Platy with clamped fins, skinny and warped body, acting sick and hiding. help!

My platy has recently been not eating much (although she is still eating some) but shes been getting noticably skinny and her fins are all clamped up and she hides behind plants all day. I had 2 other platies who did this same thing and then died shortly after! it seems to be spreading from one platy to the next. I heard it might be stress related or maybe even parasites??? the water condition is good and I just did a full water change yesterday, and I do 25% changes every few days but i'm really worried about her. if it is parasites I really don't want it to spread to the rest of the fish. what is going on with her and how can I treat whatever it is?

 

Can you provide your exact water parameters - pH, temp, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates?

 

If your profile is up to date, I think your tank (5g) is too small. With such a small tank, it's hard to keep your water parameters stable so it could stress your fish. Also is your water hard because platy prefer hard water.

 

the ph is 7.8, the temp is 74, and I'm not sure about the ammonia, nitrates, and nitries because I don't have those test kits. but I do clean the tank often to keep ammonia down. so do you think that the problem is stress and bad water conditions rather than parasites?

 

If your tank is cycled you shouldn't have any ammonia but you'd need to get your water tested to know. Is there any chance that your LPS will test a sample of your water? They're likely to use test strips so not as accurate but at least it's something.

 

the ph is 7.8, the temp is 74, and I'm not sure about the ammonia, nitrates, and nitries because I don't have those test kits. but I do clean the tank often to keep ammonia down. so do you think that the problem is stress and bad water conditions rather than parasites?

I'd definitely invest in your own liquid test kit at times like this when you want to rule out any water quality issues.

You wouldn't know if cleaning your tank often is keeping the ammonia down since you have no way to measure the ammonia.

 

I just was looking on amazon and saw that the most popular test kit is the API master test kit. the only thing I'm worried about is that I already own a PH test kit, and our tap water is very alkaline and the PH is always showing 7.6, and the instructions say that if it shows 7.6 you have to buy a test kit for harder water. does the API master kit have ph test drops for harder water that would work for me? and also, if the water levels are bad, like say the ammonia is too high, how can I lower that? and how would you adjust the ph?

 

If this is the 5.5 gallon with the 2 platy and the dwarf gourami, it's terribly overstocked. I'd invest in a 20 gallon and a test kit.
A 20 gallon will keep your water quality better. There's just not room for those fish in a 5.5.

 

I just was looking on amazon and saw that the most popular test kit is the API master test kit. the only thing I'm worried about is that I already own a PH test kit, and our tap water is very alkaline and the PH is always showing 7.6, and the instructions say that if it shows 7.6 you have to buy a test kit for harder water. does the API master kit have ph test drops for harder water that would work for me? and also, if the water levels are bad, like say the ammonia is too high, how can I lower that? and how would you adjust the ph?

Have you gotten a water report that shows your water hardness? The API Master Test Kit comes with liquid tests for pH, high range pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You would have to get their separate GH/KH test kit to check for water hardness. It's a good idea to check for it since you have livebearers but for now, the master test kit would be more of a priority, IMO.

You can lower the ammonia levels by doing daily water changes. Do you have Seachem Prime or Amquel Plus for a water conditioner? Either will detox the ammonia and nitrite up to 1ppm for 24hrs, keeping your fish safe.

 

ok I had someone test my water for me. he wasn't able to test the ammonia and nitrites and nitrates just yet but he did test the ph. he said its 8.0 (and don't worry he was using thousand dollar testing equipment at his work so its very accurate). anyway, so I guess that's pretty high, especially for my neon tetras. so should I try to lower the ph a bit? and how would I do so? our tap water has a ph of 7.3 so if I just regularly did water changes using our tap water is there any chance that would help lower it? we have a well so I don't buy water conditioner because there are no chemicals in the water. and one other thing, I have some rocks in the tank that I got in arizona, although I'm not sure what kind they are I heard they can alter the ph, and I also have some seashells from the cayman islands in the tank. can any of that maybe be making the ph higher, and if so should I remove those decorations?

also, I heard that you can use driftwood to lower the ph. but driftwood is so expensive and we live by a river, I was wondering if it is okay to just pick up some old wood lying around by the river? The wood would be from a cottonwood tree. just some that drifted up on shore. and how would I clean it? boil it?

 

Your pH is fine and I wouldn't try to change it. I think you should try to get the readings for the other parameters as soon as possible.

For now, try to do a 50% water change and see if that helps your fish.

 

What does his poop look like?

