20181230_222928_Moment.jpg
 
If you put the video on YouTube you can copy and paste the link here and we can view it at YouTube.

Can you take a picture of the fish showing it from a side view?

------------------------
The fish has flared gills that is probably caused by gill flukes. The API General Cure has Praziquantel and Metronidazole. The Praziquantel will treat tapeworm and gill flukes. The Metronidazole should deal with any internal protozoan infections.

I would treat the fish for internal infections first, follow directions on packet. Then assuming it recovers, put it back in the main tank and then get some straight Praziquantel (without Metronidazole) available from most petshops, and treat the main tank with all the fish once a week for 3 weeks to get rid of any gill flukes and tapeworms.

The gill flukes and tapeworm should be treated once a week for 3 weeks to kill off any baby flukes/ worms that hatch after the first and second treatment. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24 hours after treating them. Praziquantel is safe for all fish, plants and filter bacteria.

Don't use the API General Cure in the main tank because Metronidazole will usually wipe out filter bacteria.

------------------------
To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will absorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean. And clean the filter before treating. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Monitor the water quality for ammonia and nitrite and do a 75% water change any day there is a reading above 0.
 
If you put the video on YouTube you can copy and paste the link here and we can view it at YouTube.

Can you take a picture of the fish showing it from a side view?

------------------------
The fish has flared gills that is probably caused by gill flukes. The API General Cure has Praziquantel and Metronidazole. The Praziquantel will treat tapeworm and gill flukes. The Metronidazole should deal with any internal protozoan infections.

I would treat the fish for internal infections first, follow directions on packet. Then assuming it recovers, put it back in the main tank and then get some straight Praziquantel (without Metronidazole) available from most petshops, and treat the main tank with all the fish once a week for 3 weeks to get rid of any gill flukes and tapeworms.

The gill flukes and tapeworm should be treated once a week for 3 weeks to kill off any baby flukes/ worms that hatch after the first and second treatment. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24 hours after treating them. Praziquantel is safe for all fish, plants and filter bacteria.

Don't use the API General Cure in the main tank because Metronidazole will usually wipe out filter bacteria.

------------------------
To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will absorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean. And clean the filter before treating. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Monitor the water quality for ammonia and nitrite and do a 75% water change any day there is a reading above 0.

**Update**
The male platy didn't make it.

I'm on the hunt for something that is straight Praziquantel. I found Prazipro, but that will take a while to get. Thanks for all of your help! You gave me some good information.

Also - if Im unable to find one specifically with praziquantel, would these work as well?:

- organophosphates
- Formalin
- Mebendazole
- Toltrazuril
 
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organophosphates tend to kill fish and don't work these days due to excessive use during the last 40 years.

formalin is in most medications and might work but is not that safe.

haven't used mebendazole altho a few people in the US used Fenbendazole but I can't remember what the results were like.

never heard of toltazuril.

Praziquantel is extremely safe and is used to treat dogs and cats for tapeworm. It is worth finding because it is so safe. You can use it on baby fish, scaleless fishes like catfish, loaches, etc, pregnant fish, basically anything. And because it has only recently been used for fish, the fish parasites have not developed a resistance to it. Even tho it has only been used as a commercial fish medication for the last 10-15 years, I have been using it since the late 80s and never had a problem from using it.
 
I use Prazipro. It works well. Sorry to hear the platy didn’t make it. You received some great information though for future use. Good luck! Do you live in UK or US? It’s good to know when recommending medications.
 
I found a shop that had PraziPro, so we're all good on that note. Also bought General cure for future use.

@Deanasue Thanks! I really wanted the little guy to make it, but it wasn't meant to be. Also, I live in the US.
 
I generally don't recommend buying medications for future use because they go off pretty quickly and people often use the wrong medication to treat sick fish. I would return the General Cure because you might not need it. Otherwise try to keep the medication in a cool dry place. I kept my fish medications and test kits in a plastic container in the bottom of the fridge.
*NB* make sure children and animals cannot get them because most are poisonous.
 

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