I have a small tropical tank that has been cycled and set up for at least a year, with changes, but its been cycled a long time. I have 2 platies, Pixie and Dixie, and a pink betta in the tank, and they have also been in there since the tank was cycled.

Pixie has always been tiny. He has never grown larger like Dixie has, but he seemed fine and perky and ate and swam around so I didn't worry a lot about it. For the last few days he has been bottom sitting and hiding in the plants. His fins are clamped and although he did struggle to get to the top of the tank earlier, it seemed too much for him and he went back down to the gravel and he's not eating. Pinky and Dixie seem fine, but Dixie is hanging with him a lot. There have been no changes, although I did a regular 25% wc on Sunday. The water was temp matched and dosed with Prime. The gravel is fairly new, but has been in the tank for a month at least and was thoroughly rinsed with treated water. This is an 8 gallon tank. Params are Ammonia-0, nitrates 20,nitrites 0, GH 150, KH 40, PH 7.2, temp stays around 75-80.

One thing is last week when I did the wc I unplugged the heater and inadvertently forgot to plug it back in until Sunday when I did another wc and found it. The tank temp got down to 70, but the heater raised it slowly when I plugged it back in. I can't believe I forgot that.

I tried to post a picture but my memory card seems to have gone bad. He has no frayed fins, no fungusy looking stuff...he's just bottom sitting and seems very lethargic and not himself. He's always been a perky little guy and now he's not moving around at all, even to eat.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Guys I think I'm losing him. He was just sitting on the gravel kind of floating over on his side. I guess I was stressing him out looking at him so much and he went into one of the ceramic houses in the tank and has never come out. I don't know what to do here. He looked like he was barely breathing and struggled away from the glass when I was looking at him.

Haha I feel like I'm talking to myself here but I don't know what else to do. I couldn't find him, so I carefully picked up the decorations in the tank until he came out. He did struggle to the top and ate and stayed up there for a while. His fins are clamped and he's swimming funny...kind of shaky acting...but he did eat so I guess thats a good sign in a way. He went back into the ceramic shell after he ate though and hasn't come back out. I looked at him very closely and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. His coloring is very dark, but it has been that way for a long time. As I said he is very tiny and has never grown larger. He's just such a sweet little guy and I don't know what to do for him.

Aww poor guy, I hope he'll pull through. He could be pretty old though, platies only live like 2 years?

But it seems hes getting better, I really hope he pulls through!

Sorry to hear your poor little guy is sick

I kept livebearers for a while and would see similar unexplained illness sometimes too, particularly with guppies (I never kept platies). I would have guppies who suddenly decided to hide among the river stones on the bottom or sit in a plant for days on end. Once I thought one was dead and coudln't find him anywhere, only to see him swimming and acting normal about 3 days later! I don't know what caused this, but maybe that's what's going on with your guy

Usually, if I lost a mollie or guppy they would bloat first, but you're not seeing anything like that are you?

No Chrissy, he's not bloated at all. He's just bottom sitting on the gravel right now, and I hesitate to stress him out by trying to get him to move again. I guess I'll just wait until I feed them this evening and see if he comes up for food. I just can't figure out what could've happened to make him ill, and the other fish are showing no signs of any problems. I didn't know that platies only lived around 2 years, though. I've had them for at least a year now.

Just wait and see what he does. I remember one guppy I had hid between two rocks, I would check on him with a flash light and tap the glass, but he wouldn't do anything. I was sure he was dead when he returned to his old self again! Who knows, maybe the temp drop you had triggered some sort of torpor or something (purely guessing here )

Hopefully thats it. I can't believe I did that. I had an old heater where the glass busted and sent me halfway across the room because I was forgetful and didn't unplug it before I did a wc. This heater is new and not glass, but I've gotten into the habit of unplugging it during cleanings and wcs. Unfortunately I didn't get into the habit of replugging it back. It was off for a week, and its lucky the temps didn't drop more than they did, but luckily we had a warm spell here for a few days. When I caught it, the temps had dropped to around 68-70 degrees. Now that I think of it he was fine before that episode.

