Platy’s mouth won’t close, not eating, very lethargic, gave birth recently

[Rabbitcabbit]

Tank size: 20 gallons
Tank age: ~8 years
pH: 7
Temp: 77 F
Ammonia / nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5ppm
gH & kH: both 4

This has a bit of background - please read! I'm desperate!

My boyfriend recently cycled a 40 gallon tank. He wanted platys, and went to LFS to get some. They had a very pregnant female, so he decided to just get her with the thought he'd soon have many. He also got a breeder box, but we missed the birth. It turned out to be impossible to net the babies, so we put "Momma" in my tank, which is the one I described above. Other inhabitants are snails and shrimps.

Anyway, Momma has not been the same since giving birth (which was 2 weeks ago now). She is incredibly lethargic, spends most of her time at the bottom of the tank, and does not / cannot eat (she did eat before she gave birth). Her mouth also is always open, which I didn't realize was abnormal until somewhat recently. I really have no idea what is going on with her - she was subdued when we got her, but my understanding is that is normal for very pregnant fish (we had her only about 5 days before she gave birth). Her mouth was also normal when we got her - I took a few pictures of her before she gave birth, her mouth was always closed.

When she does swim around, her swimming seems normal, so I don't think it is an issue with her swim bladder.

I posted this issue on Reddit a couple times, and nobody responded to my posts. Yesterday I had the idea to call the LFS to ask advice, and the person I spoke to suggested putting her in a tank by herself with some aquarium salt, heated to 80 F. Thankfully I have extra supplies, and I set up a 10 gallon tank yesterday w/a heater. I grabbed the sponge filter from my betta's tank so there is some good bacteria for her - so far no ammonia spikes in her tank but she has only been in for a few hours. (I have an extra new filter for betta, and I'm assuming there is enough good bacteria in betta's gravel and plants).

I'm at a loss of what else I can do. I really have no idea what is wrong with her, the only thing I can think of is the birth must have been traumatic for her. Again I did not realize until recently how bad it is that her mouth won't close. I can't say with certainty when this happened to her mouth, but it must have been after the birth.

Any advice would be much appreciated, even if it is euthanizing her :'(

 

[Back in the fold]

I think they get stressed and exhausted after dropping fry. She might be fine by tomorrow.

 

[BleuTheBetta]

Don't euthanize yet, I'd give her a few more weeks and see what happens.

 

[Rabbitcabbit]

I think they get stressed and exhausted after dropping fry. She might be fine by tomorrow.

Thank you so much for your reply! At first that’s what I thought, but she gave birth two weeks ago now (April 27th)

 

[emeraldking]

Are you able to check wether she's got something stuck in her mouth? If she's got something stuck in her mouth (could be a bit deeper), the mouth muscle isn't able to work correctly and the mouth will stay open. But most important is that she'll remain eating. But I don't know if she's capable of doing that now.

 

[Rabbitcabbit]

Are you able to check wether she's got something stuck in her mouth? If she's got something stuck in her mouth (could be a bit deeper), the mouth muscle isn't able to work correctly and the mouth will stay open. But most important is that she'll remain eating. But I don't know if she's capable of doing that now.

Because her mouth is always open, I have been able to see inside and I haven’t noticed anything. Is it worth it to take her out of the tank for a few seconds and really look in there?

 

[emeraldking]

Because her mouth is always open, I have been able to see inside and I haven’t noticed anything. Is it worth it to take her out of the tank for a few seconds and really look in there?

That won't hurt her...
It could also be an infected mouth muscle. That's the muscle under her mouth that will retract the opening movement of the mouth.

 

[Rabbitcabbit]

That won't hurt her...
It could also be an infected mouth muscle. That's the muscle under her mouth that will retract the opening movement of the mouth.

I didn’t see anything in her mouth. I tried to take a good picture and here is the best I could get (poor fish). The red bits near the side of her mouth is actually blood - she isn’t gushing blood but it’s a little raw there. I don’t know what the white fuzzy stuff is inside her mouth, but it’s not something stuck.

 

[emeraldking]

I didn’t see anything in her mouth. I tried to take a good picture and here is the best I could get (poor fish). The red bits near the side of her mouth is actually blood - she isn’t gushing blood but it’s a little raw there. I don’t know what the white fuzzy stuff is inside her mouth, but it’s not something stuck.

It could be an infection.

 

[Naughts]

How much aquarium salt have you used?