Tap water containment, store quality, or something else?

[VioletThePurple]

At first my snails were dying off one by one. Once I learned there was copper in my tap water, I added GAC to the tank, and I haven't lost anymore snails yet. However still losing platies. It might just be that they were extremely bad quality since I got them from PetSmart. They both had big bellies before they died, but I figured they were probably just pregnant since that's not uncommon with live bearers. No unusual markings on their bodies. One seemed to have a seizure and died. The other was less active than usual, often just sitting still at the top of my tank unless I put my tank near it. I asked about this behavior and was told the platy might just be inactive as it's giving birth. But it continued this behavior for about a week until it died at the bottom of the tank today. My parameters are well. Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 ph 7.0 and temp 75.

 

[GaryE]

The water looks good to my non-chemist's eye. I would venture a guess you started with poor stock, both for snails and platys. The end of the snail die off could well be coincidental.

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures and maybe a 1 minute video of the platies?
Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a phone to film the fish, hold the phone in landscape mode.

How long were the platies fat for before dying?
Have they ever produced any babies?

Have you dewormed them?
Most common livebearers sold in pet shops are infested with round/ thread worms and these suck the blood out of the fish. The fish can be fat from worms and die from low blood pressure and lack of blood.
Section 3 of the following link has info about deworming fish and would be a starting point if other diseases aren't involved.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

 

[VioletThePurple]

The water looks good to my non-chemist's eye. I would venture a guess you started with poor stock, both for snails and platys. The end of the snail die off could well be coincidental.

I got the snails from an online seller. They were fine until about 4 months in, when I started doing more water changes as my nitrates were getting too high

 

[VioletThePurple]

Pictures and maybe a 1 minute video of the platies?
Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a phone to film the fish, hold the phone in landscape mode.

How long were the platies fat for before dying?
Have they ever produced any babies?

Have you dewormed them?
Most common livebearers sold in pet shops are infested with round/ thread worms and these suck the blood out of the fish. The fish can be fat from worms and die from low blood pressure and lack of blood.
Section 3 of the following link has info about deworming fish and would be a starting point if other diseases aren't involved.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

They are babies, but I'm not sure if those were from the dying platies or the ones I already have. They don't have white poop. They were fat for about 5 days before death. I did treat with bacter shield, not sure if that would help with deworming. I can take a video, but there's not really a point as the remaining ones seem healthy and active so far, and I don't have any pictures of the ones that have already died.

 

[VioletThePurple]

The water looks good to my non-chemist's eye. I would venture a guess you started with poor stock, both for snails and platys. The end of the snail die off could well be coincidental.

Never mind I found another empty snail shell. After all my efforts snails are still dying. I only have one left. Is it possible my tank is infected with TB and I should just quit the hobby since all my aquatic life is expected to die early?

 

[GaryE]

Nope. Odds are you got livestock that was severely stressed in shipping. It's a great subject for ranting when I get going, but the way fish are raised and treated for the big chains, who demand they be as cheap as possible, kills the hobby. It discourages people like you who could really enjoy this, and earn a lot from it.

 

[VioletThePurple]

Nope. Odds are you got livestock that was severely stressed in shipping. It's a great subject for ranting when I get going, but the way fish are raised and treated for the big chains, who demand they be as cheap as possible, kills the hobby. It discourages people like you who could really enjoy this, and earn a lot from it.

So, you're saying I just got unlucky and it's not my tank that's at fault. But if they were stressed from shipping wouldn't they have died sooner?