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Hi to all, this is my first post on this forum.

I have a 180ltr tank i'm not going to list my stock but believe me it's not overstocked but just about up to it's stock limit
One of my male red wagtail platys is looking unwell today, his pectoral fins are ragged as if he has finrot, but all his other fins are in perfect conditions. there are also pale, white patches above both pectoral fins and one one side of his body if you look at him from a certain angle you can see a sort of film covering the top half of his body, but only on that one side.

The tank is fairly mature around 8 months and i have had no problems with sickness apart from one outbreak of ich about 4 months ago.

The water parameters are fine Ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm and nitrate 20 ppm.

Any ideas what it might be? i was thinking maybe velvet disease but he doesn't have the "gold dusting" you would expect with that.

Also, there is an elephant nose in the tank so i cannot treat with malachite green or methylene blue. I also don't have the luxury of another tank to put him in at the moment.

Please help! i'm worried i could have an outbreak and by then it could be too late

Last edited by kieran at 02-Jun-2005 18:13

How is he acting?? normal/ lethargic/ hyper and flicking/ rubbing against anything??

Is he eating??

We will need to know these things,, and occupants to help you out.( you caould have another "sensitive fish" and not know it.

Last edited by hca at 02-Jun-2005 18:20

He is lethargic apart from feeding time, when he seems to have plenty of energy and eats as well as he always has. He has been mainly hanging around the surface of the water but he still swims around the middle and the bottom a fair bit.

The other inhabitants are

6 x Cardinal Tetras
6 x Glowlight Tetras
1 x Elephant nose
2 x South American Puffers
2 x Moonlight Gouramis
2 x Dwarf Gouramis
2 x Red Wagtail Platys
3 x Blue Platys
3 x Sunset Platys
1 x golden ram
4 x mountain shrimp
1 x sailfin plec
1 x common plec
1 x silver shark

before anyone says it i know the plecs will need a new home, but they are only small at the moment and will have a new tank long before it is nessesary

Last edited by kieran at 02-Jun-2005 18:31

if you were local to syney i've got plenty of spare tanks all about 15 litres and i'd be glad to lend ya one so ya can treat the poor guy but ya can buy cheap plastic tanks about the volume mentioned above for $15 Ozy dollars i'm not sure what that is in british $ though as figuring out what diease it is have u tried disease catalog on the home page of this site o yeh good to see some one using metric units of mesurment

I could buy a small tank to use as a hospital tank for the benefit of the other fish, could i put him straight into it or wouzld i have to cycle it? i don't think he'd have that much time left

Really eager to figure out what is wrong with him

so does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with him?? i really want to start treating him, but if i treat for the wrong disease surely i could make things worse

i would quarantine the platy and treat with marine salt.. the platy would surly benifit from it.. although i dont know exactly what is wrong with the platy.. i could only suggest this or treat with melafix..

if you could post some pictures that would help

hope this helps and welcome to FP

r0b3y

He is now quarantined and has been treated with methylene blue as advised by my lfs so unfortunatly the water is now too dark to get a picture. Anyway i'm pretty sure i've done all i can for him, so everyone just cross your fingers!!