Stressed Female Platy Now With Fungus/fin Rot?

[nessar]

Okay so I have had 1 male and 1 female platy for 5 days, but he was chasing her a ridiculous amount so I bought him another girlfriend asap. The original two were both blue coral mickey mouse platys, and the new one is bright orange with black fins that have clear tips.

I'm a little worried about her too as her fins seem shorter than they should be, it was actually very hard to tell she was female, as when she swims it looks like she has the 'penis fin' that the male does, but not when shes still, I'm pretty sure she's female. I'm hoping she is as I know it will just make things worse if she is male, she has been chasing the male blue coral platy lots since the female was taken out if that makes a difference. Anyways my male doesnt seem to fancy my orange platy, and ignores her, although she sometimes follows him around, but she also follows the female around, as well as all the other fish. So he didnt stop chasing my female blue coral, and then the orange platy and my guppy started chasing her occasionally as well.

The morning after I got the new female(?) and the guppy, so yesterday, I noticed she had what looked like a bit of fluff or cotton wool on her left fin. It seems to give her trouble swimming as she doesnt really move the affected fin. I figured stress from being chased constantly was the culprit.

I don't have a hospital tank, so I put her in a 10 litre food storage container with a heater, some gravel and a moss ball to get some rest. I don't have a filter for it, and dont really have time to get one, and anyway it wouldnt be cycled. The reason time is an issue is I am going away next weekend for a week, then I am back for a week and then I am going away for another week.

So I really need her better very soon! I can do daily water changes whilst I'm here, but she will have to go back into the main tank for the holiday. The main tank does have coconut caves, plants and driftwood for her to hide, but I'd hate to come back to a dead fish I know the bacteria can cope with the fish in there because I was doing a fishless cycle and it was turning over 7-8ppm in 12 hours and that was less than a week ago.

I read in Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies that a remedy was to put a teaspoon of table salt per 5 gallons daily into the hospital tank, so I've put 2 half-teaspoons in so far. I've also upped the temperature of both the main tank and this makeshift one to 29/30 degrees. I'd rather stay away from chemicals if possible, as I've read they can be harsh and stressful for fish, and stress seems to be the problem. If I need to get a chemical, could you reccommend a common one, one I could get at Pets At Home preferably, like I said I don't have much time to order stuff online. This shows some of what they do: http/www.petsathome.com/shop/fish/fish-treatments/fish-tank-treatments/

All other fish seem fine.

Technical info:

Tank size: 60-63 litre
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 100 (today is water change day)
tank temp: 29 degrees

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: carbon and sponge media in the main tank, no filter in hospital tank.

Tank inhabitants: 1 male platy, 2 female platys (one is the ill one), a dwarf gourami, a male guppy, 3 african dwarf frogs, some cherry and bee shrimp, ramshorn snails and 3 apple snails.

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): all the fish have been in the tank less than a week.

Exposure to chemicals: none.



HELP! sorry for the long description, wanted to be as accurate as possible. Cant really get a picture as the makeshift tank she is in is plastic so it looks blurry .

 

[WILDER]

Don't turn the temp up it speeds bacteria up.

Your nitrate reading high.
What the make of the test kit you are using.
What's your tap nitrate reading.
How often do you maintain the tank.

I would add some myxazin by waterlife to the tank.
But you would need to move the snails and shrimps.

Do you have an airstone that you could hook up to the container.

 

[nessar]

Okay the heaters are set back to 26. This normally keeps the temp at 26-27.

Yeah I think they are so high because I just finished the fishless cycle, and they were about 250, I did a 60-70% water change but some were left and theyve built up this last week. Tap water nitrates = inbetween 10-25

I am using API liquid test kit for Ammonia, and Tetra 6 in 1 test strips for everything else.

Well I've only just put fish in the tank, they've only been in there since Wednesday, so today will be my first weekly water change. I only did 3 or so throughout the month or so spent fishless cycling.

I don't think Pets at Home do the brand Waterlife, they seem to only stock Tetra, API and Interpet. Is there anything by these brands I can get? Should I be adding it to the main tank and put her back in, or the small tank she is in?

Is adding salt going to help?

I have an airstone, but it is strong even on the lowest setting, and she seems to be having trouble swimming and is a lot slower than usual. But I can hook it up to the container if needs be.

 

[nessar]

also if i put her back in the tank would it be a good idea to put either her or the male into a betta trap I have? It just attaches to the inside of the tank, but only holds 2-3 litres, but has slits so the tank water flows through it so the water parameters would be okay.

 

[WILDER]

I would buy a tetra nitrate test kit. Api are not accurate in nitrate.But other api test kits are good.
Also test strip cards are not accurate.

I would issolate the sick fish in the betta trap.
Myxazin by waterlife the best med for finrot really.

You could try esha 2000. You might have to buy the meds online, as not all lfs stock these meds.

It's best to issolate shrimp and snails when using meds.
You can buy small plastic tanks with equipment very cheaply.

 

[fishyfeet]

its interpet no 9, for bacterial infections, its columnaris your fish has, you can add salt, (check you pack for quantitys, and make sure its aquatic salt) as it aids gill function and decreases stress.

symptoms are white spots on mouth, edges of scales, and fins, cottony growth that eats away at the mouth
fins disintegrate beginning at the edges fin fungus often invades the affected areas and makes rapid gill movements

This is what you should do, do a water change, then vacuum your gravel, add aquarium salt and treatment following instructions make sure you remove carbon filtration during treatment.

 

[nessar]

will treating my entire tank effect my other fish negatively? They seem fine at the moment.

She doesnt have any other white bits on her, just her fin which looks like it is covered in cotton wool. It also seems shorter than it should be and she's not really moving it. Only other symptoms seem to be her gills look a bit pink, but not really sure if that's just from her natural colouring, as the male has this too and he is fine.

Will meds and salt hurt my african dwarf frogs?

 

[WILDER]

If you use meds in the tank you would need to move inverts. But it's more the parasite meds that harm.

Myxazin for finrot and columnaris.

 

[nessar]

I have removed all invertebrates. But what about the frogs?

Will the meds have a negative impact on my filter bacteria?

have done 40% water change, nitrates nearly 50 now

have also gravel vacced, and removed carbon filter material

will have to wait till tomorrow to get aquarium salt and meds.

is salt a good idea with frogs?

 

[fishyfeet]

no, i would remove the frogs also, di

 

[nessar]

will they be okay for ammonia in a 10 litre for a week? It would be 3 African Dwarf Frogs. If not I'd rather keep the platy where she is, I'd rather lose 1 platy than 3 frogs.

 

[fishyfeet]

im not sure about frogs, never had much luck with them but id imagine that its the same for any animal, if you do daily water changes and keep the ammonia levels down, its only for a week or so, id rather move them and do water changes, than chance it and lose them to the medication. di

 

[nessar]

See the thing is I'm going away Saturday for a week..... so wont be able to do water changes

 

[fishyfeet]

hmm reading up on interpet products you might be better of with no. 8, it say no.8 or 10 or their chart, no. 10 is meth blue, which will kill off all your filter bacteria, you better read the instructions carefully as im not sure which meds are safe for your filter. di

 

[WILDER]

Anti internal bacteria med dosn't kill beneifical bacteria in the filter.

But the ingredients in the med might not agree with your inverts.

You could always ring the lfs and see if they would look after the sick platy while you are away.
They have hospital tanks.