poor platys

[jkrekord]

hi all
one of my female platys is behaving strange it keeps goin to the bottom not movin except shakin its hed side to side is it pregnant an givin birth or is it ill it is constantly bein harrased by a male guppy could this hav anythin to do with it

 

[GSD]

does it look very fat?
some fish so go to the bottom when giving birth but ive never heard of one 'shaking its head'
They do seem to be affected when constantly harrased by other fish.although it could be something like water quality
more information would help.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Does she have a dark patch towards the back of her tummy? I would separate her and put her in a bucket or spare tank if you have one or breeding net for the time being as whatever her situation, being harrassed by the male will be doing her no good and causing her much stress.
Info like how many gallons does the tank hold, what and how many other fish are in it and recent ammonia, nitrate and nitrite stats would be very useful plus any other info you can give.
When a female livebearer is trying to give birth and yours sounds like she could be, any males in the tank with her that can find her will harrass her to mate and/or eat her fry as soon as posible which is not good for her.

 

[WILDER]

Does it sound like this, not he writer of this information.

Shimmies



Symptoms:

This disease is named for the curious behavior seen in afflicted fish. Fish will swim with an odd, shimmying movement of the body. If left untreated, the afflicted fish will become unable to swim and will sit on the bottom, listlessly shimmying. This disease affects mostly livebearers, and particularly Mollies.



Cause:

Cause unkown but may be due to a variety of numerous pathogens, including protozoan, bacterial, and fungal.



Treatment:

Isolate the fish in a hospital tank and increase the temperature to 85°F (27°C). Treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic. Also ensure that the water chemistry is within acceptable ranges. Livebearers' should always be kept in water that has a pH of 7.8 - 8.3 and a hardness of 15°DH+.

 

[thapsus]

Sounds just like my platies when my water was too soft and acidic. pH must be above 7 and dGH more than 10 and problem disappears if they haven't got too much damage. Waterchange helps often too for a while.