# Platys dying



## soshesays

So, my tank has been cycled for almost a year... i've really had no problems until recently.. my first platy died that i've had since cycling, I figured it may be age of some sort, and didn't worry about it.. (might i add that my water is perfect) Before the 1st platy died, one of the platy's had babies ... and I only found one small one swimming in the tank, I quarantened him and fed him and what not, and then he died about 2 months after he was born, for no aparent reason and he was doing great! then just 2 days ago, another platy died.. and this morning another one.. altogether it was 1 male and 2 females... i have remaining 1 swordtail platy and one sunset platy which were both recently moved into this tank since my 10 gallon seemed to crowded for them, and after the first 2 deaths, i felt like there was plenty of room in the 20 Gal for them. 1 Penguin tetra, 3 neons, 2 small barbs, bloodfin, 2 buenos ares tetras, 3 cories, and 1 yo-yo loach... also 2 dwarf frogs which are seperated from the tank.. I know nothing killed them, because right before they died they would swim very close to the bottom looking lazy I guess you could say.

Is this common? Did I possibly just get diseased fish? the last 2 i've had for about 3 months...

I just dont know if I should move the rest of the fish, or what.. but like i said before, my water is fine...


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## Lexus

ok... your first post seemed confusing
What size of tank is it that they are dying in?
How many other fish and what kinds are in this tank?
What do you mean perfect water? What are the exact perameters?


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## nyxWild

did they act weird in anyway or did you see anything wrong with their bodies? or how they ate? it could be a disease that's in the water. also maybe you should take into account what you're feeding them. my guess is pay attention to your platies and next time one of them seems sick find a link that can help you diagnose or figure out what it is. cheers! and good luck to your platies.


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## soshesays

Lexus @ Sun Feb 13 said:


> ok... your first post seemed confusing
> What size of tank is it that they are dying in?
> How many other fish and what kinds are in this tank?
> What do you mean perfect water? What are the exact perameters?


Did you not read my post? They're in a 20 Gallon tank, ONLY the Platies are dying, all my other fish are fine.. I listed all the other fish in my tank above... and by perfect water, all my parameters are at what they should be.. I'm not an idiot.. I am very well educated on fish.. I watch my fish constantly.. I did not notice anything wrong.

When the 2nd one died, it seemed as though her insides came out, almost like feces, but it looked more like maybe intestines?

I did a 50% water change.. the water is looking crystal clear. All the fish are active, I stuck a worm cube in there last night to make sure they're all well and eating, and they all seem to be perfectly healthy. 

Do by chance fish get problems if they mate, and have fry? Is it possible that 1 or 2 of them had gotten pregnant, and she never gave birth to the fry.. keeping them inside of her, and having them die and interrupting her internal organs? 1 of the 2 females DID give birth.. and the male that inpregnated which ever one did, died aswell. 

My tank is nowhere near overstocked, the fish are all very small other then my yo-yo loach whom is harmless. 

I put salt in there every 3 water changes or so.. the aquarium salt, less then it says on the box.. maybe platies don't take well to the salt? But i've been doing it for awhile, and no changes until now.

any help would be appreciated.


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## swimmers

Hi Soshesays,, platies can handle some salt OK so IMO that wasn't the problem. The life span on them is 1 to 2 years so thay may have been at their time, ones you purchase may have been treated w/ chemicals in shipping & combined with that stress it could shorten their lifespan plus you have no way of knowing their age if you purchased them.That doesn't explain the baby, but I've had some where part of the batch develops & grows fine & others stay small & seem OK for a while but don't live as long as they should. Sometimes it's hard to determine why they died, but if you don't see evidence of disease or illness you may never know what happened. Keep up with your regular water changes & feed a variety of foods. I've found this has helped my platys health quite a bit. I feed a variety of flake food, (buy small containers so it's always fresh), dried babyshrinp, dried bloodworms & fresh zuccinni or frozen spinach. They seems to really like the veggies, I hardly get my hand away before they all dive in nibbling at it. Hope I've helped some, Good Luck!


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## Damon

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse but you still never answered Lexus's question. What are the water parameters? How are you conditioning your water? Have you changes watersource? Tank temp? How are the fish acting before they die? Are the scales raised? Any brownish flakes on the fish?
You penguin tetra should be kept in schools. Lack of tankmates will stress the fish out and he may harass other inhabitants (very active swimmers). The neons need more also as well as your bloodfin tetra. They tend to nip at neons. What type of barbs?
You'll have to excuse me but for someone who is very well educated on fish, you didn't do your homework as for appropiate stocking quantities on your various fish. It may or may not have to do with the platys but females usually only give birth where they feel safe and with the other fish she may have not.


