Platy With Swim Bladder Issue

[PrairieSunflower]

Well, one of my baby platies (3 months old) has a swim bladder issue. I was suspecting for a few days that something was up but it wasn't really that "clear"... but today when she eases off on purposeful swimming her back end floats up.

Anyhow... I know the usual thing to try first is to fast the fish. My question is... since she is still young, just 3 months old, is this alright to do?

I can't separate her at the moment, well, unless I place her in a breeding net, as I have another platy in my quarantine tank at the moment getting treated for a minor tail fungus issue.

 

[Mamashack]

Could she be constipated? I know that can affect some of the fancy goldfish tho not sure if it affects platies too.
Could it also possibly be an internal infection?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

She is pooping, not sure "how much" but she isn't stopped up anyway.

If it was an infection, would there be some other symptoms? I can't see any other issues with her. She is more "stubby" than the other platy (her sister) but she has always been shorter and rounder from the start... it has been the only way I could tell them apart.

 

[Mamashack]

Maybe she has slightly squished guts if her body is a bit shorter that her sibling. I has similar problem with a pearlscale goldfish years ago and used to have to soak their food which was a pain altho it was habit after a while.
Not saying this is the case with your girl but maybe worth considering if you can't pin it down any more.


had* not has lol

 

[PrairieSunflower]

That is possible. Early on when she was a lot smaller I thought she was getting a bent spine as she looked "different"... but that straightened on it's own and she just ended up shorter.

 

[Mamashack]

That reminds me of a situation I had with some sunset platies I had years ago and one of the fry was ingested then immediately spat out by one of the adults. It never quite recovered from the experience as it too was bent and suffered swim bladder problems. Don't think it lived as long as 3 months tho, but it was a fighter and tried to keep up with the others.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I am wondering if the squished gut could be it. In the time we started discussing and I checked that she was pooping... her sister has pooped out an amazing lot (about 3 times her body length) and Muffin (the platy in question) has only done a very little bit.... so... maybe it could be that... could it be constipation if she is still going a little as well?

 

[Mamashack]

I guess it could be. It doesn't have to be a full blockage to be constipation. Is she eating normally? What sort of food do you normally feed them? Is it a varied diet or do you stick to one type of food? I sometimes feed mine a chopped skinned defrosted pea. It can make the water quite cloudy so best done just before a water change. It's recommended once a week altho I sometimes forget and they maybe only get one every month or so when I finally remember! I find that certain foods make them poop more as of course does overfeeding. I do that all the time as I have loads of fry of different ages and it's difficult to judge how much to feed them. They will eat everything I put in for them so I leave them to graze without my feeding them once a week. They can actually manage much longer than that (last week I had to blackout the main tank for 3 days as it was snided with BGA and they were all fine when it was unveiled. They'd cleaned the back wall of the tank of algae! lol)

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I feed them TetraPro, New Life Spectrum, daphnia and algae wafers. Have to say Muffin doesn't like daphnia or algae wafers.

She eats whenever food is offered with great enthusiasm though.

 

[Mamashack]

Are the first 2 flake or pellet? I still soak my platies' pellets as the bigger fish can swallow them whole and I don't like the idea that they might be swelling inside them and possibly cause a blockage. The smaller fry get crumbled flake and pulverised pellet. When they are new born I give Liquifry no.2.
Have found this article - might be worth a read
http/allnaturalpetcare.com/blog/2012/01/23/natural-prevention-treatment-constipation_bloat-freshwater-fish/

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Life spectrum is flakes and TetraPro are sort of little discs.

When they were smaller I was feeding them TetraMini (which is pretty much like dust).

 

[Mamashack]

Think I'd be inclined to try a deshelled pea to relieve any possible constipation and then soak the food before putting it in the tank for a while and see if that helps. If it's not that, there might be some other internal problem going on.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Will do... never a shortage of peas around here... it is the only veggie my son will eat! LOL

 

[Mamashack]

Mine was the same with baked beans! He's a strapping lad of 30 now! lol

 

[PrairieSunflower]

A little update. So, read that link and it seemed to be saying that daphnia was also an option for treating these issues... so I decided that this was the easiest and gave them nothing but daphnia for a couple of days... and it seems to have done the job! I haven't seen Muffin's backend floating up at all.