Whats wrong with my platy?? update

[JMatt1983]

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

 

[JMatt1983]

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

these are just a couple of pics of the tail

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/jmatt1983/HPIM0494.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/jmatt1983/HPIM0493.jpg

 

[Richard]

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.

 

[JMatt1983]

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

unfrortunately i do not have a quarentine 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?

 

[Timesdragonfly]

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

 

[JMatt1983]

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

 

[Richard]

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.

 

[JMatt1983]

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 im not sure about getting a filter for it

 

[Richard]

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 slim 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!

 

[inari]

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

 

[JMatt1983]

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

 

[inari]

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.

 

[JMatt1983]

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

yea i do, but they're horrible, not much selection, i'd rather go to a place thats dedicated to fish rather than to one thats 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

 

[inari]

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

That is awesome to hear keep us updated.

~Inari

 

[JMatt1983]

Re: Whats wrong with my platy??

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

 

[JMatt1983]

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?

 

[inari]

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

 

[JMatt1983]

i'll definately 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

 

[inari]

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

 

[chris632]

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