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## soshesays

Simpte @ Mon Feb 14 said:


> I'm not trying to beat a dead horse but you still never answered Lexus's question.  What are the water parameters?  How are you conditioning your water?  Have you changes watersource?  Tank temp?  How are the fish acting before they die?  Are the scales raised?  Any brownish flakes on the fish?
> You penguin tetra should be kept in schools.  Lack of tankmates will stress the fish out and he may harass other inhabitants (very active swimmers).  The neons need more also as well as your bloodfin tetra.  They tend to nip at neons.  What type of barbs?
> You'll have to excuse me but for someone who is very well educated on fish, you didn't do your homework as for appropiate stocking quantities on your various fish.  It may or may not have to do with the platys but females usually only give birth where they feel safe and with the other fish she may have not.



maybe you shouldn't jump to conclusions. Right? All of my fish are actually very happy and healthy.. I feed them a variety of food, aswell as water changes about every 3 days, and conditioning the water. they have no flakes of any sort on them and they are all VERY active. I actually bought another bloodfin for my bloodfin, and he would nip at the new one so I took that one out and put it in my 10 Gal. He prefers to be alone, and the same with my penguin tetra.. more or less, the bloodfin and the penguin swim together, and they do not nip ANY other fish in the tank. I DID have more neons, but they didn't survive more then a few days, obviously unfit living conditions from the pet store. The 3 I have are very content, and very active with each other. I have 3 Clown barbs (they are the size of the neons).. originally with 5, but 2 had I believe eyepop and died almost immediately. 

The fish before they die, tend to stay in one spot very close to the ground. Like any other dying fish. The only thing I noticed which I stated above is that one of the fish looked like his/her intestines were out of her body after she/he died.

The temperature of my tank is at a steady 78-80 degrees which my fish seem most happy at.

Obviously the platy felt safe enough to give birth to the fry that she did. The platies are the biggest fish in the tank, and there's PLENTY of hiding, why would she be afraid??

It seems to me as though you're trying to blame me as to why my fish are dying. "YOU HAVENT DONE YOUR HOMEWORK" trust me, i've done PLENTY of homework.

My Exact parameters are as follows: (this will explain when I say MY WATER IS PERFECT)

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Low PH: 7.4
chlorine: 0

Anything else? I have hard water... I have a master test kit, and I test frequently. Let me add that I don't appreciate you "attacking" me at all. I thought this forum was for asking questions and getting help?

Swimmers thank you SO much for your reply... I was a bit worried that maybe the platies weren't taking to the salt, but they had always seemed so happy. They're all SO active right now, maybe they we're just old, there bellies seemed to be very large from when I got them, and I thought they were pregnant, but nothing ever came of it..


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## Damon

You're not still listing all your water parameters. NitrAtes are important also, especially if your tap has high nitrates. I see you have no chlorine but what about chloramines? Heavy metals? Noone is attacking you but when someone concerned asks a legitamate question, you get snippy. We can't help if we don't know much about the tank. Take it as a grain of salt.


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## soshesays

Simpte @ Mon Feb 14 said:


> You're not still listing all your water parameters.  NitrAtes are important also, especially if your tap has high nitrates.  I see you have no chlorine but what about chloramines?  Heavy metals? Noone is attacking you but when someone concerned asks a legitamate question, you get snippy.  We can't help if we don't know much about the tank.  Take it as a grain of salt.


I run forums on my own, and I would NEVER talk to any other member the way you've come at me. It's rude, and pointing fingers. 

My Nitrate are at 0, I use a water conditioner that removes the chloramines and heavy metals.

You're coming at me like "Well idiot, you didn't include this? are you stupid? why do you even have fish?" that's how you're coming at me. I apologize for not including my nitrates, it was an accident. 

And before you tell me "Your schools are still too small" ALL of my small tetras swim in a school 99% of the time, the buenos aries tetras, the clown barbs, and the neons.


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## swimmers

Soshesays, I had one that looked pregnant for a very long time & never dropped fry. She was one I raised & never got moved to another tank or stressed. Sometimes they just can't have the babies if that's what it was. Some don't agree with using salt. I have discontinued using it on a regular basis like I was & only use it for a stress remedy or ich problem (for my platys) I had a problem with high TDS levels & the salt was contributing to the problem.I do give my balloon molly a small amount every few water changes though - Good luck with yours!


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## Lexus

Well if you have your own forums and dont like how we treat you then stay there, because with this attitude you are no addition to this forum. 

Also if you know so much about fish how come you didnt know that livebearers ie platys actually thrive in a little salt. 

The reason your bloodfin beat up the other is he was trying to establish his rank, and which is why you need more, otherwise they will constantly beat up the other fish. Same with the penguin tetra. Beating up others is natural... schools diverse and sometimes stop it. 

"All of my fish are actually very happy and healthy" if they are so healthy and happy why are fish getting beat up and dying!


