Added 2 new platys, curious about health

I added two platys to my 29 gallon planted community tank earlier this week, both females. The LFS told me the fish were already somewhat stressed due to arriving earlier the same day (they only shared this info after the platys were bagged up, paid for, and I was about to leave the store). So I made sure the water was the same temp when I floated them, but otherwise heeded the LFS advice and added them to the water after a short acclimation (adding some tank water to the bag in a couple condensed rounds). I also added a few new guppies from a separate bag a while after the platys.

Now that it's been a few days, the more colorful of the two platys has been eating and cautiously exploring, seems curious about the cories in the tank – though flashing from time to time, which I'm monitoring. It's continued but gotten significantly less frequent since adding her. The other platy is less vibrant (more of a silvery body with dark fins), and she had been pretty much constantly hanging near the very bottom of the tank, either holding in one front corner or back and forth along the front bottom. The HOB filter causes her to wobble as she moves along the gravel floor, and she seems weak. I've tried a few different feeding options and I can't tell if she's eating much at all. She's not going for the food but that doesn't mean she's not eating when I am not near (combo of algae tabs and sinking pellets for cories and flake food for the others). I can't tell if this is potential disease, sheer stress, or something other — is it anything to be concerned about, or is it normal for them to need more time to adjust and settle in? I can't spot anything obvious on her body, other than what *could potentially be a scruff from tipping over against the gravel? (But this might just be coloring that's naturally part of her body, I haven't had her long enough to know for certain.) Any other fish I've bought over the last 6 months have been relatively quick to adjust within a day or two, at least enough to be curious and to eat very obviously (while I'm watching). Today that same platy is exploring slightly more in the water column. The other platy tends to be curious and follows her. They are both visible in this video clip — sorry for the resolution but it's challenging to get close and capture them on camera:

It seems like the silvery platy is clamping her upper/lower fins (though her side fins seem normal), but I've never kept platys before so I could be misidentifying that symptom.

Aquarium: 29 gal
pH: 6.8-7.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40
temp: 76-77°F
HOB filter: Aqueon Quietflow 50
Last water change: 50% on Wednesday 14 Jun (2 days ago)

Other tank mates: 6 bronze cory cats, 1 female platy, 1 mystery snail, 4 male guppies
Second video shot today:

I'm curious about the difference in shape/size of these 2 platys. The orange platy is much bigger / fatter — I'm wondering if that is because she's healthier, or perhaps she could be pregnant? She's not huge, but definitely a noticeable roundness compared to the more silver platy. The orange platy is also glass surfing more this afternoon, but has been generally seeming better adjusted.

Took some more readings just to double check that nothing is swinging much:
pH: 7.0 (it had been consistently 7 except for a slight faintness last test, which may have been an error)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 30
temp: 76.5°

 

Couple things to keep in mind, yeah, your orange platy probably is pregnant, very frequently are when you bring them home, and also, many of those livebearer fish come from fish farms and often have some type of parasite, so maybe that is the issue. Something to at least be mindful of, anyway.

 

After noticing the platys flashing more, I opted to treat the tank with API General Cure in case it was a parasite (I don't have a hospital tank yet). I removed the carbon from my Aqueon filter insert and added some extra floss inside instead. I followed the instructions and dosed once Saturday, then again on Monday. On Monday I noticed at least one of my cory cats had some pretty severe red blotches, and I ended up adding some Melafix to address that. I did a 50% water change yesterday before that day's dose of Melafix.

The platys are not flashing as much, though the one that I assume is pregnant still does occasionally. She continues to have long white stringy poop and I'm unsure if there's anything folks would recommend I do. I plan to continue Melafix for the cories for 3 more days — would it make sense to try another round of General Cure while I have the carbon already removed? Or maybe this is nothing to be concerned about? The platy has a ravenous appetite and chows down on my christmas moss, any algae tablets, any sinking pellets for the cories, and sometimes flake food, too. I'm assuming the huge appetite is from being pregnant.

Here's a vid I just shot of the presumably pregnant platy with a pretty noticeable long strand:

 

I suggest you get some garlic paste or make some fresh garlic paste. then roll some of their food in it, you can feed some right away, and let the rest dry up in an open bowl or plate in a thin layer, The garlic has medicinal qualities. It can help with bacterial issues.
Platies do best in a larger group. Try to save some of the inevitable fry I could not tell the sex of your other platy in the video, but try to keep at least double the amount of females then males, or keep all females.

 

Thank you for the suggestion re: garlic paste, i will give that a try. Both platies are female, I intentionally did not want males to avoid mating yet here we seem to be I'm new to having any livebirthing fish and unsure what I can do to save the fry... I want to invest in a quarantine tank but won't be able to get one set up before she gives birth (assuming 1-2 weeks).

I was planning to actually move these platies to my bigger aquarium with some additional, but then encountered several potential health issues and then noticed the pregnancy. So I figured I'd wait to see what happens; I could potentially move some to my larger aquarium when they grow a little bigger if they make it. But I also want to try to avoid mixing males and females to have more of this happening, and i'm unsure if I'll be able to tell when they are quite young.

 

What I do is take cuttings of my plants I want to propagate and let them float on the surface while they get roots to develop this gives you new plants and somewhere for the fry to hide for the first few weeks till the other fish leave them alone.


This is a small pile at the moment as last lot of fry are big enough to be out now so did some replanting but new cuttings getting done today ready for next batch

 

After treating my platys with a round of API General Cure and Melafix (latter mainly for some red blotches on cory cats in the same tank), I did some moving around. I moved the weaker platy into my larger community tank, because she has been consistently bullied by the pregnant platy and isn't eating. I shot a few clips of her in the new tank because she still seems like she's not gonna pull through. I'm unsure if her coloring is normal or not (she has more or less seemed this way since bringing them home), but the iridescence of her side scales fade off to darker/less shiny on the upper part of her head and body, which are a "dirtier"/duller finish.

