Something sticking out of my platy

PLEASE HELP
I have a cycled tank, ammonia 0, ph 7, 64 liter with 3 platys, 3 guppies, beta, ram and honey gourami.
One of my platys has not being eating and tends to stay in the corner next to the filter close to the surface, and her tail a bit clamped for about a week. She has also been scratching a bit. No visible signs of fungus, fin rot, dropsy or ich, so I thought might have been an internal parasite so I treated with Prazi Pro. She has become a bit more active but still not eating.
Today I saw something red sticking out of her anus - not sure if this is a prolapse? She has been staying at the corner all day today.
There aren’t any male platys in the tank right now but there was one about 2 months ago but I don’t think she is pregnant.
Any advice please? She is one of my favorites and she is such a beautiful fish, but I don’t want her to suffer

 

First off...I am somewhat amazed at your fish species mixture. You have incompatible heat levels tween species and a Betta with a Gourami which usually means potentially fatal trouble.

Do you or have you seen many fights in the aquarium?

If the Platy has been caught in the middle, an internal injury is a potential reason for her symptoms and behaviour.

 

First off...I am somewhat amazed at your fish species mixture. You have incompatible heat levels tween species and a Betta with a Gourami which usually means potentially fatal trouble.

Do you or have you seen many fights in the aquarium?

If the Platy has been caught in the middle, an internal injury is a potential reason for her symptoms and behaviour.

Hi, no I have had this group of fish for the past 3 months and never had any problems. No fights, no aggression, everybody else is extremely well and healthy.
Platy is suffering from something else for sure.

 

Well that is as maybe for now but you should never put a Betta and a Gourami in the same aquarium, its a big no-no. The Ram should be in warmer water really, Platys and Guppies are more or less temperate water. All of these things can manifest into aggression and lower immunity to disease. So just be aware that your mix of fish truly is not good. The Betta is very unpredictable, fine for a few months then turn on its tankmates.

So you need to be very very aware of this cos if a fight has happened, say at night when you are not watching, and that Platy got caught up in the middle of it, then injuries including internal will happen. If you are able to split the Gourami and Betta, then do so. A solo Ram is not always ideal either.

Did you buy all of these fish together and/or from one place?

 

Well that is as maybe for now but you should never put a Betta and a Gourami in the same aquarium, its a big no-no. The Ram should be in warmer water really, Platys and Guppies are more or less temperate water. All of these things can manifest into aggression and lower immunity to disease. So just be aware that your mix of fish truly is not good. The Betta is very unpredictable, fine for a few months then turn on its tankmates.

So you need to be very very aware of this cos if a fight has happened, say at night when you are not watching, and that Platy got caught up in the middle of it, then injuries including internal will happen. If you are able to split the Gourami and Betta, then do so. A solo Ram is not always ideal either.

Did you buy all of these fish together and/or from one place?

Thank you for advice, I’ll consider rehoming some of them. And yes I bought them from a same store.
But can we please focus on the problem of the thread? I seriously doubt prolapsed anus can be a result of a fight.
Also she would have had some visible signs like fin nips or scars which she doesn’t. And she is the biggest fish in the tank so don’t think anybody would fight her.
Also doesn’t explain why she isn’t eating.

 

It might be easier for us to help you if you would fill out the emergency template.
Aquatic Emergency Template | Freshwater Fish Disease and Fish Health Forum | 376562

 

It might be easier for us to help you if you would fill out the emergency template.
Aquatic Emergency Template | Freshwater Fish Disease and Fish Health Forum | 376562

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 65 litres
How long has the tank been running? 4 month
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 27C
What is the entire stocking of this tank?
3 guppies, 3 platys, 1 beta, 1 ram, 1 honey gourami

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Every week
How much of the water do you change? 25%
What do you use to treat your water? Aqua Safe, Prime, PH minus, Filter Aid and Salt
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? We vacuum the gravel

Parameters
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? King British test stripes
What are your parameters?
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.5
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Every day
How much do you feed your fish? A little bit
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Probiotic tropical nt labs
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? Occasionally

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 3 months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? 1 week
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Fish not eating, clammed tail, not active and now something sticking out of her anus
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Maracyn first and PraziPro after
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? As mentioned above

 

The main thing that stands out to me and could be causing problems is the amount of water you are changing. With the heavy bio-load in this tank I highly recommend you change out no less than 50% of the water every week and then once a month change out even more.

I am seeing a bit of nitrite but often test strips are unreliable so maybe you have some or maybe you don't The most important number is missing though. Is there any way you can get your ammonia level tested?

One other thing that stands out is all the products you are adding to this tank. (Aqua Safe, Prime, PH minus, Filter Aid and Salt) Aqua safe and prime are both water conditioners so there is no need to add both. I would put the aqua safe on the back shelf for now and just use prime.

Is there a specific reason for using pH minus. In most cases it is much better to just leave our pH at the level it comes out of our tap. I see the pH of the tank is 7. What is the number straight from the tap? We can probably put the pH minus on the back shelf too.

