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I am really concerned about some of the fish in my tank. I have a 55 gal community tank that is stocked with platys, mollies, white clouds, cories,neon tetras and a pleco.

I noticed a few days ago that several of the platys are congregating in the bottom corner of the tank and not moving around unless disturbed by some of the other passing fish. None of the platys have any visible signs of disease. The neons were added a few weeks back and developed ick a few days later but that was quickly treated and eliminated and none of the other fish had it. The pleco also has some stringy matter coming off of its body.

I did a water check and all the readings are right on. 0 on ammonia and nitrites, 7.2 ph. As the only fish seemingly affected by something are the platys and the pleco what could this be? And if it matters, a few of the affected platys are preggo while a few others are males. I have never seen any of the livebearers lay on the rocks before delivering their fry.

I hope someone could please shed some light on this subject!
Thanks!

Not easy to diagnose...

Sometimes too much water current will cause certain trops to try and evade the rushing water and gather together in a calmer area.

You might try to detour the filter current and see what happens.

The Pleco may gave a slight fungus problem and should be removed to a separate tank and treated with a fungus med.

Do a nitrate test to see if nitrates are too high for the species you have in the tank. Higher nitrates, those in the 50-60ppm range may have an adverse affect on some trops.

Do your scheduled partial water change, 35%, and see if any favorable changes take place.

--garyroland.

In addition to Gary's suggestion, what is the temp of this tank? Do you have any salt at all in the tank?

The temp is 72 and there is salt added. I have noticed today after watching the platys for a little while that they will swim rapidly up and down the side of the tank where their corner is and then come down to rest on top of one another in the corner. How very strange. We also had to scoop out a dead one tonight. As for the pleco, there are no longer any stringy things on it. Could it have been something other than fungus?

We still need the things Gary requested.

Do you know what kind of plec it is? He may not like it at 72F. But don't raise temp abruptly. I would shoot for 75F at a rate of about 1-1.5F daily.