Whats wrong with my platy?? update

I have a mickey mouse platy that looks like his tail was caught in a fan, its no longer the round fan shape but almost flat with what looks like tears in it, and he has whitish spots on it, I haven't noticed any aggressive behaviours from any of of the other fish in my tank, no nipping, the only thing i've seen is a couple seconds of chasing from the shark when other fish get too close to his cave, and then everything is calm again

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

these are just a couple of pics of the tail

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

What you're describing there sounds like a possible onset of fungus along with tailrot.. the good news is you only have to treat that particular fish, since neither are contagious.. these conditions are brought on by a combination of factors, including poor water conditions, but the primary cause is usually the fish being stressed out by another constantly chasing and nipping at its tail( seems your Shark may be a lot more active than you realise, which is why I no longer raise Sharks in community tanks).. moving your Platty to a quarantine tank or some other container would be a good idea, and use a saltbath( 4ozs. salt per gallon of water/ 3grams salt per litre of water) along with antifungal medicine to treat him.. by itself the antifungal medicine may or may not work, so the saltbath helps greatly as a supportive treatment.. good luck in saving your Platty.

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

unfrortunately I do not have a quarantine tank, only the bucket I use for water changes, but I have my platy in the bucket and not in the main tank with the other fish, but anyway, how long woul dI have to treat my fish before I can move her back, as my other two platies are male and female, and would you use aquarium salt or regular table salt?

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

make sure the salt doesn't have iodine... i've heard that matters, though I've never had to use it b4. I would only use the aquarium salt

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

ok so here's what I did, since I had the 10 gallon given to me with everything, salt included, I went out and bought a small 2 gallon tank, and aeration stone for my air pump, i've set that up, using the jungle buddies tablets to get rid of the chlorine, and used some ammo lock, to try and make the water a little less poisonous, bought some liquid fungus cure, and added that to the water, along with some of the salt, so we shall see what happens, unfortunately, I can not afford a filter for this tank, so I'll have to do very frequent water changes on it, I guess its just a waiting game now

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

Good move getting the smaller tank for quarantine purposes.. as long as you have air going into it, you're pretty safe.. start the treatment with the salt bath(aquarium salt would be the way to go) and the antifungus medicine, and try to get your conversions for medicine for a 2 gallon tank as precise as possible at www.metric-conversions.org to avoid overmedicating.. as far as filters for a quarantine tank go, you can't go wrong with a sponge-filter which is fairly cheap and does a pretty effective job in a tank that size.. sponge-filters are actually recommended for quarantine tanks.. hope your Platty gets back to good.

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

the tank I got is just one those living world tanks with the plastic lid on top, it only has a hole big enough to get the air pump hose through, so I'm not sure about getting a filter for it

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

No worrys there, sponge filters are filter plus air in one.. it's a sponge base which comes in various shapes( I generally go for the circular one).. there's a hard plastic tube that runs down the center of it, and in that tube you place your airhose with a slI'm airstone, place it down inside your tank, and there you have it, air and filter in one.. it's small, easy to clean, does a fairly good job keeping a quarantine tank clean, no charcoal to remove for medicating purposes, and best of all it's cheap!

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

ok so here's what I did, since I had the 10 gallon given to me with everything, salt included, I went out and bought a small 2 gallon tank, and aeration stone for my air pump, i've set that up, using the jungle buddies tablets to get rid of the chlorine, and used some ammo lock, to try and make the water a little less poisonous, bought some liquid fungus cure, and added that to the water, along with some of the salt, so we shall see what happens, unfortunately, I can not afford a filter for this tank, so I'll have to do very frequent water changes on it, I guess its just a waiting game now



FYI for tanks that small you can get a water fall filter for about 10-15 USD. my finacee got one for her 3 gallon and it works wonderfully. Personally if I ever end up with a tank that tiny....i'd get that same filter. It isn't as good as say the 10 gallon whisper filter but it will help so that you don't have to do daily water changes. that is what I would suggest for you. It will be yet another Air pump, but it is worth it. much better than those irritating undergravel filters. Hope that helps.

~InarI

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

I will be going out shortly here to find a very small filter for this tank, I don't have much choice for aquarium supply stores here, without driving into toronto, so really only petsmart and one called big al's aquarium supplies which I have bought all my fish from

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

do u have a wal-mart type store up in canada? if so u might want to check them out too they might have something for ya.

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

yea I do, but they're horrible, not much selection, i'd rather go to a place that's dedicated to fish rather than to one that's dedicated to thousands of things,but on the upside, my fish has gotten noticably better, i've seen an improvement in its swimming, and it seems as though the tail is starting to grow back

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

That is awesome to hear keep us updated.