If the orange platy hadn't been consistently chasing the other away from all food in the tank, I'd have left them both together in a less populated tank. But I figured the bullying was almost certain to be the end of the silver platy if I didn't separate them. The pregnant platy is a curveball also because I don't want to add more until she births to understand better what I'm dealing with; I wanted to not have them breed at all and thus bought 2 females to start (figured they'd be less aggressive, so the bullying was yet another surprise).

I'm unsure if the silver platy is saveable, if she's not eating and seems weak after General Cure and having plenty of food available?

Here are some clips I've recorded today of the weaker (non-pregnant) platy in her new 75 gallon home. Videos are sort of mixed quality, tried to zoom in and keep a steady hand with mixed results:

The levels in each aquarium are similar (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate, ~7 pH). The larger aquarium currently has the silver platy living with 4 guppies, 12 cherry barbs, 2 glass bloodfin tetras, 2 minnows, and some amano shrimp (which are generally so hidden I'm not even sure how many have survived). I've tried feeding the tank flake food as well as some small sinking pellets and some baby brine shrimp. The platy seems like she *might be eating a little bit of the baby brine, but doesn't seem particularly interested in food at all. She does nibble on algae on plants occasionally. I assume adding more platys might help her bounce back, but I was unsure whether to add more when there are already fry (in the other aquarium) on the way.

side note: the orange platy is now the only non-bottom feeder in my 29 gal tank (6 cory cats, one mystery snail). I didn't move her because I read that netting a pregnant fish risks her releasing all of the fry immediately. She is still releasing long stringy white poops. I did the 2-dose round of General Cure as well as Melafix, and tried feeding her algae tablets crushed in garlic paste (which she devoured, but doesn't seem to have made much difference). Would another round of General Cure be a good thing to do?

 

I do not think you should add more medicine of any kind to either fish, its not good for them, medicine can be worse than disease, the general cure is multiple meds, You used it, and hopefully it cured something, I think now she needs time to heal. It's a very good sign that she is eating!

 

The silver platy I moved to get away from the pregnant bully is still not eating. She mostly lingers toward the bottom of the tank and still seems quite feeble/weak when it comes to swimming. She's upright, but she is extremely far from thriving. She has no particular interest in any food option I provide, and even if she did — the other tankmates will get to it WAY before she has even remotely taken an interest. So I don't really know what to do — let her just live out her days not eating? She is either ill and not eating, in which case I don't know what/if there are options, or was bullied too much and refuses to eat now as a result, even in a more peaceful (but more active and more populous) tank.

 

best choice - You could put her in a hospital tank by herself and feed her the highest quality food available soaked in garlic paste.
second best choice - You could put her in a breeding net/box in the main tank and off the best food available soaked in garlic.
third option, You could euthanize her. Wasting away from not eating can be a long process and I have a feeling that the cause of her not eating is painfull, and not getting better. Try one of the above first!

 

I have a 6L container I can use as makeshift QT tank. I have no heater that will work in it and she's currently housed in 80°F in the main tank. I have no bubbler or air filter that will fit this smaller QT size at the moment either. Is it worth bothering if I don't have the means to heat the QT tank?

 

I would not put her in an unfiltered unheated tank.
You can use a breeding box in the main tank.
If you feel like this fish is just going to suffer more from moving it around, I can advise you on the proper way to use clove oil to send her to the ocean in the sky. I am not trying to encourage this, but sometimes euthanasia is the kindest thing we can offer our pets.

 

I've separated the platy in a breeder box in the same tank for a full day now, but she does not seem to be eating. In fact, any food in the breeder box has just sat there and draws a crowd of tankmates wanting to get the food inside her chamber. If she's not eating, I'm not sure what else can be done to help her. I will be going out of town tomorrow for a few days and I'm unsure whether I should leave her be (I have someone to feed them, but not someone who really knows what to do with a sick fish — but then again, neither do I!) or euthanize. I know there is no easy answer here — but what would folks recommend?

 

I recommend clove oil. You can get it at a pharmacy, yes clove essential oil in a tiny bottle.
Put the fish in a container of tank water where it is comfortable to swim with the water level half full. An unused paper cup is an option for small fish.
now get a water bottle or something, disposable is best because the clove oil smell is very strong. fill it with tank water but leave some space for mixing.
Add about 1 drop of clove oil per ounce, put the lid on, and shake it well. Really well, like your neighbors would see you and think you were crazy well. because oil doesnt mix with water, so you have to break it up into particles that spread through the water mass. Shake the bottle before each 10 minute dose.

Now you can add a small amount of the mixture to the container with the sick fish.
It doesn't need to be exact, but I want to say that if the fish is in 1 cup of water/ aka 8 ounces, then add half an ounce of clove oil mix every ten minutes.
The fish will fall asleep, but it may not be dead. Now you have to kill the fish. You can add the rest of the clove oil mix and check for gill movement. You can apply blunt force, you can add an Alka-seltzer tab or vodka. Or you can put the fish in the freezer. I was not 100 % sure that my fish was dead even after pouring the entire bottle of clove oil mix in, I had my husband do the dirty job of making sure my pore baby was not going to wake up. Then I buried him in the garden.
RSVP Gaspatcho!

 

Thank you for the guidance. Today we bid a sad farewell to Sally the Platy who never seemed to really adjust to her new home. We hardly knew ye…