Sick Platy/Pregnant Molly

P

pisces22

AC Members
Aug 1, 2004
146
0
0
Ontario,Canada eh?
Visit site
Hey all,

My female red platy is really sick-her condition has gotteen worse over the past four days; she lies on the bottom of the tank "gasping" and her gills appear redish. Her colouring is off and shes lost her appetite; occasionally she swims to the surface but her swimming is laboured. THe water parems are normal, and the other fish are fine;including two tiny fry. She is not pregnant although she did have fry a few weeks ago. There is a male platy in the tank that harreses her;could this be exhaustion?? He leaves her alone now,however. Does anyone have any idea what this couls be? (I do have a 5 gallon i can put her in but i dont want to stress her out.

Also, I have a female gold dust molly who is pregnant AGAIN. She has several babies at different ages;the largest are 1 1/2 inches. Her belly is huge once more, however i noticed her scales are raised;is this normal for an expanding stomach or is this a disease?? She seems to be swimming and eating normally.

Thanks for ur help and happy holidays

ps: on a lighter note i recieved a 15 gallon aquarium kit for christmas, and im going to try my hand at live plants-talk about MTS lol WOOOO HOOOO!!!
 
I think your platy is pretty much done for. You may spare her the suffering by euthanizing her, place her in a bowl (aquarium use only!) of tank water and add a big handful of ice. In 20 minutes she will be, shall I say, permanently hibernating. The most peaceful way to euthanize a doomed fish IMO. You can place her in a plastic bag in waste can or flush her (this sounds so disrespectful but I don't have anywhere to bury a fish!).

Otherwise, isolate her in a quarantine tank and treat with an anti-parasitic medicine like Quick Cure (per instructions) AND and anti-bacterial medicine. This will quickly become more expensive than a female platy cost and still likely won't cure her. She either has gill flukes or similar parasite, or a really bad bacterial infection.

Next, please avoid contaminating your other tanks-- buy nets for each tank. The tank she is in should be considered a "biohazard" for your other fish for a while. If this is a plant-free tank with only livebearers, add one teaspoon of salt per gallon of water (buy cheap uniodized salt at the grocery store, please don't pay $3 for "freshwater aquarium salt", it's the same thing). Livebearers love this stuff and parasites hate it.


Your molly with raised scales may have what's called "dropsy". Raised scales and bloated bodies are the hallmark for dropsy. I'd quarantine her until it goes away. I do not know of any cures for dropsy, and it can be fatal.

Double check water parameters, specifically pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. For livebearers, they should be at these levels (respectively) 7.0+, 0, 0, sub-40. Anything off kilter should be investigated- let us know! Unhealthy water weakens a fish's immunity to disease drastically, leading to what you may have going on in your tank.

Enjoy the planted tank!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom