Freshwater BeginnersA place where freshwater aquarium fish beginners can go to post their questions and hopefully get responses from those more experienced. Also check out the Freshwater Fish Beginner's Guide and Aquarium Setup Guides. Setting up a new freshwater aquarium can be a rather large project and you want to make sure you do it right the first time. If you need help with your fish tank please don't be afraid to ask questions. That's what this fish forum is all about!
Tonight our Sunburst Platy started hanging around the top of the tank, resting just against the surface of the water. Fins aren't really clamped, no spots, normal respiration. She's been rather active and seemed healthy for the past couple days. Since we've recently treated for ICH, velvet, and parasites, I find it hard to believe she's sick (AGAIN!) Since our Mickey Mouse platy died our Red Wag platy has been chasing the girls a bit more...it hasn't seemed excessive though. Below is a video of her. Of course as soon as I got out the camera she started swimming a bit more, but towards the end ( 1:18 after Red gives her a chase) you can see her chilling against the surface of the water. She's been sitting like that for a few hours now.
Is this behavior normal or a warning sign? Sorry if I'm being paranoid, but I really don't want to lose any more fish. I'm having a: "What's wrong NOW" moment.
Last edited by dancerhas; November 7th, 2008 at 11:29 PM.
She looks like she could be pregnant - my platys act very similiar to that when they get "knocked up" and from someone who has been pregnant myself - it's not always an easy or comfortable state! I have also found that the males constant chasing seems to tire out the girls sometimes and they will on occasion retreat to a part of the tank just to get away from the boy.
Thanks for the replies. She's still hanging out by the heater, but lower in the water with her fins out and erect. She looks healthy... I'll be keeping a close eye on her.
Perhaps I should ask what the optimum combination of platies is. We have 1 male and 2 females. Once we're sure our tank is clean of parasites etc... should we get another male to even things out?
Last edited by dancerhas; November 8th, 2008 at 10:53 AM.
Thanks for the replies. She's still hanging out by the heater, but lower in the water with her fins out and erect. She looks healthy... I'll be keeping a close eye on her.
Perhaps I should ask what the optimum combination of platies is. We have 1 male and 2 females. Once we're sure our tank is clean of parasites etc... should we get another male to even things out?
Perhaps another female. When the males are wanting to breed, they really "harrass" the females to no end chasing them and such. I was told a while back when stocking fish like guppies, platys, mollies (just think schooling prolific breeders) 3f/1m would be a better ratio. The males attention would be better divided, the females won't be stressed, thereby much healthier which is what we want for our fish anyway.
I agree with MrsM3197 about more females to 1 male. I currently have 4 females and 1 male platy and he manages to keep them all pregnant constantly it seems . I will say in the past I have had a higher male ratio and they not only harassed the females nonstop but they also harassed some of the other fish
She looks pretty round. I would say she's pregnant, but I didn't see the spot.
If she isn't gulping, and she still has an appetite, I would say she is okay. Keep an eye on her and don't be surprised if you find little ones swimming around soon.
Thanks for all the advice. I kept a close watch on her all evening and observed the following:
1: Inactivity which obviously spawned this post
2: clearish slimy looking feces, compared to our other platy's which appear solid and brown
3: no appetite at our evening feeding, all the other fish tore up the food
This leads me to believe she still has internal parasites. Out of desperation I got a gallon size plastic bag, and created a sort of quarantine room inside the tank. I placed her in it with a tiny chunk of a parasite clear tab. (I used about 1/20'th of the tab which treats 10 gallons and there's about half a gallon of water in the bag). I am unsure of how long to keep her isolated. The isolation prevents medicine from hurting our snail, and keeps any from being removed by activated carbon. I just don't want her to stay in too long and risk ammonia poisoning. I think she should be fine for the night though (I'm posting this at 1:00 AM) I'm almost afraid to go to bed fearing I'll wake up to find her dead.
Well, she survived the night. Fins are still not clamped, and she's moving ok. I dropped a couple flakes in her bag to see if she'll eat, but she just lazily struck at one and then spit it back out and didn't touch any after that. I scooped them back out with a net so they wouldn't pollute her water. I sure hope I did the right thing by all this.
Last edited by dancerhas; November 9th, 2008 at 08:54 AM.
Does anybody have any ideas on how long it would be safe to keep her in isolation like this? It's been over 12 hours, and I've been gradually adding water from outside the bag to reduce the concentration of medicine etc... inside. I don't want to leave her in too long, but i want to give the meds time to take effect.
I agree with your thoughts on internal parasites. What do the directions say on the medicine about length of time to have your fish on it?
Also, I have heard that garlic is good for fish with internal problems, but if your fish won't eat, it won't do much good.
But continue the treatment you are doing according to the directions on the medicine. It should tell you how often to dose and for how long. I hope all goes well.
Similar Aquarium Fish Forum Threads 
) Since our Mickey Mouse platy died our Red Wag platy has been chasing the girls a bit more...it hasn't seemed excessive though. Below is a video of her. Of course as soon as I got out the camera she started swimming a bit more, but towards the end ( 1:18 after Red gives her a chase) you can see her chilling against the surface of the water. She's been sitting like that for a few hours now.
" moment.
