Another dead Platy

AquaDummy

AquaDummy

AC Members
Sep 26, 2004
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Kamloops, BC
Well, just over a week of having fish and my second platy died today. I don't know what I'm doing wrong? Ammonia is 0. Nitrites were about .1. Nitrates were less than 5. I did a 50% water change so will wait a couple of hours to test the water again. Another 1 of my mickey mouse platies seems to be losing his mickey mouse marking - they are turning white?

This aquarium is a love/hate thing. I really enjoy sitting and watching the fish - it's too bad I don't get to do that as often as changing water and worrying about the fish. If someone has some ideas of what I may be doing wrong please tell me. How do I know if they are getting enough O2? I have an AQ500 and AQ300 and assume that they agitate the surface plenty? There is a pretty good current as well.
 
AquaDummy I am not sure what you are doing wrong. Maybe not anything. If you see the fish going to the surface and gasping for air that is a sign that they are not getting enough oxygen. I am sorry about your loss. I would not mind being a fish in your tank though cause you seem to care about them a lot. ;)
 
It sounds like your fish are succumbing to stresses - travelling to a new tank, incompatibility, overcrowding, instability with temperature/pH, spikes in ammonia/nitrite - all of these things and more can be a source of stress and cause an outbreak of (any) disease.
IME, sometimes livebearers aren't the strongest fish - they're hopelessly inbred and I wonder if this makes them more likely to become sick.
You seem to be doing your best to take care of these fish, so there's not much more you can do - just keep doing lots of water changes and try to reduce any source of stress on the fish.
If you've got two HOB filters going and you're not injecting CO2 I can't see the fish having any trouble getting enough oxygen or too much CO2.
 
Looks like I'm about to lost one of my cories too. He was kinda floating at the top - I thought he was dead. I went to fish him out and he took off. Not sure where he is now. Doesn't look good though I'm sure.

I can't take this though. Once my current fish load is gone I think I'll pack it in. I've tried all sorts of foods and they don't seem to eat - other than the harlequins. I end up over feeding (at least I think) trying to get them to eat. Then I think they are doing good and all the sudden a floater.

I've spent a lot of time and money and was so excited about this adventure. It was supposed to be stress relief and enjoyable. All I do though is agonize over everything. If only I knew what I was doing..
 
Hang in there!

Keeping fish (properly) isn't easy, and there is a learning curve (I'm still on it after years in the hobby, not sure it ever ends!). I hope you don't leave the hobby, I feel bad for you that your first experience has been so negative.
I may be incorrect, but I think that it's reasonable to say you may be losing fish because your tank isn't fully cycled - you're not getting nitrite readings of zero yet, so the filter is still maturing. If you can tough things out until the filter bacteria are established, you may just get the balanced aquarium you originally envisioned.
If you haven't done so, you can try adding a little salt to the water - this should help your fish deal with nitrites (OG could explain exactly why this is, it's complicated, but it does work) in the meantime.
I'd stop feeding them so much - once a day or once every other day is enough for now, the last thing you want to do is add to the ammonia in the tank. Keep changing the water, keep asking questions, it WILL get better.
 
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