Thanks Chrissy. I'll just watch him for a few days.

No prob, I hope he's ok
I use a powerbar for my tanks, so when I clean them I flick it off, then back on when I'm done. That way everything goes back on for sure. Maybe you could try something like that?

Hi Hon,

Poor Pixie, and poor Vickie. If it's not one thing it's another, hmm?
I googled Platys, and found this website that has some good information. It does say that platys live 2 - 3 years, and the male is smaller than the female. Is Pixie is a he?
You said the nitrates are 20. Is that normal for that tank? There's a link on that webpage with "Freshwater Fish Diseases" that said high nitrites or nitrates can cause bottom sitting and lethargy. Just a thought.
I hope he's better soon. It' so terrible when our fish babies are sick! They can't tell us what's wrong.

Keep us posted, Sweety.

Debs

Edit: I have a power bar for both aquariums, too. It shuts off everything but the bubbler.

Thanks both of you. I don't know if Pixie is a he or a she. I thought you could tell by the colors and that the male was brighter than the female, which is why I thought they both were males. Went to feed them this evening and can't find Pixie anywhere. I guess I'll let it go until tomorrow and if he doesn't come out tomorrow I'll have to go in and find him. Sigh. I don't have a good feeling about this at all. I've seen fish go down before for no apparent reason and this is looking like the case.

Oh Hon, I hope he surprises you, and you'll see him out the next time you look.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that he'll be fine.

Debs

Sorry that your plattie is not doing so well. To tell the sex of platties (and mollies) you look at their anal fin. Females will have a "normal" anal fin, nice and rounded it should look similar to a goldfishes in shape, but only one not double. Males have what is called a gonopodium. Their anal fins are longer on the first ray of the fin and sometimes do not appear to be all the way connected to the body along the back of the fin. At first it takes some work to identify them, but once you know what to look for its easy to tell the sexes apart.

Do you salt their tank at all. Most live bearers are brackish water fish. This means they need at least some salt in the water for continued good health. I have heard of people that have kept livebearers with and without salt in their tanks, and the fish had fewer health problems and unnexpected deaths when there was salt added.

Is there any way you can get a picture of your platties?

kusackaid, I took a picture this morning but my memory card has gone bad and won't read. Sigh. They are orange and yellow platies. Dixie is the larger one...around 3/4 to 1 inch. Pixie has never grown like Dixie has. He is only maybe a 1/2 inch. When I fed them he didn't come out. I went into the tank and moved the tree that has the air bubbler in it where he likes to hang, and he came out and ate. He is swimming shakily and his fins are clamped. Other than that I can see no marks, fungus, or anything else wrong with him. He ate ok, but went straight back to his tree. I have a betta in the tank with them. If its ok to salt, I can do that if it will help him. How much salt would I use?

Iwould start by just salting to a .01%. I don't even keep my livebearer tank exactly at that lvl, and it has helped a lot with the sudden/unexplained dieoffs. To achieve that lvl add one teaspoon of salt per gallon of water. I do not know how the salt will affect the betta though.

Does the betta ever pick on the platties? I thought the males rarely made good community tank buddies.

One more question: when you realized the heater was off, what was the total temperature difference between the tank temp, and what the heater is set to? And how long did it take the heater to get the tank back up to that temp?

I am wondering if the temp rose too quickly and sorta "shocked" your platty.

I actualy salt my betta tank (very slightly), it shouldn't harm him.

I will try lightly dosing with salt. Actually, the betta is very laid back and never picks on the fish at all. As a matter of fact, he is the second or third betta that I have had in a community tank and never had any trouble.

The difference was around 15 degrees, and it took the heater around 5 hours to raise the temp. This is a small tank, though.

Pixie is not good this morning. I had to roust him out of the tree when I fed them, and he just quickly went into one of the ceramic shells and hasn't come out, although he did come out and eat last night. So I'll give the salt a try.

Thanks!

I hope the salt helps, Sweety! Poor li'l guy! I'm glad that he is eating for you, anyway!
Be sure to keep us posted!