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## Tommyr

soshesays @ Mon Feb 14 said:


> Simpte @ Mon Feb 14 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You're not still listing all your water parameters. NitrAtes are important also, especially if your tap has high nitrates. I see you have no chlorine but what about chloramines? Heavy metals? Noone is attacking you but when someone concerned asks a legitamate question, you get snippy. We can't help if we don't know much about the tank. Take it as a grain of salt.
> 
> 
> 
> I run forums on my own, and I would NEVER talk to any other member the way you've come at me. It's rude, and pointing fingers.
> 
> My Nitrate are at 0, I use a water conditioner that removes the chloramines and heavy metals.
> 
> You're coming at me like "Well idiot, you didn't include this? are you stupid? why do you even have fish?" that's how you're coming at me. I apologize for not including my nitrates, it was an accident.
Click to expand...


Your NitrAtes are ZERO? That's not good. How can all your water parameters be zero?

I don't mean to bust into this thread and I AM new here today but you need to step back and R-E-L-A-X a little, people ARE trying to help you here after all. 

It sounds like it just may have been the Platys time to go if all the others are fine. 

Tom


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## soshesays

> Well if you have your own forums and dont like how we treat you then stay there, because with this attitude you are no addition to this forum.
> 
> Also if you know so much about fish how come you didnt know that livebearers ie platys actually thrive in a little salt.
> 
> The reason your bloodfin beat up the other is he was trying to establish his rank, and which is why you need more, otherwise they will constantly beat up the other fish. Same with the penguin tetra. Beating up others is natural... schools diverse and sometimes stop it.





> "All of my fish are actually very happy and healthy" if they are so healthy and happy why are fish getting beat up and dying!


Firstly, I don't run fish forums, and I was a member of this forum for quite some time before it disappeared and came back. the only attitude I have is because you act like I'm a horrible fish owner when i'm not. 

I DID know that molly's thrive in salt, and I was pretty sure that platys did as well, but I was just making sure that didn't contribute to another possible problem.  

I'm sorry but if my fish is beating up another fish, i'm not going to keep them in the same tank.. I sure wouldn't enjoy getting beat up ALL the time.. he was extremely stressed out, I don't want a fish to die just so the other can claim his territory. The fish that don't have pairs swim together, i'm sorry if that's so hard to believe, but they do. 



> "All of my fish are actually very happy and healthy" if they are so healthy and happy why are fish getting beat up and dying!


 I don't quite understand this.. firstly one of you say I should let my fish get beat up, and now you're telling me my fish are dying because i'm letting them get beat up? wtf. I simply stated that 3 of my platies died for no apparent reason, I never said they got beat up. So this makes me a little confused.



> Soshesays, I had one that looked pregnant for a very long time & never dropped fry.  She was one I raised & never got moved to another tank or stressed.  Sometimes they just can't have the babies if that's what it was.


Swimmers: That's what I was thinking, but I wasnt sure if this actually happened in fish... I have 2 other platies in a different tank that didnt have such huge bellies, BUT they always had them... thanks so much for clearing that up for me.. i'm betting that's exactly what it was, they didn't drop.  I really really appreciate you being as nice as you were to me.. not jumping to conclusions like the rest, I enjoy my fish so much, and I wouldn't want something terrible to be happening in my tank.


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## swimmers

Soshesays, you are welcome. I'm still trying to learn all I can to keep my fish healthy, same as you! It's amazing how much I've learned from everyone on this forum, so stick around OK?


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## MB75

Firstly, you tetras need schools around them, like the others said already. And 2 is not aschool, not even a group, however 6-8 is a scholl and then they will not nip at each other after the pecking order is clear.

Secondly, there is a problem, if your tank has nitrates at 0. Then it is not cycled or something else is a problem. In a normal cycled thank there is always some nitrates, 10-20 would be ok. The plants use nitrates to grow. Many people consider the amount of nitrates as an indicator for necessary water change intervals.

Thirdly, your water parameters lack information of hardness -gh, kh? Platies like hard, alcaline water, while tetras demand soft acidic water. So your water parameters simply cannot be perfect for all the fish in your tank.

Sorry my news isn't any better. Maybe dividing your fish, as you have two tanks, into a hard-water tank and a soft-water tank, is a solution for the situation.

Reading your posts I must say that you have had quite a many fish die, and not only the platies. Pop-eye is oftne considered to be caused by wrong or poor water conditions, so please think about my suggestion, dividing the fish in two and offering each group of fish the optimal conditions.


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## turtlehead

nitrites 0 = problem, not perfect. No one was pointing fingers, you are ASSUMING = problems.


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## nyxWild

soshesays do NOT take this the wrong way but you're asking questions right? well people needed MORE information to answer YOUR questions correctly. you can't take it the wrong way if people say that something isn't right that is THEIR opinion and you have the right to follow it or not. don't get all offensive. people have different opinions and you don't seem to realize that. if you don't give the right information and people ask you for it and you just ignore it then that's your problem. you seemed to be looking for a specific response but you seemed to be wording it in a way that people didn't understand what it was that you wanted to ask. don't blame them because they're confused about what you've asked. it's life, just deal.


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