Worrying Problem With A Platy

[BioPrime]

Request Help to help me with an issue with my favourite Mickey Mouse Platy

Tank size: 180 Litres Juwel Vision Bow fronted
pH: 7.4 but this is when CO2 is on. Otherwise the PH goes to 6.25 when O2 is off (this is monitored by my Seneye)
ammonia:Nil
nitrite0.3 mg/l
nitrate:100mg/l
kH:5
gH:10
tank temp:23.8 degrees C \ 78 degrees F

Fish Symptoms :
I have one Mickey Mouse Platy which I have had for over a year with no health problems at all, and it has all of a sudden developed a white patch just above his nose. Other platys OK - see photo. I have not added any new fish or plants recently and have had the tank up and running for nearly 3 years. The only thing that I have done recently is introduced pressurised CO2. I was previously using liquid CO2. I have a drop checker installed and it is green indicating correct CO2. All fish are eating normally and the platy with the mark also swims and eats properly.
 
Action I have taken so far:
Thanks to this forum it forced me to do some additional water testing as I do rely on my seneye. The seneye does not monitor Nitrite or Nitrate (yet) and I could not believe that my Nitrate was off the scale. I have taken immediate action to add 10ml of Seachem Prime and will start my Ro unit up tomorrow and start to produce some water and then do a water change. Last water change was done 14th May 2014 just over a week a go.

Volume and Frequency of water changes:Fortnightly with RO water

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: CO2 mixed in a reactor before being pumped into the tank

Tank inhabitants: Neon Tetras, Clown Loaches, Amano Shrimps and Platys

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): None

Exposure to chemicals: CO2 pressurised and also daily dosing of Neutro + (bought from Aqua Essentials). I was previoulsy adding Neutro T and liquid C02 both products from Aqua Essentials and used for over 2 years
 
Any advice on this would be appreciated as I would like to make the fish better

 

[FlakeyBiscuit3.14]

Welcome to the forum!
 
I've never seen this myself, as I am a newbie to the hobby.... But I will say that from my research I've been doing I've read that fish can develop all sorts of problems from stress from poor water conditions. Hopefully once you get your nitrates down your platy will heal. He may also be stressed by your pH. Changing pH is very stressful, and on top of that platies prefer pH of at least 7.0. You can tell he's not feeling well, though, because his fins are clamped down. Even if swimming and eating normally, the clamped down fins are a sign of stress. Are any of your other fish displaying this behavior?

 

[Mamashack]

Just curious as to why you are using RO water. Is your tap water toxic in some way?
I agree your platy does seem stressed and am sure you are doing all you can to get the nitrAtes down. It looks like some kind of mould or fungus and there looks to be some white spots which could be ich but it's not easy to tell if the spots are on the fish or just in the water.
Hope someone will be able to suggest what it could be but in the meantime do all you can to get your water quality corrected.

 

[KieranBoyne]

Is the platy male or female? Because of the clamped fins, massive belly, that could indicate an internal infection... Plus the fungus on the nose. You will need an anti fungus treatment or ich. I'm leaning more towards it being fungal.

 

[BioPrime]

Thanks to everyobe who has replied. Your responses and support is very much appreciated - thank you.
In some ways I think you have all pointed me towards what I suspect - that is a large water change due to the high nitrates. I decided to use RO as my tap water has very high readings of Nitrates. I have done my own test today and the Nitrate is between 25 - 50mg/l. When I test my RO for Nitrates it is zero.. a perfect reading just lovely. I then add Equilibrium to remineralise the water. All well and good. I will do a 60 litre water change and then give it a day to filter through and will do another Nitrate test tomorrow. It is clear to me that I have had a Nitrate explosion and as some of you have said already high nitrates = poor water quality = stressed and poorly fish. I will feedback once I have done the water change and another Nitrate test.
 
PS - Does anyone know if Dorsey still contributes? I am a fan of Dorsey !!!

 

[BioPrime]

Here is a quick update. 50% Water change completed. I have relocated my Tunze to the top of the tank to create more water aeration. When I took a little look around the tank and at other fish I found evidence of white spot on another platy, I am sure it was not there before. Anyway, it is just a small amount but as we all know any sign of disease or trouble in any tank is not a good sign no matter how large or small. By some miracle I found that I had half a box of aquarium salt. I have mixed that and have added this to the tank. I have also just ordered some Waterlife Protozin.In addition to this I have fed the fish and they appear to be eating as normal. In addition to his I have also started to make more RO water for the next water change - possibly tomorrow but this all depends on the results of Nitrates. I hope this update helps someone who may be having similar issues and I look forward to any further advice. - Thanks everyone

 

[Mamashack]

A good nitrAte level to be aiming for would be around 20-40ppm which is tolerable for both fish and plants. As always with planted tanks it's striking the right balance of light, carbon and fertilisers.
Hope you manage to treat the tank quickly when you get the Protozin. Could you quarantine the affected fish? You'd still need to treat the main tank too just to be certain tho.
In addition to the nitrates, that nitrIte level should actually be 0ppm. What test do you use and could it be out of date?
Keep a close eye on your other parameters in case this is the start of a nitrogen cycle crash.

