Marc M

I have a female platy who is hanging out near the bottom of the tank. She keeps opening and closing her mouth rapidly. Another female died last week in this tank. Any ideas what's wrong?

ATP

Is there any any damage to the gills or any part of the fish?

What did the last platy looked like when it died?

Does the fish seems to act oddly? If it does, what ways? Is there any signs of diocese? (odd patterns or if anything seems to rot?)

I can't really help you. I need more description and probably a pic, than I could probably help

-ATP-

Marc M

The fish does not seem to have any signs of external rot or infection. The only thing that really concerns me is she is stationary at the bottom of the tank sometimes resting on gravel and continuously opens and closes her mouth. This is not unlike the other female who passed. Unfortunately I am not able to check on her until Monday (she is in my classroom tank). I expect she will die but one can only hope for the best.

Je55*e

What are your numbers for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite? Tank info?

kcarmartinez

What are the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels for your tank? Maybe something is off that can be fixed with a water change. Actually, that might help anyway. Oxygen issues maybe? I learned resently if you have more heat in your tank you need to add more oxygen.
I hope she pulls through. It is so frustrating when you know they are not right but you don't know what the problem is. There is so much great knowledge on this site. Hopefully someone else can give you some other ideas or have a more positive answer for you.
Edit: someone beat me to the tank chemistry.

Meenu

The tank nwith the platies is new. Is it cycled? You write that the ammonia level is safe, but any ammonia is toxic. Could you actually list the number you get when you test the water on Monday? Maybe even if this one doesn't make it, we can help the others.

You seem to be experienced, but in case you aren't: you should have 0 ammonia, o nitrites, and 10-20 nitrates for you tank to be cycled. If the parameters are off, you should add a detoxifying water conditioner like Prime and do daily water changes until you get those readings consistently. The members here recommend API liquid tests rather than the strips. They say the strips aren't accurate.

Good luck. I'm sorry about your platies.

aquarist48

Hello Marc. Wishing you and your platy's the best. I'm sure you'll get more help once you post your readings.
Ken

Marc M

Wow! Thanks for all of your help friends. Unfortunately she did die over the weekend. The tank is for the most part cycled in that I added a well established sponge filter with the Penguin 100. The ammonia levels come back at 0. To test the other water parameters I use Jungle Labs all in one strips. They do not show any significant levels of nitrite and nitrate. I also do 25% water changes biweekly. The rest of the fish seem to be doing very well. I went and picked up another female to replace her. Hopefully it was something not related to the tank and not contageous!!!!