~Inari

 

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

now my next question, when would it be safe to put my platy back into the main tank?

 

ok, so i've stopped adding medications to the water, no more fungus, yay, and hes swimming happily in clean unmedicated water, and has started more, now just gotta wait for the tail to grow back before putting back into the main tank?

 

that sounds like a good idea just out of pure curiousity how is ur play's tail looking post some pics it would be wonderful to see how he is coming along

~inari

 

i'll definitely post some pics if I can get him to stay on one place long enough, but i'd say about 50% of the missing tail has grown back

 

That is wonderful to hear, idk if your platy will take food from your hand, but that is how I sometimes get InarI to sit still. anyway good luck and glad to hear that your fishy is doing well again

~inari

 

I am sorry! but I think your fish has tail rot! you could buy MELAFIX for medication

 

all is cured and the tail has pretty much grown back, AND I have pictures, I have also moved him back into the main tank, I have watched in the smaller tank and watched at he jumped out of the water to get at some food, so I figured his swimming would be strong enough for the main tank, he, well I should say she, is swimming happily and trying to avoid the male platy lol

 

I'm so glad that your platy is doing better. I just pulled up both pics from the first when he/she was being fin niped and most likely fin rot. I'm very happy for you. If you start to see any more picking on, I would suggest either getting another tank that your platy and some other tank mates can live in or take the aggressor out and get him someone he can get alone with, but I'm still kinda new to this whole thing ;D anyway good luck and keep us posted

~inari

 

well since adding my platy into the main tank, there has been no signs of aggression from any fish towards her, although the male platy was pretty excited to see her lol and she is normally the first one to the food at feeding time

 

that's awesome to hear!!!!

 

I have a female platy who has been acting very strange today. She hasnt been swimming around too much, just kinda floating vertically. She hasnt eaten a whole lot, little bites here and there. And her hole in the back is open and has white around it. Shes very large and I think she might be pregnant, but the floating vertically is worrying me.

 

Oh no, that doesn't sound promising, but I can't say for certain what is causing this. I would QT immediately and be testing the water.

If not QT then some large partial water changes.

 

I just tested the water to see if the parameters were out of wack, but they're not.

The parameters were:
PH: 7.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

 

What do you mean about the "hole in the back" just before my platies give birth they stop eating and are quite still. (But they don't hover vertically like yours do!) I had one who was constipated who kept wobbling in the water - fed some greens and left some algae in there for her to snack on and it sorted out. Depending on the hole and white stuff does it look like it could be some sort of fungal infection?

 

No, its the hole her poo comes out of. lol. And it just looks white around it. I don't know how to describe it.

I went to go take more pictures of her but now she's gone into hiding and I can't find her without moving around all my decorations.

 

It is honestly very hard to tell from the pictures you have provided. However it could be she is about to give birth. Or, maybe even a fry that is stuck. She seems pretty swollen around her anal vent. Do you know if she has ever dropped fry before?

 

I know for a fact that she's dropped a ton of fry. She was one of the first platys I ever got and she was constantly dropping fry. But, for the past two months or so she's looked very pregnant but hasnt dropped any fry.

 

Is it possible she has intestinal parasites? Also, have you tried fasting her and feeding her a shelled dethawed frozen pea?

Also, who are her tank mates? Do you use salt in her water?

 

I haven't tried the pea thing because I just noticed her behavior today and I don't have any in my house.

Shes currently in with a bunch more platys, 2 guppies, an oto, a bristlenose pleco, and a couple mystery snailks. And no, I use no salt because of the snails.

 

Sounds like a swim bladder problem to me, I'm afraid. I've heard of this before.

There isn't much of a cure if it is but she could just be dropping babies. What are her tankmates??

 

I listed her tank mates above. lol

 

If you can, try giving her a salt bath. If she is constipated this may help with that.

Also, did you know that Ottos are schooling fish?

I listed her tank mates above. lol

Your were probably both typing around the same time...lol..

 

I listed her tank mates above. lol

Oh sorry, my bad

 

I'll have to pick up some aquarium salt in the morning and try that.

And yes, I know they're schooling fish. I got this one from a friend who didnt want him anymore and ive been meaning to get a few more. Just haven't gotten around to it.

And I just went and took another picture of her. When she's swimming she's able to swim normally. Its just when she rests she goes vertical.

 

Is it possible to remove the snails for a few days to another tank? And I heard mystery snails could handle a little salt?

The salt is prObably your best bet. Don't euthanise her! I've heard of people killing platys at the slightest problem

 

I had a Molly do the same exact thing, she ended up getting dropsy about a week later. Now that I have a better picture of her, IMO I think you are dealing with either a parasitic infestation or something internal bacterial.

I am not expert on medicating, please hold out for more responses.