 

[KieranBoyne]

A good nitrAte level to be aiming for would be around 20-40ppm which is tolerable for both fish and plants. As always with planted tanks it's striking the right balance of light, carbon and fertilisers. Hope you manage to treat the tank quickly when you get the Protozin. Could you quarantine the affected fish? You'd still need to treat the main tank too just to be certain tho. In addition to the nitrates, that nitrIte level should actually be 0ppm. What test do you use and could it be out of date? Keep a close eye on your other parameters in case this is the start of a nitrogen cycle crash.

+1 for what mamashack said, although the lower the nitrate the better i believe.

 

[WILDER]

Looks like columnaris to me.
Any red, or pink edges to the patch, or a pink centre.
 
Myxazin by waterlife would be my medication of choice in the UK.

 

[BioPrime]

Excellent feeedback and support for this forum many thanks. What has made me cross with myself is that I should have known better. I have done another Nitrate test today and it is ranging around 50mg/l so it is coming down. The solution to this one is to perform regular water changes ( Fortnight should be acceptable as I have a good filter) but also to ALWAYS hoover the substrate. I realised through all of the tank water changes that I had done there is clear evidence to say that I not done this for a long time ... And I have been keeping fish for years...How embarrasing..  In my defence I had not done this as I thought that I was removing nutrients from the substrate and depriving the plants (as I am relatively new to planted tanks), and I daily dose the tank with Neutro+ and have seen excellent results. I just needed to think about it to realise my own error - D'Oh!!!
 
A water test today shows the following results - the Nitrite levels are <0.3mg/l and amonia levels are 0.0001 mg/l.  I realise that the Nitrites and Amonia are one of the biggest killers of fish but I have focused so much on those that I have clearly forgot about the Nitrates which if they do reach over 100mg/l CAN cause issues for fish, as it has in my case. The disease on the Platy has appeared to be white spot and on the nose it does appear to be a fungus. I purchased some Waterlife Protozin (White spot & Fungus treatment) and have dosed yesterday after the water change. My next dose to apply to the tank is today and then another tomorrow with a final dose on day 6. On day 7 I shall do another water change and add will pre-mix some API Aquarium salt and apply to the tank . In addition to this I have replaced my single small air stone with a bubble wand that fits along the back of the tank. My new regime on CO2 is this - CO2 comes on 1 hour before the lighting. The CO2 goes off 1 hour before the tank lights go out. Then the Oxygen switches on 2 hours later (midnight) and remains on for 8 hours overnight - Is 8 hours too long for the air?
 
I have also put my Tunze into the bottom of the tank to try and keep debirs from the tank floor. I just need to pay attention to not only my tank water changing regime but also to - Always hoover the aquarium floor. For information I have used the following test kits Tetra test for my Nitrite and Nitrate, I used Seneye for my Ammonia and API for my KH and GH testing.
All feedback welcome and any advice on my proposed pressurised CO2 regime would be helpful. - As always thank you for reading this update and for supporting me.

 

[Mamashack]

I've heard it's not a good idea to hoover all the debris at once, about 25% each time but not the same 25% next time if that makes sense. If you do it all you risk disturbing so much debris that your water quality will suffer even more.
Also, and again I'm no expert, but I believe that adding O2 thro the water blows off the CO2 which kind of defeats the object of adding it in the first place, but am also new to adding carbon and ferts so may be wrong in thinking this.
Hopefully someone with more experience will add their thoughts on this.

 

[BioPrime]

Thanks for the feedback Mamashack. I have done exactly what you have advised during my water changes (phew) so as I am not doing a change now for another week or so then it will give it chance to regenerate.
I have done a tidy up in my shed today and discovered that I have 500ml of seachem matrix that I bought last year and never really used and an old internal filter (Aqua Internal XL). Well I have placed the matrix into the Aqua Internal XL and have got that up and running. I am so pleased I bought that Matrix but completely forgot that I had it. I will eventually place it into the bottom basket of my Eheim along side my exisiting noodles. It just go to show what a tidy up inthe shed can achieve and a lesson to never throw away or sell old fish equipment that you may have bought... You just never know when you may need it.
Update on platy - Well I will shortly be adding the day two of the white spot treatment and have to say he (or she... who knows) has really come put themselves. He is swimmign around happily and I have noticed such a difference. My actions and support of this forum may have just saved him.. we will see.
 
I will continue this post next week with an update on the Nitrates. I will take a reading before a water change and another afterwards.
 
In the meantime, If the forum moderators no longer class this posting as relevant for the emergency section then please feel free to move it to the appropriate section and tell me where you have moved it to so I can update it.
 
On behalf of my fish - Thank you to everyone who has provided advice tome for my fish.

 

[Mamashack]

Glad he's on the mend Bioprime!

 

[WILDER]

How are things going?

 

[BioPrime]

Well I am really pleased to announce that the whitespot and fungus has been dealt with and the Platy is very happy and I am happy to report no further issues. Really pleased with the Waterlife treatment and have already purchased a second bottle to keep for emergencies. Other than that I am doing water changes weekly and hoovering substrate on every water change. I am replacing 50 liters per water change which equates to roughly 25%.
 
I also have an air wand coming on during the night about 4 hours after the CO2 unit has switched off and the air pump runs for about 5 hours during the night.
 
I have attached two new photos, a little blurred but that is because the platy is so active now and happily swimming with other tank mates. The photos may be blurred but no white spot and the fungus has all but gone on his nose are although there is still a slight dark patch where the white fungus once resided. I think that will disappear in time.