Sick Platy

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Winsloop

Registered Member
Jan 4, 2012
3
0
0
Hello! I was wondering if anybody might be able to give me an idea of what's up with my male platy. He's one of 12 fish in a 10 gal community that has been up and running since last February. As of right now, my stock is at four massive pristella tetras, two t-bone rasboras (their school died), my sick male platy, his she, and their four offspring of various ages.
About 2 weeks ago, the male started acting really weird. He stopped showing up for feedings and I spotted him sitting on the bottom of the tank in the back, gasping. I asked an owner of the LFS and she said based on my description of his inactivity, gasping, and what looked like cataracts, he was probably suffering from the low pH of my tank, around 6.4. The rest of the params are great except that the water is very hard and it has problems with the alkalinity.
She suggested that I do a 40-50% water change and see what happened. Well, I did about 45% and he seemed to recover for about a day but he still refused to eat until two days ago. He limped out from the back and that's when I noticed the fin rot.
His dorsal fin, pectorals, and tail are all affected. There are white patches on his tail and as of this afternoon, there's a pinprick sized hole there. His dorsal is frayed and his pectorals are white on the ends and now mal-formed.
Now, here's the problem, he's still gasping like he is having problems drawing water over his gills but now he moves around with his head against the surface of the water. He eats now, too, but not that much and he's incredibly skinny.

I've also managed to get the pH to 6.8 with a combination of water changes and API pH Up, however it seems strange that the pH should bother him now since he was the first fish I put in the tank and the water has always hovered at 6.4, although our tap is at almost 8.0.

What (other than fin rot) do you guys think it may be or what may be the root problem?
And how do I fix the rot without toasting my biobed?
 

Jannika

MTS Survivor
Mar 17, 2010
1,498
0
36
N. California
The rest of the params are great except that the water is very hard and it has problems with the alkalinity.
This is kind of unusual, and I would guess, the root of the problem. Hard water normally has high Kh also (alkalinity), which prevents the pH from swinging up and down. I'm not sure what's in "pH Up" but it sounds rather drastic. There are better things like crushed coral in your tank to help raise the alkalinity and keep things on an even keel.

The best way to treat the finrot would be to remove the fish to another tank, rubbermaid tote, or even a clean bucket. Keep the water pristine with water changes, and feed him anti-bacterial pellets or flakes. Good luck!
 
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