Platy fish death? Update reply

[GisheryGoodness]

So in my 29 gal tank, I'm worried that something is wrong despite all parameters being normal and the fish showing no signs of illness. I woke up to two dead platys this morning. One I had noticed yesterday was hanging out separately from the others which definitely seemed odd but he wasn't doing anything else that seemed concerning.

The changes to the tank have been Saturday I added 5 females to get the ratio to 3 to 1, I had mistakenly thought it was 2 to 1 and also one was a male that I originally thought was a female because it was fairly young and hadn't quite developed I guess and I was seeing some aggression hence why I didn't quarantine like I probably should have. Also one that I knew was pregnant but I didn't know was that pregnant gave birth I'm guessing Monday night, I wasn't home. I've only seen one Itty bitty baby swimming around so I'm guessing the others got eaten. The one that was pregnant is definitely not as fat anymore so I'm pretty sure it was her. 

I tested the waters after removing the two this morning and all is well

PH 7.6

KH 6

GH 8 (I know this is a bit low for platys but I'm still working on slowly raising it from 1 which is where it started.)

Ammonia - 0

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - btw 5 and 10

Temp 80

Stocking 

12, now 10 platys plus a baby 

5 panda corys

1 BN blue eye lemon pleco

All is the same it has been no drastic swings or anything. I sat and watched them for over 30 minutes to see their behavior and they seem normal to me. No flashing, hiding, glass chasing ect. They have no visible signs of illness either. The two that died were not the ones that have just been added, one was a female and one a male. I checked their bodies as well and couldn't see anything. 

Are there other things I need to be checking? 

Or does someone have an idea on what happened?

 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by GisheryGoodness
Updated reply questions

[Fishbros]

On 7/13/2022 at 11:54 AM, GisheryGoodness said:

So in my 29 gal tank, I'm worried that something is wrong despite all parameters being normal and the fish showing no signs of illness. I woke up to two dead platys this morning. One I had noticed yesterday was hanging out separately from the others which definitely seemed odd but he wasn't doing anything else that seemed concerning.

The changes to the tank have been Saturday I added 5 females to get the ratio to 3 to 1, I had mistakenly thought it was 2 to 1 and also one was a male that I originally thought was a female because it was fairly young and hadn't quite developed I guess and I was seeing some aggression hence why I didn't quarantine like I probably should have. Also one that I knew was pregnant but I didn't know was that pregnant gave birth I'm guessing Monday night, I wasn't home. I've only seen one Itty bitty baby swimming around so I'm guessing the others got eaten. The one that was pregnant is definitely not as fat anymore so I'm pretty sure it was her. 

I tested the waters after removing the two this morning and all is well

PH 7.6

KH 6

GH 8 (I know this is a bit low for platys but I'm still working on slowly raising it from 1 which is where it started.)

Ammonia - 0

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - btw 5 and 10

Temp 80

Stocking 

12, now 10 platys plus a baby 

5 panda corys

1 BN blue eye lemon pleco

All is the same it has been no drastic swings or anything. I sat and watched them for over 30 minutes to see their behavior and they seem normal to me. No flashing, hiding, glass chasing ect. They have no visible signs of illness either. The two that died were not the ones that have just been added, one was a female and one a male. I checked their bodies as well and couldn't see anything. 

Are there other things I need to be checking? 

Or does someone have an idea on what happened?

 

 

My thought is that 80 seems to high to have platys at.  Higher temps like that lower oxygen levels in the water so make sure you have good gas exchange in the water is going to be key.  Depending on how the aggression has been with mating it is possible that they were just to stressed out from that. The only other thing I can think of is if you changed the water recently or adding anything to the water that would change your water.  

[PaigeIs]

On 7/13/2022 at 6:05 PM, Fishbros said:

My thought is that 80 seems to high to have platys at.  Higher temps like that lower oxygen levels in the water so make sure you have good gas exchange in the water is going to be key.  Depending on how the aggression has been with mating it is possible that they were just to stressed out from that. The only other thing I can think of is if you changed the water recently or adding anything to the water that would change your water.  

I am going to agree with Fishbros.  Platy can handle a wide variety of water paremeters, but 80 degrees is definitely the high end for temp.  Just a guess, but did you have an ammonia spike/nitrite spike caused by the addition of more fish? The bacteria in the tank need time to catch up.  If the fish had any health issues, a sudden change in water parameters (ammonia spike) might have been too much.  I'm sorry this happened to you. 😞  Best of luck!   Platies are awesome.

[GisheryGoodness]

Sorry I'm just now replying, it's been a hectic couple of days with work and my personal health, currently having fibro flare up. I did turn my temp down to 78 and I don't think I had a spike, I've been testing daily since I'm still adding fish. I've lost two more. One platy yesterday and a cory tonight. Water is still reading at same levels. I just don't know what else to do. What am I missing? I pulled them through ich when I first got the original six in May and I've watched very carefully for any signs of it returning as ive added others slowly but haven't seen anything. I just don't understand and am feeling so heartbroken after trying and struggling so hard to keep them alive. I don't know what I've done wrong. 

[Gwallace]

How long has this tank been up and running?

[GisheryGoodness]

On 7/16/2022 at 4:46 AM, Gwallace said:

How long has this tank been up and running?

Since April, it was up almost two months before I added fish at the end of May

[GisheryGoodness]

So yesterday I discovered my heater like this, didn't really see it before because the bottom part was behind a plant and I guess I just didn't notice. Coincidencently I had ordered a new heater anyway because I knew this one wasn't quite as strong as what it should be so I didn't have to worry about not having one. My dad checked it out and found water inside the heater and also tested the plug thing and it was showing (amps/electrical power?) when it shouldn't be. Don't really understand that part. But could this possibly have caused my fish to die? If it was the heater wouldn't all the fish have died? I haven't lost anymore as of this morning and everything is still at normal levels but idk. 

[ccc24]

Yes, stray current can kill fish and some fish can endure it better than others.

[Flumpweesel]

I had a heater go bad a few months ago it took me to long to notice, I'd had some random fish deaths but put that down to aggression and iffy new stock. But then one day I felt a tingle in my hand when cleaning the tank and on inspection a big crack in the heater.

Sorry for your losses good news is you seem to have found the source and resolved it. Story above is just a show of solidarity these things happen to us all.