SouthernCross
Fish Addict
Hello...I hope you can help...
After I fed my fish tonight I noticed one of my platy was acting extremely out of sorts - darting around the tank, alternating between clamped fins and spread out completely rigid with the tail seeming to curve around. Long black poo hanging out.
This fish had not been entirely 'normal' for some time (more about that below) but never this bad - worried I took her out and made up a bucket of tankwater with some aquarium salt in it and put her in for half an hour. I searched the forum while I was dissolving the salt for an exact technique for a salt bath but couldnt find a concrete answer so I did my best with what I found. While in the bucket the fish was mostly still, beating her pectoral fins rapidly, the tail curving around to the side a lot, occasionally the whole fish would be kinda rigid, and when viewed from above sometimes created an elongated "S' shape if you can imagine that. Sometimes she looked straight. Oddly enough, she did one black poo when I put her in, and towards the end of the half hour she did a pale poo. After the half hour I've put her back in the main tank - she went back being all clamped up
.
Now this fish hasn't always been normal for awhile - she tries to hang out with the other two platies but my male only likes my other female and frequently chases her away. NOT chasing/following her as in he wants to mate with her - but aggressive chasing AWAY. Previously I've thought it was kinda sad that she seemed keen for some action but the male doesn't want anything to do with her. So often she hides by herself in corners, clamping up occasionally. I just figured she was the least dominant fish and being picked on all the time made her depressed. She's a bit smaller than the other two. But she always came out for food and ate well. My fish get peas when we do so I don't think its a constipation thing. She flicks occasionally too..see next paragraph. I'm pretty sure she had babies within the last week - she's mostly white and quite transparent - I could see babies in her last week but not anymore so I figure she's had them recently and my fish had a fry feast.
I catch a number of my fish flicking very sporadically (although lately the platy described above the most) - as in I'll see a fish do it quite a bit in a day then not again for weeks (I watch a lot). I've seen the platies do it, some of the cories (seem to do a couple of 'barrel rolls' across the gravel), my gourami once or twice (but when he was new, probably getting used to new tank?) - most of the time the fish is aiming at their gills. Never seen my cardinals do it. I thought mentioning the other fish behaviour might be important.
I'm convinced its NOT ich because this sporadic flicking has been going on for many weeks with no development of ich spots or any kind of fungus-y growth on anybody. I thought maybe flukes? But I didn't want to go throwing tons of meds in the tank and do more harm than good when other than the occasional flick the fish were all healthy, eating, and acting normal. In fact, my other two platy were quite bad for awhile with the flicking and clamped fins but seem to have stopped almost entirely. Again, all my fish eat very well and are otherwise active. But now this platy was acting completely crazy...
My tank stats - ammonia - 0, nitrite - 0, nitrate 10-20, ph around 7.2-7.4. I do about a 30% change once a week.
Tank is 148L/39 gal, containing 1 pearl gourami, 3 platies, 10 cardinals, and 4 cories. And some pesky pond snails.
Meds I have on hand - Melafix, Pimafix, Sterazin, Protozin, Myxazin.
Please tell me what I should do in this situation - whether I should treat....what with...whole tank or not....etc. Whether I should keep up the salt baths, if so, can someone tell me the exact dosage. I figure mine can't have been too high because another thread described how fish can roll over and pass out...
Thanks in advance. This platy was one of my first fish and I'd really like to help her if something is seriously wrong here.
After I fed my fish tonight I noticed one of my platy was acting extremely out of sorts - darting around the tank, alternating between clamped fins and spread out completely rigid with the tail seeming to curve around. Long black poo hanging out.
This fish had not been entirely 'normal' for some time (more about that below) but never this bad - worried I took her out and made up a bucket of tankwater with some aquarium salt in it and put her in for half an hour. I searched the forum while I was dissolving the salt for an exact technique for a salt bath but couldnt find a concrete answer so I did my best with what I found. While in the bucket the fish was mostly still, beating her pectoral fins rapidly, the tail curving around to the side a lot, occasionally the whole fish would be kinda rigid, and when viewed from above sometimes created an elongated "S' shape if you can imagine that. Sometimes she looked straight. Oddly enough, she did one black poo when I put her in, and towards the end of the half hour she did a pale poo. After the half hour I've put her back in the main tank - she went back being all clamped up
.Now this fish hasn't always been normal for awhile - she tries to hang out with the other two platies but my male only likes my other female and frequently chases her away. NOT chasing/following her as in he wants to mate with her - but aggressive chasing AWAY. Previously I've thought it was kinda sad that she seemed keen for some action but the male doesn't want anything to do with her. So often she hides by herself in corners, clamping up occasionally. I just figured she was the least dominant fish and being picked on all the time made her depressed. She's a bit smaller than the other two. But she always came out for food and ate well. My fish get peas when we do so I don't think its a constipation thing. She flicks occasionally too..see next paragraph. I'm pretty sure she had babies within the last week - she's mostly white and quite transparent - I could see babies in her last week but not anymore so I figure she's had them recently and my fish had a fry feast.
I catch a number of my fish flicking very sporadically (although lately the platy described above the most) - as in I'll see a fish do it quite a bit in a day then not again for weeks (I watch a lot). I've seen the platies do it, some of the cories (seem to do a couple of 'barrel rolls' across the gravel), my gourami once or twice (but when he was new, probably getting used to new tank?) - most of the time the fish is aiming at their gills. Never seen my cardinals do it. I thought mentioning the other fish behaviour might be important.
I'm convinced its NOT ich because this sporadic flicking has been going on for many weeks with no development of ich spots or any kind of fungus-y growth on anybody. I thought maybe flukes? But I didn't want to go throwing tons of meds in the tank and do more harm than good when other than the occasional flick the fish were all healthy, eating, and acting normal. In fact, my other two platy were quite bad for awhile with the flicking and clamped fins but seem to have stopped almost entirely. Again, all my fish eat very well and are otherwise active. But now this platy was acting completely crazy...
My tank stats - ammonia - 0, nitrite - 0, nitrate 10-20, ph around 7.2-7.4. I do about a 30% change once a week.
Tank is 148L/39 gal, containing 1 pearl gourami, 3 platies, 10 cardinals, and 4 cories. And some pesky pond snails.
Meds I have on hand - Melafix, Pimafix, Sterazin, Protozin, Myxazin.
Please tell me what I should do in this situation - whether I should treat....what with...whole tank or not....etc. Whether I should keep up the salt baths, if so, can someone tell me the exact dosage. I figure mine can't have been too high because another thread described how fish can roll over and pass out...
Thanks in advance. This platy was one of my first fish and I'd really like to help her if something is seriously wrong here.
.Fish are not ment to do that 