 

ok I had someone test my water for me. he wasn't able to test the ammonia and nitrites and nitrates just yet but he did test the ph. he said its 8.0 (and don't worry he was using thousand dollar testing equipment at his work so its very accurate). anyway, so I guess that's pretty high, especially for my neon tetras. so should I try to lower the ph a bit? and how would I do so? our tap water has a ph of 7.3 so if I just regularly did water changes using our tap water is there any chance that would help lower it? we have a well so I don't buy water conditioner because there are no chemicals in the water. and one other thing, I have some rocks in the tank that I got in arizona, although I'm not sure what kind they are I heard they can alter the ph, and I also have some seashells from the cayman islands in the tank. can any of that maybe be making the ph higher, and if so should I remove those decorations?

Prime also neutralizes heavy metals so if any of those are in your tank it will still help to protect your fish.

As for your rocks and shells, yes, they can raise your pH! You can test the rocks by taking them out and putting a bit of vinegar on them. If bubbles come up you know that they can affect your pH.

 

oh really? okay well I'll stick with that ph then. and okay ill go ahead and do a water change right away. hopefully I'll have the other parameters by tomorrow

Your pH is fine and I wouldn't try to change it. I think you should try to get the readings for the other parameters as soon as possible.

For now, try to do a 50% water change and see if that helps your fish.

what is prime?
and okay I just tried that. none of the shells or rocks fizzled at all

Prime also neutralizes heavy metals so if any of those are in your tank it will still help to protect your fish.

As for your rocks and shells, yes, they can raise your pH! You can test the rocks by taking them out and putting a bit of vinegar on them. If bubbles come up you know that they can affect your pH.

 

what is prime?
and okay I just tried that. none of the shells or rocks fizzled at all

Prime (made by Seachem) is a tap water conditioner. It also detoxifies ammonia at low levels (for up to 24 hours I think). Definitely read up on it and consider buying it. You can buy it at petsmart, petco, Amazon, and plenty of other places.

 

do you know if it is necessary since I have well water? i've never bought water conditioner since we have no chemicals in our water so I saw no need. but if it helps with ammonia maybe I should get it

 

do you know if it is necessary since I have well water? i've never bought water conditioner since we have no chemicals in our water so I saw no need. but if it helps with ammonia maybe I should get it

I'd get it anyways because it helps with ammonia among other things.

 

With a pH that high, chances are you also have hard water and will not see a difference adding driftwood or any other natural item to lower the pH.
Neons can handle a pH close in range to what you have and if they're fine with 8, they're fine with 8. I wouldn't try to adjust. Adjusting downward isn't fun anyway!
This tank has a BN pleco? Even a juvenile will quickly pollute the water. Have you had him/her during the time your platys haven't been thriving? If your tank is cycled, your nitrates are probably climbing higher than a 25% water change will remove.

 

what is prime?
and okay I just tried that. none of the shells or rocks fizzled at all

They might not "fizzle" but if you watch very closely you might see tiny bubbles forming.

 

yeah it does seem like around the time I got the BN pleco the platies started getting sick. oh and the platy is doing a little better. I was sure it was going to die today when I found it stuck to the filter intake tube, so I turned off the filter right away. rather than floating to the top the platy swam away and acted perfectly normal. so I turned the filter back on and a few hours later I checked on it again, and it was swimming around just fine. ill admit she's a little less active than usual, but she is eating some and swimming around a bit. I noticed the other fish in the tank being aggressive to her though if she ever came out of hiding, and they would chase her away. is there any way maybe the clamped fins are just a sign of submission and its because of the other fish being agressive? or maybe stress related or just bad water quality? but she is surprisingly doing a little better. I did a 50% water change today

With a pH that high, chances are you also have hard water and will not see a difference adding driftwood or any other natural item to lower the pH.
Neons can handle a pH close in range to what you have and if they're fine with 8, they're fine with 8. I wouldn't try to adjust. Adjusting downward isn't fun anyway!
This tank has a BN pleco? Even a juvenile will quickly pollute the water. Have you had him/her during the time your platys haven't been thriving? If your tank is cycled, your nitrates are probably climbing higher than a 25% water change will remove.

 

Keep doing larger/more frequent water changes. I would do another 50% tomorrow and then 25% per day from now on. Without a test it's impossible to know what kind of water change is needed to keep things under control but it sounds like the initial water changes helped.

The other fish are probably chasing her away because clamped fins are a sign of illness and it's better for the health of the group to keep sick fish away.

 

I suspect a water quality issue and have. The advice Aquaphobia gave is spot on.