I am not sure what filter aid is. Can you tell me what it is used for. And when it comes to using salt I know mollies like a bit of it in their water but unfortunately most of your other fish don't.

I am thinking it isn't only one thing affecting your little girl but is a combination of things. What I am seeing does look like a partial prolapse but we need to find out why it happened and try to fix the issues than may have led to this point.

 

The main thing that stands out to me and could be causing problems is the amount of water you are changing. With the heavy bio-load in this tank I highly recommend you change out no less than 50% of the water every week and then once a month change out even more.

I am seeing a bit of nitrite but often test strips are unreliable so maybe you have some or maybe you don't The most important number is missing though. Is there any way you can get your ammonia level tested?

One other thing that stands out is all the products you are adding to this tank. (Aqua Safe, Prime, PH minus, Filter Aid and Salt) Aqua safe and prime are both water conditioners so there is no need to add both. I would put the aqua safe on the back shelf for now and just use prime.

Is there a specific reason for using pH minus. In most cases it is much better to just leave our pH at the level it comes out of our tap. I see the pH of the tank is 7. What is the number straight from the tap? We can probably put the pH minus on the back shelf too.

I am not sure what filter aid is. Can you tell me what it is used for. And when it comes to using salt I know mollies like a bit of it in their water but unfortunately most of your other fish don't.

I am thinking it isn't only one thing affecting your little girl but is a combination of things. What I am seeing does look like a partial prolapse but we need to find out why it happened and try to fix the issues than may have led to this point.

Thank you for the reply!
So I ammonia is currently 0. But the reason we used to much conditioner and filter aid (something to help your aquarium grew beneficial bacteria) is because around 1.5months ago we had an ammonia spike which persisted for a bit but we defeated it and ammonia has been 0 for the past month.
You are right and we should probably stop using some or them.

We use PH minus because our water in London is very hard, out of tap I think 7.5-8 and with ph minus we get it down to 6.5-7.

Not sure if important but I have been away for 2 weeks, left the fishtank with my boyfriend and he didn’t change the water for 2 weeks but tested the water every day and ammonia was 0. We changed 75% when I got back.

Going forward do you think the fish has any chance of healing? I really don’t want her to suffer should I euthanize? Or see how it develops?

The main thing that stands out to me and could be causing problems is the amount of water you are changing. With the heavy bio-load in this tank I highly recommend you change out no less than 50% of the water every week and then once a month change out even more.

I am seeing a bit of nitrite but often test strips are unreliable so maybe you have some or maybe you don't The most important number is missing though. Is there any way you can get your ammonia level tested?

One other thing that stands out is all the products you are adding to this tank. (Aqua Safe, Prime, PH minus, Filter Aid and Salt) Aqua safe and prime are both water conditioners so there is no need to add both. I would put the aqua safe on the back shelf for now and just use prime.

Is there a specific reason for using pH minus. In most cases it is much better to just leave our pH at the level it comes out of our tap. I see the pH of the tank is 7. What is the number straight from the tap? We can probably put the pH minus on the back shelf too.

I am not sure what filter aid is. Can you tell me what it is used for. And when it comes to using salt I know mollies like a bit of it in their water but unfortunately most of your other fish don't.

I am thinking it isn't only one thing affecting your little girl but is a combination of things. What I am seeing does look like a partial prolapse but we need to find out why it happened and try to fix the issues than may have led to this point.

Also one thing I remembered - the fish did have white stringy poop for a bit a few weeks ago but then it normalized.

 

In my humble opinion and from everything I've read a stable pH is more important than a specific number. The pH of your tap water really isn't outrageously high. Unless you have wild caught fish that have to have softer water there is no need to lower what's coming from your tap.

If it were me I would do several small water changes, 10 or 15% daily, over the next week or so with water that doesn't have the pH minus in it. By doing it slowly your fish will acclimate to the pH as it very gradually levels out to the same level as your tap. This will also make for one less thing you have to add with each water change. Run the pH test after each water change. Once it is equal to your tap water you can stop the daily changes.

It sounds like the tank was cycling thus the ammonia reading. Now that the cycle is complete there is no reason to continue adding bottled bacteria. I do wonder why you aren't seeing nitrates though. You should be seeing them in a cycled tank and 'specially one with this heavy bio-load. Your test strips may not be telling you the truth. If at all possible I will recommend you try to get an API Master Freshwater Test Kit. It contains test for the 4 major parameters we need to keep an eye on. And even more so when we start having issues. Knowing the exact parameters can often lead us to what may be causing a problem.

There really is more to doing water changes than just keeping the nitrates down in a cycled tank. Things we don't normally test for build up in our tanks. Such as minerals in our water that are not used by fish, plants or bacteria. Small water changes allow those things to gradually increase and can eventually start causing issues with our water pets.

The 75% water change was the right thing to do. I would now follow it up with the small water changes to equalize the pH and then go to changing out no less than half the water each week.

I have to wonder if maybe your little girl was constipated and may be what has caused what you are seeing. She may not be feeling all that well and that is why she is no longer eating. I hate to say yes, euthanize. Only you can make that decision. It is never easy but like all of our pets we have to do what's best for them