Red wag Platty looks white from half back

[Felix T Cat]

One of my wag tail platys looks pale from the dorsal fin back. I tried to take some pics but the light is just making it look like a flash. It doesn't look like her scales are damaged, they just look very pale. Both sides look like this. 46 gallon

Help ?
Water parms are am0, ites0m ates10
temp 78

Last water change 50% yesterday

[rocker92]

did you use a declor???

[Felix T Cat]

did you use a declor???

Prime, water source is well water run through whole house softener.

[Felix T Cat]

Finally got a good pic, please help:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm112/cfelix2k/IMG_1121-1.jpg
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm112/cfelix2k/IMG_1121-1.jpg%5B/IMG%5D
(http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm112/cfelix2k/IMG_1121.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

[msjinkzd]

I would look through this (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169765) guide. It could be a bacterial infection. Is she eating well? Anyone else showing symptoms?

[Felix T Cat]

Ok so she didn't make it long. I tried to set up a quick QT tank with a 12g eclipse I had but by the time I got it filled she was gone.

Now I need to figure out what is going on in the tank. Hindsight being 20/.20 when I first got her the next day I noticed a white spot on her side. I wrote it off as a scrape against the coral. It went away after a day or so (looking back, I had temp at 78 when I first loaded the fish, dropped it down to 76 right after adding them and then a few days ago raised to 78 trying to find a "balance" for the fish in the tank)

This is my guess:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21286

This also leads me to think that this could be why I'm having a tough time with the cardinals and my cory's dorsal was damaged (may have been fin rot not attack, again hindsight)

I did a 50% water change tonight, dropped the temp to 75 and will make a pet smart run tomorrow morning. Hopefully this is just something introduced on my initial fish load and I can get it under control quickly.

UGH, talk about frustrating

Edit: I will add that when I inspected her after wards her dorsal fin was starting to break down adding to my thought that this is my issue.

[msjinkzd]

I would be suspicious of columnaris. It can be treated with salt and a maracyn combo. Here is a thread with good info: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/columnaris_disease.php

[rocker92]

how hard is your water????? livebearers need a moderate to high hardness

[Felix T Cat]

Ok, just got back from the pet store, Picked up API Melafix, API Pimafix and Jungle Anti-bacteria medicated fish food. Also got some Aquarium salt and added 2 Tablespoons (I shoukd have used more according to the directoins but I was worried about my corys, should I be ?)

I dosed the tank with the Melafix (can I also treat with the Pimafix at the same time ?) and dropped in the food. One of my corys has some pretty bad tail rot. He seems to be eating but is having touble getting around the tank.

[KarlTh]

It's columnaris. Salt doesn't really do much for this. Aquarium salt, for future reference, is a con; the stuff for cooking or the table does exactly the same thing.

[Felix T Cat]

Thanks, I only got the small box of salt and since I'm kicking myself for not having the other meds already I figured it couldn't hurt to have some on hand. I could have sworn that I read somewhere that table salt might contain additives that could be harmful to the fish.

I found some information on combining the mela and pima and it supposedly is safe so I went ahead and dosed the tank with the Pima.

[KarlTh]

There's a persistent myth that there are toxic additives in table salt. But if there were, they'd be dangerous for you as well. So they wouldn't be allowed in a food grade product.

[wataugachicken]

the fish would be dead from the salt itself long before the additives got to a high enough level to even start thinking about harming the fish.