What I am doing wrong??? :(

[invisible1130]

I just lost another platy within 4 days. I lost the other on Saturday. No signs of sickness in either fish. Its like one minute they are fine...the next I find them floating in the tank. I feel awful! I feel like such a horrible fish mommy!! My tank is cycled. I have been checking the water and I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and nitrates were at 10 this morning (on the test tube kit). I have a 10 gallon tank and I use Aquasafe to treat the tap water. I do 25% water changes once a week. The PH is 7.8 and the temp. is about 79 degrees. Could I have just gotten a few bad platys or does anyone see that I am doing something wrong? I have only been doing this for about 4 weeks now and I'm getting frustrated. I get so upset when a fish dies. I have another 10 gallon tank with zebra danios and corys and they have been great!! :help:

[mishi8]

You say you've been doing this for 4 weeks now, so I'm assuming the tank is only 4 weeks old. Are you positive your tank is completely cycled? Did you see the ammonia and nitrites rise and then fall during the cycle? Have you tested your tap water for nitrates? And did you cycle with these platys?

[invisible1130]

Yes, I've been testing the water like crazy and yes, I did have the ammonia and the nitrites spike and then finally fell to zero. I think my tank cycled quickly becuase I did use Bio spira. Everything that I have read should happen, did happen and I still test the water all of the time to make sure that nothing changes. I did not cycle the tank with the platys. I have 5 neon tetras that I cycled with and they are all fine. During the cycling I changed the water every day to keep the ammonia and nitrites down. Is there something that I might be missing??? I'm just at a loss....

[Star_Rider]

what test kit are you using?

did you do a fish cycle or fishless cycle..

I know zebra danios are tough fish..hardy enough to withstand being used in a fish cycle.

It sounds as if you have some sort of spike.. but your test indicate your okay.

I know ammonia and nitrite spikes can change the conditions fast and fish wil just start dropping depending on species and how well they tolerate spikes.
ammonia is dangerous ..period
nitrite oxidises hemoglobins to metheglobin and basically asphixiates the fish since metheglobin cannot transport oxygen. I believe that salt will inhibit the aborption of nitrites
I would retest the tanks and do daily 10-15 % water changes in them.

[invisible1130]

I'm not even CLOSE to being an expert but I don't think its my water because I literally check it every single day. I mean, I know it can probably change fast but by checking so often I would see the ammonia or nitrites during my testing. Would there be anything else??? It seems like I am just having bad luck with the platys. All of my other fish are fine. (rest in peace, little platys) :(

[TKOS]

Doesn't sound like ammonia or nitrite are the issues. My parents bought some platies. they lived fine through quarentine (2 weeks) and then died on transfer to the established tank. No reason for it. Perhaps platies just aren't as hardy anymore.

Assumign you have a cycled tank and are doing decent water changes each week (with a dechlorinator of course) then I am going to assume that you did somehow get some platies that just weren't very hardy.

[invisible1130]

Thanks Tkos...that makes me feel a little bit better (at least it doesn't make me feel like I actually killed the poor little things). Thanks to all that replied...I'll keep up the water testing and maybe I'll try a few more platys later. They are such cool little guys!!

[Star_Rider]

try a different LFS when you get your next fish..could be a problem at the source.
:idea2:

[SnakeIce]

Actually the process of "cycleing" happens each time you add new fish. The bacteria isn't there to deal with the new level of waste production. To a small degree it also happens when you change the ammount you feed a tank even if the fish stay the same. What size were these platys? I have found that platys that are close to 2 inches tend to be over the hill.

[Roan Art]

Can you give us a "play by play" of how you introduce the fish to your tank? How are you acclimating them?

Also, they must be displaying *some* symptoms. How do they behave the minute you put them in your tank? Do they gasp, are their gills working hard, etc., etc.,.

This will help us find out what's going on.

Roan

[joephys]

For some reason IME live bearers seem to have the worst stocking of all fish. I go to my 2 local "Pet super store" and all the fish seem fine except for live bearers. Platy's, molly's, swordtails, (although not guppy's) all of them are always gasping at the surface and have clamped fins. Not sure why. :confused:

[Genral72]

When did you get your fish? Was it recently? Could you tell me how long after you introduced them until they died?

