Sudden death of platy!

[Chantal38]

Hi everyone, was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the reason why one of my platy fish may have died so suddenly.

Before i went to work this morning i checked on all fish and they looked fine, when i came home i found my salt and pepper platy lying on the bottom of the tank, her body was curved & she had a clamped tail, she made little atrempt to swim but when she did would flip over & land back on the bottom of the tank. Within a few hours she passed away.

Previous to this the fish appeared fine, swimming & eating as normal. All other fish seem ok. I immediately checked the water parameters and they were all good. I have had the tank for 4 years & carry out weekly water changes.

I have had this particular fish for 5 months, when i first had her i treated her for worms as she had white poo & was shimmying on the bottom of the tank...it was treated successfully...no more white poos & it did not affect any of the other fish.

3 things have happened in the last week though & im wondering if this has led to her death at all...firstly i increased the temp in their tank from 70F to 72F as realised the temp was a little on the cold side for the fish. I also added a new platy to the tank 3 days ago...My friend wanted to split up a male & female platy so i had the female...the new fish seems healthy and shows no sign of illness...thirdly i added carbon back in to my filter to filter out any remaining medication from the tank...even tho i havent medicated for a while & have done lots of water changes since the last time i medicated the tank!

Any thoughts/opinions would be much appreciated...thank you.

I have attached a pic of the fish just before she died!

 

[Salty&Onion]

I doubt its swim bladder or TB. I need your exact numbers of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Shimmying is a classic scenario when hard water fish are put in soft water and/or have underlying disease which is more possible, due to death.
What is your pH of source water (tap), KH and GH? This, easily, can be found on your local water providers page.

 

[Salty&Onion]

Ah, and we need @Colin_T too

 

[EllRog]

Ah, and we need @Colin_T too

We always need Colin. The almighty master of knowledge

 

[Salty&Onion]

We always need Colin. The almighty master of knowledge

Who's older than dirt

 

[EllRog]

Who's older than dirt

What do you suppose he arose from?

 

[Chantal38]

Thanks for your response...yes i did some research on the shimmying and i assumed it was beacause she had worms...this stopped after i treated her.

my parameters are:
Nitrate 10mg
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
GH 7
KH 10
PH 6.4
Chlorine 0

 

[Salty&Onion]

Thanks for your response...yes i did some research on the shimmying and i assumed it was beacause she had worms...this stopped after i treated her.

my parameters are:
Nitrate 10mg
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
GH 7
KH 10
PH 6.4
Chlorine 0

You don't need the chlorine test.... Livebearing fish need calcium which they get from hard water and your water is too soft for livebearers... Livebearers need hard water of 200ppm and above and pH above 7.0... Soft water will cause the fish to become sick and die when there is no really obvious reason as they need minerals which they get from from hardwater... Officially your water is not suitable for any livebearers.

 

[Salty&Onion]

What do you suppose he arose from?

Dirt

 

[EllRog]

You don't need the chlorine test.... Livebearing fish need calcium which they get from hard water and your water is too soft for livebearers... Livebearers need hard water of 200ppm and above and pH above 7.0... Soft water will cause the fish to become sick and die when there is no really obvious reason as they need minerals which they get from from hardwater... Officially your water is not suitable for any livebearers.

Thought you said we need Colin? Good show Salty

 

[Salty&Onion]

Thought you said we need Colin? Good show Salty

What? No, I assumed OP's water was hard enough for livebearers. See, sometimes I DO have eidetic memory

 

[Chantal38]

Thanks for this info...i will look in to how i can adjust this...i have had one platy in this tank for over 2 years with the same water parameters and it has not been affected...i have also raised fry in this water & they seemed to do ok too...

 

[Chantal38]

Im going to go to my local fish store today to see what i can get to increase the hardness of the water in my tank...however i also have tetras in my tank and i have read that they are soft water fish...could anyone please advise on this? Also i may just be over-worrying because ive lost one fish but do my other fish look on the thin side...photos attached...

 

[Salty&Onion]

Don't go to pet stores for advice, they don't know what they are talking about. You can use Rift Lake salts to increase hardness, but I'd suggest you not increaseing the hardness as getting and getting again the salts can be expensive so I'd suggest you getting and keeping only soft water fish not livebearers and other hardwater fish.
What is the size of the tank?

 

[EllRog]

Usually when you use add chemicals in to change one thing, it starts a chain reaction because it alters your waters chemistry. You'll end up spending alot on random powders, liquids etc. You may be better off to look into fish that thrive in the water you have and making life simpler and easier for yourself. I know how annoying it is when you can't keep the fish you'd ideally like because of something out of your control, but there are some really beautiful species out there. Just have to do some googling!