dieing platys

I should have been clearer, my ammonia, nitrate, ad nitrite test are great, it is only the ph ad hardness tests that are test strips. And the water is on the hard side.

I know meds can further stress fish if you give the wrong one, so I think I'm left with few options other than water changes. (Plus only the platys have had any signs of disease). On the plus side my male is looking lively now.
 
All I have ever owned is Platies, and I recently went through the same thing that you did, all at once they were dying and I couldn't figure out to what I did wrong or what was wrong w/ my tank. I lost all of my females, all the fry, and all but 2 males.

I did water changes, checked the param's on a weekly basis. I took water to the LFS (very reputable might I add, not like the petco's or petsmarts) and they checked my water....everything fine. And still my platies were dying. I got so frustrated that I couldn't see strait, and when I came here I got some wonderful advice and even some of the members made me rethink some of the things that I was doing.

Now, when and where did you buy your platies at? The reason I ask is b/c if you did purchase them from the LFS (like a Petco or Petsmart) then they very well could have a weak immune system, and since your filter wasn't working correctly then that would cause them stress, which will lead to thier death. My platies were dying b/c of old age-plain and simple.

Of course, I am no expert in the regards to everything that there is to know, and there may be somebody out there that knows a million times more than me! I would keep doing the water changes, adding the declorinator, and watching them very closely. I hope that they pull through it!
Charity
 
its pretty hard to kill a platy imo ... >.>

My uncle was given one as a kid and he threw it in a fish bowl and put it in the shed and then forgot about it all summer ...

When he finally went back in there near the end of summer the platy was still alive and kicking even though there was only an inch or so of water left...

O.o
 
Oh I very much agree that a platy is hard to kill, they are hardy and lively! However, it doesn't keep them immune from old age or weak immune systems, let alone any other type of diseases that could enter an aquarium. I've had some of my platies for years and then again, I've had some that only lived for a few days b/c of reasons unknown! And it wasn't anything that I was doing wrong, it was b/c of the way that they were treated and handled before I recieved them.

Now to throw one in a fish bowl and then leave it in a shed for the whole summer just goes to show that the particular platy your Uncle was given must have been one heck of a survivor!
Charity
 
I have had the fish for about 7 months (one a little less because I did have a origial female die from soon aftter I bought her, she was small and got stuck i the filter), ad from the best fish shop i town. So, I really do not think it is an issue of old age, but anything is possible?

It is nice to know that someone else has had similar problems. Thaks for the suport.
 
Try adding aquarium salt. Livebearers like salt in thier water especially if the water is a little on the hard side. How long has the tank been set up and how big is it? Do yourself a favor and go get another testing kit. Aquarium pharmaceuticals makes a freshwater master test kit that is pretty reliable.

Marinemom
 
Marinemom said:
Try adding aquarium salt. Livebearers like salt in thier water especially if the water is a little on the hard side. How long has the tank been set up and how big is it? Do yourself a favor and go get another testing kit. Aquarium pharmaceuticals makes a freshwater master test kit that is pretty reliable.

Marinemom
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Sorry Marinemom, this is actually one of the biggest Myths in our hobby. Most livebearers need hardness not salinity added to their water. People use it as a tonic but it will cause more problems with captive bred fish in the long run. Wild Mollies may see salt water but most don't. And where Platies are found there is no access to salt. They are not fish that live in most estuaries, they tend to be found in streams in central America.
 
If you bought the fish from a reputable fish store in town and you trust that thier fish aren't weaklings, then perhaps they could help you diagnosis the problem. I know that there have been numerous times I went to my LFS and they have helped me tremendously! That is just a thought!

How is everything going today? Are they still acting funny? Another question for you: before you left did you add anything to the tank out of the normal routine you usually do?
 
tricksterpup said:
Sorry Marinemom, this is actually one of the biggest Myths in our hobby. Most livebearers need hardness not salinity added to their water. People use it as a tonic but it will cause more problems with captive bred fish in the long run. Wild Mollies may see salt water but most don't. And where Platies are found there is no access to salt. They are not fish that live in most estuaries, they tend to be found in streams in central America.
Click to expand...

However salt will kill parasites in the water to an extent that they will not harm fish any longer but, as always, will often still be present. A small ammount of salt will not harm them.
 
The one platy left is actually behaving much better. Although, the swordtail is being a little more aggressive toward him than usual. It is not uncommon for them to display to one another. My guess is he will make it though. My biggest concern now is that I don’t want to introduce my healthy fry to the tank not knowing what was wrong.

No I had not added anything unusual to the tank. I suppose if everything is looking up in a few weeks or so, I will consider adding the growing fry. I may have to chalk this one up to an unsolvable mystery (but I’ll still take any of your educated guesses).

Thanks for all the help.
 
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