al o brien

I have a red tailed platy(male) in a 20 gallon tank along with 2 orange platys(female) 5 zebra danios 1 cardinal tetra 2 small suckers 1 unknown fish whick is about 1.5 inches silver see through body and orange tail and 1 redline torpedo barb.
1st of all my male platy used to chase the two females like mad, he got one pregnant and left her alone but kept chasing the other one. he's not chasing anymore and i noticed his tail isn't a flaired anymore and some of his fin is missing and the edges are going black he just doesn't seem happy.
2nd of all my barb is gone mad he's like free willy or somethin. every time i take the lid off to change the water he leaps out. is this normal??
all my water levels are normal and the temp is 78f

midnightwolf

im not sure about the barbs leaping out of the water but your platys tail was probally eaten by your barbs, they are known fin nippers.

Nick G

Welcome to Fishlore! The tank seems a bit overstocked to me. Do you know what kind of suckerfish they are? And would it be possible to post readings for ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates?

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!! overstocked aggression is probably your platies issue...theres not enough room for everyone to get away from another some daily water changes with some stress coat+ will heal him up...but the aggression isnt going to stop

al o brien

i tested the water on sat just before 20% water change and ammonia and nitrites were 0 and nitrates were 40. tested it today ammonia and nitrites still 0 but nitrates are up at 160 i don't know how this could be.the only thing i can think of is that i'm not using tapsafe anymore. i have the tank bout 7 months now and i've lost 2 tetras 1 platy and 1 danio.

Shawnie

have you tested the nitrates in your tap water? also, if the sucker fish are plecs, they make a ton of waste and that tank is too small for them

what test kit are you using? maybe its a false reading

everhart1988

Just one addition to everybody else. You mentioned your water conditionerthe best water conditioner to be using is either Prime or Amquel+. THose two are the recommendations on this site. They will really help your tank too, but not cure it. I think your tank is overstocked and those barbs are probably nipping them anything else in the tank.