Debs

I hope things get better for him Vickie. That 15 degree drop was a big one. And if he was out of sorts to start...The salting is a good idea and keep everything else stable a while sounds like your best plan

Thanks Imogen. Sigh. I just still can't believe I forgot that. Seems like since I have been on 3rd shift I've been forgetting so many things. I think its sleep deprivation. Even when you sleep its like taking a long nap.
He seemed a little perkier after I put in some salt and Prime. This morning when I fed them, he came out and ate but I think Dixie ran him back into the inside of the tree. I've never noticed Dixie being aggressive toward Pixie before. I'll just keep an eye on them and separate them at feedings in some way if I have to. I don't have another heater so taking Pixie out would be too stressful for him. I'll just do the best I can. I only had about a teaspoon of salt yesterday, but got some rock salt today and will dissolve 2 more teaspoons and leave it at that for a bit. I remember that salt doesn't go away in the tank until you do a wc so I don't want to overdo it.

Poor little guy.

Poor Fella. It's bad enough that he doesn't feel well, but for his tank buddy to run him back into hiding, too.
I'm glad that he came out to eat though. The stronger fish must know when the other fish is weaker. Dot used to spook Smokey away from food, too. She would act like she was scared - and swim around and hide - which made him do the same thing. Once he was in the corner, she came out and ate the food.

You're doing all that you can, Sweety. Maybe it's better for him right now to be hiding, so he won't get picked on.
Keep your chin up.

Debs

Well, I don't know if it was the salt/Prime, or he just perked up but he seems much better today. He is still hiding in his tree, but he does come out to eat and Dixie isn't trying to run him off. He's just so much smaller than Dixie. Kind of like Debbie's Smokey, he never grew to the adult size of platy. But he seems much more like himself and at least he's eating. I think Imogen was right that that temperature drop did something to his system. Like the weather here in Indiana...60's last week and tomorrow will be a whopping 9 degrees! If you can live here you can live anywhere. Literally.
Thanks for all of the input everybody. I think he'll likely be ok now, and either way I've done all I can to help him, with the exception of forgetting to plug the heater back in.

Yay
Glad to hear he's getting better!

You have to stop beating yourself up over that, Hun... Don't make me go over there!! I'm teasing - you know I love ya!!

But he's better!!! Yaaaayyyyy!!!! You're such a good fish Mom! Tell him that Dot says Hello!
The weather is crazy here, too. In the 60's today.. 80's tomorrow and 60's again on Sunday. You just don't know how to dress anymore.
I'm so glad to hear the good news!!!
Debs

i have both platies and mollies, and about three weeks ago, the heater quit and it was close to freezing overnight and i didn't figure out until morning. one of my mollies died and the other one was really close to death. i took her out, placed her in gradually warmer buckets, she seemed to just stay at the bottom of them, and finally put her back into the again normal-temped aquarium and she sank to the bottom and stayed there. once i fed my fish she ate a little and just sank again. but then after about a week of this, she was normal again. i think she was in shock and needed time to adjust. i don't use salt at all and all my fish are perfectly healthy, but i'm glad your fish is healthy again =]

Wow, I'm sorry you lost a fish to that accident. Good idea about gradually getting the mollie used to the warmer water,though. Luckily we had a warm spell here and the water only went down to around 65. It didn't affect the betta or Dixie, the other platy, but Pixie is kind of a frail little guy anyway.
He seems much better, but I'm guarded about how much. Little guy still doesn't seem to have a lot of strength, but he is eating so thats positive.

And Debbie...60's to 80's? And you all call that WINTER???!!! Okeedokee! 60's is early spring, late fall here if we're lucky!

Pixie.
Just thought I'd let you all know that little Pixie passed away this morning. I found him inside the ceramic shell that he loved to hang out in so much. He was a sweet little guy who fought hard, but we both lost. I will miss seeing him very much, as he was my favorite little tropical.

Im so sorry about ur lil fishey:( I hope u feel better soon.

Aww, sorry to hear that vickielm.