Bindel2303

OK, so on Thursday I went out and bought a Red Wag Platy for my tank, the only fish in there. On Saturday she gave birth to 8 fry which I promptly separated into another tank. She seemed fine, although she spent most of her time around the heater, she seemed good. Yesterday I found it a little odd but not concerned that she started spending most of her time on the bottom of the tank. She would sit in one place for a wile, then move to another for a wile. I did about a 25% water change with water that has sat for about a week. I also did a water change in the fry tank. She still seemed ok, but a little sluggish. In the evening she pretty much stayed in one place for like 5 hours. When I went to feed her before going to bed I noticed that her side fins weren’t even moving much and those almost are always going. When I stuck a net in just to get her to move she swam a little bit then into the current of the filter which she just kinda let push her around. She used her side fins to stabilizer herself as much as possible but didn’t use her tail at all, like she was paralyzed. Any time she would move it would be just a few seconds then as if her body was paralyzed, she would just use her side fins to stabilize her. Eventually she even stopped doing this and just lad on her side breathing. It just kept slowing until she finally died.

I had done a water test earlier in the day, before the water change, and another as this was going on and both showed 0’s across the board. There had been no drastic temperature changes or pH changes. I also doubt there was anything in the water I did the water changes with since the 8 babies are doing just fine. I have no idea what happened but this isn’t the first time. The other times everyone told me it was probably the chemical levels in the water and since I didn’t have a test kit I couldn’t rule that out. But I did this time and they all read 0, so she was not poisoned to death. So what killed her? Dose anyone have ANY idea?

Tio

something like that just happened to me a couple of my platties have been sitting near the bottom did the same thing checked water everything fine did partial water change. just came home to 2 dead neon tetras 3 other tetras and one dead plattie.not sure what just happen no changes to watere condition no temperature changes.whats happening!platties still at the bottom

MasterShake2003

Livebearers are prone to pregnancy complications. I lost a mama swordtail just because she gave birth...it's sad, but it happens.

Bindel2303

But it was 2 days later. if it was birthing complications wouldn't she have died sooner than that?

Chief_waterchanger

You probably bought a fish that was already sick/infected/diseased.

I would recommend being VERY cautious about buying from the same place again.

Bindel2303

It was a petco, and she seemed pretty healthy when I brought her home. but i guess it is possible. I only had her 4 days.

Tio

i added no new fish for over 3 weeks most i had for over 2-3 months i think posible fin rot and ICH.treating for that right now to save the rest of my fish

sirdarksol

Most pet stores have bad setups for fish. Petsmart and Petco are often among the worst. (I just went to a Petsmart today and saw a tank loaded with between one and two dozen oscars)
Did there appear to be any damage to the fins? Lying on the bottom might signify fin rot, but from what I've heard, that's not usually deadly until it reaches the body, which means the fins would have looked horrible.

Bindel2303

NO, there was no fin rot, no ick, nothing that looked wrong with her, which is why i chose her, she looked perfect.

0morrokh

More info on your setup would be helpful.

Was the tank cycled?
How often & what % water changes?
What did you add to the water?
Have you used any chemicals (cleaners, etc) near the tank recently?
Aside from her behavioral symptoms, did she show any physical changes?

I'm not sure it's a good idea to let water sit out for a whole week. Could it have been contaminated during that time?

MissMTS

Are you using test strips or liquid test kits. If you were using test strips you may have gotten inaccurate results. I did until I switched to liquid.

COBettaCouple

It's also possible the stress of dropping the fry was too much for her. That can happen with livebearers, especially if the store sells them in a weakened/sickly state.

COBettaCouple

Are you using liquid tests or strip tests? Sometimes dropping fry is too hard on a livebearer.

Bindel2303

I'm using API's liquid test kit, I do a 25% water change once a week. I normally add some algae killer but forgot to this week, besides that I didn't and anything to the water and if the water had been contaminated it would have killed the babies, which i used the same water to do a water change for.

I she was sick when I bought her how can i tell and what can i do. She seemed fine and playful when I first put her in the new tank.

COBettaCouple

Algae killing liquids are often very hard on fish. We had 2 tanks almost die due to using some and a 100% emergency water change kept us from losing
all the fish. It's WAY worse for the fish than the algae would be and could have been a big factor in what happened.