[invisible1130]

Thanks so much for all of the replies...I'm going to try and answer everything without forgetting something :)

I got the 2 Platys from Petsmart...2 males. (I would like to buy from a different store but there aren't anymore in my area other than Petsmart, walmart or Petco. All the smaller stores have closed) I got them the Saturday before last. Brought them home immediately. Floated the bag for about 15-20 minutes then added a small amount of the tank water into the bag for another 15 or so minutes. Then put them into the tank with my small net. They kind of checked out their new "pad" and explored. I didn't notice that they would gasp at the surface or notice that their gills were working harder than normal. (What I know as normal, anyway) Nothing LOOKED unusual. Last friday night did a 25% water change. Tap water, treated with Aquasafe, and about the same temp as tank water. Tested water the next morning. All parameters were:

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
PH: 7.8
I test the water everyday and I haven't seen any ammonia or nitrite. Using the aquarium pharmaceuticals master test kit. I check it every day becuase I wanted to make sure that when I added the 2 platys my water wasn't going to become toxic. Plus I want to also make sure that since my tank cycled so quickly (I used Bio spira) that it is indeed cycled which it seems it is.

So this past saturday I get up, check on the little guys as normal. all looked well. Swimming around, nothing looked strange or out of the ordinary. Then I guess about an hour later I was cleaning and my 4 year old son came to me and said he couldn't find one of the orange fish. I thought maybe he was in the cave. Then when I looked one of them was belly up. I immediately checked the water (again) to make sure all was still well. As it was from earlier that morning. I couldn't figure out what happened. I posted on here and someone suggested that maybe the other male picked on him and suggested to get maybe 3 females or leave just the one. I didn't get anymore platys but I got a betta. I put the betta in the tank (same method) on Monday. I watched and kept checking to make sure the betta would be okay with his tank buddies. He seemed to ignore his tankmates and keep to himself. The platy just went along business as usual. The neon tetras are all fine. Then last night when I came home the platy was in his cave. I went to bed. Got up this morning and platy was in his cave. Then came out and was just sitting at the bottom of the tank. when he did swim it was very peculiar looking. very slow and kind of wobbly. I knew that wasn't looking good. I dipped him out and put him in a bowl with the same tank water so I could take a closer look at him. At this point I knew I was going to lose him. I didn't see anything unusual. No marks or white spots or purple/red gills...nothing. Not sure what esle I should have been looking for. He wobbled around for a few more minutes and then that was it.

So sorry for the LONNNNGG post but I wanted to answer everyone's questions that was so nice to reply.
Thank you!!

[Roan Art]

Couple more questions:

What are the nitrates?
How often are you changing the water and how much?
Are you adding salt to the tank?

Roan

[invisible1130]

as of this morning the nitrates were at 10 (Aquarium pharm. freshwater master test kit) I change about 25-30% of the water once a week. (its due for its weekly change on Friday) And yes, I have added salt to the water.
thanks roan! :)

[Roan Art]

as of this morning the nitrates were at 10 (Aquarium pharm. freshwater master test kit) I change about 25-30% of the water once a week. (its due for its weekly change on Friday) And yes, I have added salt to the water.
thanks roan! :)
Hrm. A lot of people have had the problem you have with various types of fishes. I'm wondering if we aren't asking the right questions sometimes. I'm going on a hunch here which is why I asked about the salt.

So you DO add salt. One point in favor of hunch.

(for anyone reading this and wondering where this is going, I'm thinking TDS. It may not go there. Worth a look though, IMO, and if this pans out, could explain the deaths.)

Okay, why are you adding salt and do you know how much salt is in the water?

Do you have a GH test? If you do, would you please test your tap water and your tank water and tell me what they both are?

Thanks!

Roan

[invisible1130]

Okay..some of this is brand new to me so here's where more learning comes in. What is GH? I didn't add salt to the tank at first (in fact I've only added it once) I added it because I've read in various places that salt is good for the fish. It keeps them healthier...keeping some infections away, etc. Ever since I got the tanks I've been on the computer every night looking up tank care, fish care,etc. Anything to do with fish keeping. SO this may be where I learn the facts regarding salt. I was actually going to post that question but then I ended up having to post about my lost platy instead. Just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it!!!!

Opps..i forgot to say that I added 2 tablespoons (per instructions it said 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons). In fact...I didn't even add more salt when I did my water change last week.