Ok, as the title states, I have an ill female platy, yesterday I lost a zebra, he was lethargic and had a white sore/red on the outside on his back near the dorsal fin and he died in just a few hours. The platy is acting the same but I see no visible sores. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Ill female platy
- Thread starter danelpalfrey
- Start date
UPDATE: platy has now died, same as Zebra, it took less than 24 hours, upon seeing the fish I quickly quarantined salted and melafixed but this seems to have no affect at all. all other fish look very healthy, but they did after the Zebra died. this is really worrying me.
How long have you had these fish? If you have had them for a long time and they are now suddenly dying, there must be a problem with your water or maintenance. If they are fairly new, this could be a problem that they had before you purchased them. You should check with your vendor and see if anyone else is having a similar problem with fish purchased from them at the same time. Also, is there any chance that something other than water may have been added to the tank recently? Sores on the body could be bacterial or they could be from external parasites I believe. Did you quarantine these fish after you got them, and if so, for how long? There are so many possible reasons for these fish deaths, that it may be hard to pin down. How are your other fish behaving?
ok, this is a 100 litre tank, I do water changes once a week, I have a biofilter for a 200 litre tank. the "main" readings are:
PH: 7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0.25 (this is new) this came up just after adding the new fish
Nitrate: 80 - 160 (also extremely high, and only bounced this high after new fish)
Nitrate and Nitrite are higher than normal, nitrate is normally about 50 (which I never found to be a problem) I have a fairly heavily planted tank so they were ferts. Tank has been established almost a year now
The fish themselves are new. I put them in on Saturday. 5 Zebras and 5 Platys
I performed a 50% water change last night to try and get levels back down to bearable levels
PH: 7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0.25 (this is new) this came up just after adding the new fish
Nitrate: 80 - 160 (also extremely high, and only bounced this high after new fish)
Nitrate and Nitrite are higher than normal, nitrate is normally about 50 (which I never found to be a problem) I have a fairly heavily planted tank so they were ferts. Tank has been established almost a year now
The fish themselves are new. I put them in on Saturday. 5 Zebras and 5 Platys
I performed a 50% water change last night to try and get levels back down to bearable levels
Sorry the stock list is as follows:
SAE's x3 (temporary home still very small)
Flying Fox x2 (temporary home, moving in a month to larger tank)
rainbow widows x4
and the afore menthioned platys and Zebra
SAE's x3 (temporary home still very small)
Flying Fox x2 (temporary home, moving in a month to larger tank)
rainbow widows x4
and the afore menthioned platys and Zebra
I contacted the LFS and they have assured me that they haven't had any similar fish deaths just those dying due to poor water quality or stress, but also explained that platy like all live bearers have short lived lives, which I knew already but was hoping they would stay alive, the reason this has caused concern is because my zebra died too and these are hardy fish. However, I have had guppies since I got the tank, and they are doing very well and there fry are doing extremely well too.
Ok, I have an update, the nitrate spike is due to the fact my Co2 bottle has ran out so the plants are not using the nitrate as much hence the spike. I am new to the co2 set up and wasn't expecting to refill it yet again so soon, so I am going to get a pair of fire extinguishers so I have a spare tank.
new update, all my fish seem healthy still, I went and got a fire extinguisher and turned the lights on a little earlier than normal to let the plants do there thing, I just did a water test and my nitrate is falling, not very fast, but accompanied by my water changes it will be down before long to about 40 ppm which is where I tend to keep it as a nice balance for the fish and plants alike.
