Hi. Today I noticed one of my platies which I thought was pregnant had a red sore-like spot on her abdomen. I just found her with a small hole and her intestines entangled in a plant. There are no aggressive fish and the water is perfect. No one else is sick or damaged and this literally just happened out of nowhere. Could this have been some sort of horrible miscarriage?
horrible miscarriage?
- Thread starter phillyfishman
- Start date
I'm sorry for your awful loss... One of my prego endlers developed a red spot/tear that I worried was because she'd become so large, but the "wound" went away a couple days later. Did you feed the tank when you last saw her? I know my endlers get much rounder after they eat... Not sure if that'd really affect pregnancy, tho.
I am sorry for your loss. I don't think being prego would do this. Do you have any sharp objects in the tank? Are the plants plastic, silk or real? What other fish are in the tank? How large is the tank?
I've had similar things happen to my Platy and female Betta. They bloat up, some preggo, others just fat. Then suddenly have a sore spot and then the explode and I find them the next day eaten out and hollow...very weird.
Lilyann, did any other fish in the same tank get this....what shall we call it, "condition"?
The symptoms sound like maybe an intestinal blockage. Caused by a parasite, bacteria, trauma, Something They Ate, or ??-- but what would cause it and why it would afflict only females is puzzling. Hope we get others to chime in who have either experience with this phenomena or some knowlege of the cause(s).
What else is in the tank? You say they are nonaggressive but is it possible they might have carried something they could tolerate but which the platy could not?
Phillyfisherman, sympathy for the fish afflicted with such a horrid thing and for you for having discovered it. ugh.
The symptoms sound like maybe an intestinal blockage. Caused by a parasite, bacteria, trauma, Something They Ate, or ??-- but what would cause it and why it would afflict only females is puzzling. Hope we get others to chime in who have either experience with this phenomena or some knowlege of the cause(s).
What else is in the tank? You say they are nonaggressive but is it possible they might have carried something they could tolerate but which the platy could not?
Phillyfisherman, sympathy for the fish afflicted with such a horrid thing and for you for having discovered it. ugh.
It's quite possible that it could have been since platies are live bearers, I'm not a vet so I really can't say with certainty. However I had a female opaline gourami with the same exact symptons & they are not live bearers. My gourami's belly got a bit swollen & then about after a week I found her swimming around with half her intestines sticking out & trailing behind her. I took her out and put her in my hospital tank & started researching to see what the problem was. I thought that maybe it could be a severe case of Dropsy or maybe Swim-bladder since they both distort a fish's belly to a degree (I really had no idea what it could be).
After much research I concluded that it was probably a hernia. Fish can get hernias if they are stunted, suffer from extreme constipation, or quite simply develop a soft spot in their intestinal walls due to injury or genetics (just like us humans develop hernias).
My gourami's trailing intestines eventually rotted off after a couple of days & the wound in her side healed & she went about her business like nothing happened until she finally die about 2 - 3 weeks later. She most likely died as a result of the hernia. Had I known at the time that the hernia was fatal unless untreated (operated on) I would have euthanized her earlier.
Sorry for your platy's predicament.
After much research I concluded that it was probably a hernia. Fish can get hernias if they are stunted, suffer from extreme constipation, or quite simply develop a soft spot in their intestinal walls due to injury or genetics (just like us humans develop hernias).
My gourami's trailing intestines eventually rotted off after a couple of days & the wound in her side healed & she went about her business like nothing happened until she finally die about 2 - 3 weeks later. She most likely died as a result of the hernia. Had I known at the time that the hernia was fatal unless untreated (operated on) I would have euthanized her earlier.
Sorry for your platy's predicament.
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Well I'm almost positive it wasn't some sort of disease because it would have shown more than a few hours before death and the other fish are fine. I think it is possible that she may have ingested a piece of fine gravel about two weeks ago when i added another layer. I watched in horror as a few of my fish ate the gravel as it dropped down (which could have been avoided if i hadnt just let it fall in) but they die within a day. Well, hopefully I don't have some invasive super parasite but I guess we'll find out.
Scratch that, I just saw another sore spot on one of my platties. What can be so ravenously fast?!
