Worrying Behaviour From My Platy

[sussexgirl]

I posted last week to say that one of my rams had died (Tuesday). I've been monitoring the tank ever since for other possible casualties. This morning I've noticed that one of my yellow platys was missing. I put some feed in the tank to encourage him to swim out of wherever he was hiding. Eventually he did but he doesn't look well. Firstly his lower fins are clamped fairly tight to his body. He is also swimming at a 45 degree angle and tending to swim pressed against to the glass. The other fish are knocking him out of the way too. Please can someone tell me what this sounds like and how I go about treating him. I need to check my water levels today and will do in a moment. As of Tuesday though they were:

Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

Thanks

 

[mark.w.jones]

Post this in the emergency section or pm Wilder as he is the ultimate fish doctor. Good luck

 

[drango91]

what color are the other fish?
maybe its a case of racism... if hes the colored odd ball but p[laties usually dont get picky

 

[tttnjfttt]

Firstly, do you know what the Ram died from? Holding his fins into his body is a very general sign of an illness, something fish do with almost every illness out there, so unfortunately that isn't going to tell us much. Your water also looks great so that rules out that cause. The racism post, ummm, i would say that post is someone trolling.

Does he seem to loose his balance while he is swimming at a 45 degree angle? Are you seeing any other physical changes such as shreaded fins, red streaking, bloating, is he trying to scratch on things in the tank?

Since whatever it is seems to be contagious, i would recomend isolating the fish if you have a hospital tank.

 

[sussexgirl]

Firstly, do you know what the Ram died from? Holding his fins into his body is a very general sign of an illness, something fish do with almost every illness out there, so unfortunately that isn't going to tell us much. Your water also looks great so that rules out that cause.

Does he seem to loose his balance while he is swimming at a 45 degree angle? Are you seeing any other physical changes such as shreaded fins, red streaking, bloating, is he trying to scratch on things in the tank?

Since whatever it is seems to be contagious, i would recomend isolating the fish if you have a hospital tank.

Unfortunately I don't have a hospital tank so no means of being able to isolate him. It's 48 hours since I first posted and he's still swimming round. I sat and studied him intently for a while this morning and he's not eating, infact he's starting to look really thin compared to his mate. The other platys were devouring the food I just put in whilst he just floated round looking like he wanted some but not having the co-ordination to get it. It's almost like he doesn't have the power in his body to swim and is knocking into objects. But then, he turns and swims slowly away. He is still moving all over the tank but weirdly just sinks quickly to the bottom when he gets anywhere near the top. He's still swimming at a bit of an angle but not all the time now and yes he does seem to lose his balance occasionally. He only seems to stop when he bumps into an object rather than stopping himself. There is no noticable damage to fins and infact I would say that he's not holding them so close to his body anymore. Apart from the weight loss and irregular swimming he doesn't look any different at all. On the advice of my LFS I am on my 3rd day of administering Protozin. They also told me to immediately put in Interpet Amonia Remover, which I did on Saturday afternoon after doing a 20% water change.

Have no idea what the Ram died of, however my LFS think it could be that he didn't climatize too well to the PH in my tank. When I bought him they told me that my PH of 7.6 would be fine so long as I climatized them gradually. Now they're contradicting themselves and saying that Rams live happily between a PH of 6-7 and my water is too high! Bad advice unfortunately but my remaining Ram seems happy enough.

Current Water readings:

PH 7.4 (has come down slightly)
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

 

[sussexgirl]

PH 7.4
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

Well my platy is still hanging on but will not eat at all. I have some decent photos of him that I wanted to post to guage your opinions but I can't find out how to post photos. Any help would be appreciated. I'm getting quite worried now. He's swimming round the tank very slowly but getting thinner and thinner and his body looks like it's getting in poor condition. I've dosed the tank with Protozin 3 times but still have no clue what is wrong with him. I have no way of isolating him. My husband keeps telling me to put him out of his misery but I just don't know what to do. I can't bear the thought of euthansia when i think that there can be a change he might recover. Plus I really don't know the best way to go about that. Anyway, please can you tell me how to post a picture here and I'll do it. Thanks

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Put the image onto a free hosting site like photobucket then put the link to the image here. There are other ways too but this was the easiest to explain.
Sounds like a swimbladder problem if he can't swim correctly. Can't see how Protozin will help. As for the Ammonia remover, I avoid those things where possible as they can give you incorrect readings from your tests and play games with your filtration. Water changes are the best option if there is an ammonia problem, which it doesn't seem that you have!
Do you have a breeders net since you don't have a quarantine tank? That way he can stay near the water surface and be offered a little food if he really is eager to eat something.
P.

 

[sussexgirl]

Thanks for the advice, I'll get a breeders net tomorrow. Here are some pictures of him. I don't think they really capture how think he's got. If anyone can let me know if there's anything you can see that looks worrying I'd be grateful. He's refused food again for the 5th day running and he's losing the lovely greeny pearly sheen that he had to his scales. He doesn't stay at the bottom when I put the food in, he swims round the others bumping into them. This is just so frustrating.

 

[WILDER]

He could be knocking into things as he weak same as you say, he looks healthy enough but not eating is not a very good sign as you know, i think i would try a bacterial med on him.