Scared Platy? Will she get better?

Hello! I'm new to the wonderful world of fish keeping. I've only had betta's for the last 5 years and an aquatic turtle. I have a fully cycled 20 gallon tank (water has been tested several times and all levels are normal) I have 4 male guppy's and 3 female and 1 male platy's. With the exception of 1 female platy, they have all been in the tank for 2 1/2-3 weeks and are all doing great. I added this last female about 6 days ago and I'm thinking she is scared..she is super shy compared to all the others. She hides or sits at the bottom most of the time, will come out occasionally if I sit in front of the tank very still and swim with the others and eat but goes right back to hiding if something in the room moves. I'm guessing she is scared? There is several plants and hiding spots for her. Anyone ever have a new fish act like this?

 

Yes in fact I had my dojo loach act like this the first week or so only time he would come out is around feeding time but now he is all around and happy but still scared to come near my hand

 

Also if new people he hasent seen yet like my grandparents or cousins he will hide ushaully

 

Alot of fish do this, just wait a week. This probably doesn't apply, but one of my platy's (RIP her) did this and it turned out she was blind.

 

My male Platty is exactly the same don't worry about it as long as she eats

 

Well, I woke up this morning and she had died during the night...

 

Ahh. Maybe it was an ill fish.
Some fish do just die sometimes.
I'm really sorry for your loss

 

That's sad. Make sure to watch your other fish for signs of illness, don't want it spreading.

 

Everyone seems their normal social selves, she was in the tank a week today (I think) and showed no outward signs of being ill, just shy and hiding since I got her

 

Everyone seems their normal social selves, she was in the tank a week today (I think) and showed no outward signs of being ill, just shy and hiding since I got her

 

Everyone seems their normal social selves, she was in the tank a week today (I think) and showed no outward signs of being ill, just shy and hiding since I got her

 

Everyone seems their normal social selves, she was in the tank a week today (I think) and showed no outward signs of being ill, just shy and hiding since I got her

 

Everyone seems their normal social selves, she was in the tank a week today (I think) and showed no outward signs of being ill, just shy and hiding since I got her

 

was she paler in color? Sometimes color can be a sign they aren't doing well. Also not sure where you buy fish but just what I've noticed about a lot of petsmart stores is a lot of times there livebearers (plates, guppies, mollies etc) don't look too great. So when you buy fish from wherever take a look at all of them. Often times they are already sick in the store.

 

if you can find a genuine aquarium store or something a lot of those places take a lit better care of them

 

My local aquarium store usually only stocks the red wagtail and rarely gets in any other variety of platy, so I have to see if I can find another aquarium store because I would rather buy from a local store. However, the one petsmart I go to does take very good care of their fish and I found a girl who works there who is very knowledgeable. She had had aquariums her whole life and used to work at an aquarium store, but is in the area for college and the only place that deals with aquariums is a chain pet store.

 

was she paler in color? Sometimes color can be a sign they aren't doing well. Also not sure where you buy fish but just what I've noticed about a lot of petsmart stores is a lot of times there livebearers (plates, guppies, mollies etc) don't look too great. So when you buy fish from wherever take a look at all of them. Often times they are already sick in the store.

I do a good survey of them all and go for the ones that have bright colors, have a healthy shape and size, normal looking fins and are active. This particular fish was in a tank with about 5-6 others who all looked healthy but she was the only sunset and her colors were beautiful. Her colors remained the same, I took a good look at her when I scooped her body out this morning and everything appeared normal.

 

ah I see. Maybe an internal parasite or something

 

Ah I gotcha. Around here the petsmarts are horrible. I go to a store that sells just fish