fishfish

hey
We bought three male platys about two weeks ago. Two of them are fine, swimming around, very active and eating. A few days ago we noticed a few white spots on one of them as well as one of our cardinal tetras, so we thought they must have ick. We turned up the water temerature to 82 degrees F and have bene giving medication (protozine - i'm not sure what it is exactly, my mum got it) We plan to leave the water temperature up for at least two weeks. anyway, the platy who we noticed had the ick seems very shy and its stomach is very big and round , and for the last few days it has been hiding inside a fake log or at the bottom of the tank behind some plants. It has also stopped eating. I am very worried that it could have dropsy, however its scales are not sticking out.


Our aquarium is about two months old and it is 22 gallons - it is our first one ever.
We check the water every day and it is fine - Ammonia is zero, nitrates and nitrites are also fine.
We have been doing about 15 percent water changes every day since we discovered the ick.
The fish in our tank are: 3 zebra Danios, 6 Cardianl tetras, 3 platies.

I would really appreciate if someone could help, so I can help our platy.

hssea

since your water is testing ok i would not do daily water changes that will dilute your medication. Also make sure you removed any carbon from your filter as that would remove the medication.

fishfish

thanks, we have already removed the carbon

Peterpiper

Hi, Are you sure it is ick? Ick looks like grains of salt on the fish, if it is ick, then stop putting meds in the tank, do 25% water change every 2nd day, keep the temp at 82 for 2 weeks min. I would do a 30% water change now to help get the meds out of the water and put a new carbon in the filter to get the meds out.
It is important to ID a disease and treat it correctly, can you post a pic?

susitna-flower

Are you sure all platies are male? Most of that behavior can be explained by a female close to giving birth....if not it might be internal parasites. Raising the temp should take care of the ick without the protozine.

fishfish

I have tried to take a pic of him but it's impossible - he has been hiding in his log for 2 days now, and when he goes out, if someone goes near the tank he will swim back in.
I'm pretty sure it is ich, there were a few white spots on his tail and fins which went away after we turned the temp up....is there any other disease this could be?
And his stomach is really bloated, does anyone know why this could be?

fishfish

Sustina flower - I was thinking exactly the same thing, what if it was a pregnant female...
But at the pet shop we asked for males, so I'm guessing that it is. I've read a bit about the difference between male and female Platies and the males fin under the belly is pointy, which is like my Platy's.

COBettaCouple

If the spots are larger than salt crystal size and fuzzy, it could be fungus. I would recommend Ich-Attack, simply because it's not harmful (organic, herbal solution) and sort of covers both ich and fungus.

fishfish

But I am worried about the bloating?

Im sure its ich because the spots are small and I saw it rubbing itself against the ship.

COBettaCouple

What is their regular diet? If it's constipation, it might be a good idea to try feeding them small pieces of thawed & peeled frozen peas or daphnia. Internal parasites is a possibility too - do you have a hospital tank you could treat him with parasite clear in?

fishfish

usually we feed them flakes, and sometimes bloodworms, peas and zuccini
And we dont have a hospital tank

COBettaCouple

It really sounds very unlikely that constipation could come up with a good diet like that, so my best guess for him is internal parasites causing the bloating. Parasite Clear is the most gentle med that I know of for it. Melafix and Pimafix may work, but I really don't know if they deal with internal parasites.

fishfish

Ok, thank you

fishfish

It was Dropsy - I noticed his scales were sticking up this morning...he was at the bottom of the tank just sitting there, and died this afternoon (we buried him in the backyard)
This morning, before he died one of the other platies was coming up to him...and stroking him with its tail..I'm not sure why but I thought it was really cute, like it really cared for the poor platy and was trying to make it feel better.

But I noticed something strange today?
Our other two Platies, who normally are friends and swim together, seemed really angry and agressive, there fins were flaring up and they were attacking each other any idea why this might be?


Well thanks for trying to help everyone

COBettaCouple

I'm sorry that you lost him. Dropsy is a tough one. I've noticed that platys will often show some concern for a sick one too. If you just have 2 platys now, they're likely falling into a 2-fish pecking order to establish who gets picked on.