What's Wrong With My Male Platy?

[KieranBoyne]

Hi guys, after adding 2 live plants earlier in the day to my 60 litre aquarium, my platy, called dude is looking real bad!! And I mean real bad. He is just sitting on top of one of the plants  with no movement at all. His fins are twitching a lot but he isn't moving through the water like a fish. Here is a picture of what he is doing:
 
http/www.imghack.se/156653
 
What is wrong with him? What on the earth can I do?
 
Please help me!

 

[McCool]

Can you give us some info on the tank? Size, water quality, tankmates etc? I would take the plants out and put them in a bucket and maybe do a 50% WC on the tank and see how he is after that. Not sure what the plants would've done unless they had chemicals on them at some point...

 

[KieranBoyne]

It's a 60 litre tank. it is overstocked still and I have:
4 Pearl danios
3 neon tetras
3 glowlight tetras
3 harlequin rasboras
2 red phantom tetras
1 bn pleco
And the platy.
 
I tested the water yesterday when I did a 60-70% water change as the tank was really grubby. And these were the results:
ph 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Water is really hard. Hardest it can be seen as.
 
I tested it this morning about an hour after I put the plants in and the results were not as good, but not killer.
Ph and ammonia the same
Nitrite 0
Nitrate just under 20
 
And I just tested it before I did the water change, about 5-10 minutes ago and here is the results:
Ph and ammonia still the same.
Nitrite just under 0.5
Nitrate just under 50.
 
What happened? The plants were cleaned thoroughly with warm, not hot water, treated with tapsafe of course. And unless they were in chemicals in pets at home, then I don't know what happened. I have an api liquid test kit so it's accurate.
 
And he is a longfin platy, but the fin is never, ever up.
 
Please help me and him!

 

[Meeresstille]

I would just assume the plants may have had some chemicals on them that are making him ill and do another water change. Nitrites do effect the oxygen exchange in the fish's gills, and with the water change these would be brought down as well. He may also have a hard time adjusting to the rise in Nitrates, where a water change will help there also.

 

[KieranBoyne]

But i just did a water change....

 

[McCool]

But i just did a water change....

Before or after adding the plant?

 

[KieranBoyne]

I did one on Sunday and another one after you told me to earlier.

 

[Meeresstille]

Did you test the water after the test? Are the levels any better now? How is your platy doing?

 

[KieranBoyne]

Hi again. I had to go to bed. I did test it and the results were the same as the 3rd set of results. Only my kh is lower.

 

[KieranBoyne]

Uummm... He's looking a little bit better today. Only slightly but still an improvement's an improvement heh? He is so fat! How do I make his belly smaller? I skipped feeding yesterday and I have to feed them today I guess. I have noticed that he tries to pick food or something off all of the plants. He does that constantly. Is that normal?

 

[star4]

Feed de-shelled peas they act as a laxative. Pour some hot water over a couple of peas, leave them for a couple of minutes, tip the water away then take off the shells, crush them up (once cool of course) and feed them to the fish.

 

[Meeresstille]

The reason to do water changes is to bring the levels of Nitrite down that your tank is showing, as well as any chemicals you cannot test for but may have gotten into the water when the new plants were brought in. 
 
I'm glad he seems to be doing better today!

 

[KieranBoyne]

Ok, I've tried the peas exactly how you said, and it didn't help at all. I have noticed that he only goes down the bottom in the afternoon or at night, never during the day in the morning. That's really weird, any ideas why?
 

 

[attibones]

If his belly is still large, continue to fast for a few days. Platys like to stay in the upper and middle sections of the tank. If he's got a favorite spot on the bottom that could be where he rests in the evening. However, because you complained earlier that he wasn't moving much away from a plant, it is safe to assume that he is still being affected by the initial cause. My guess would be nitrite. When you did your water change, did you stir up any junk or replace any media in the filter?

 

[KieranBoyne]

I cleaned the bottom last time, and I cleaned the white filter sponge in the water I took out. That's it. Today I just changed 20-30% of the water. He seems a bit better.