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A few weeks back, I posted about a platy in my 30-gallon tank whose tail and dorsal fin were eroding very slowly -- by that, I mean it was occurring over a period of a couple of months. None of the other fish in the tank had a problem, and the fish was otherwise acting normal, eating heartily, etc.

About a week ago, I came downstairs and found the fish dead. A closer look revealed nothing but the somewhat eroded fins -- but again, it wasn't severe -- just kind of the edges, and you might not have even noticed it without looking closely at the fish. No streaks, lumps, red gills, etc.

Then, this morning, I came downstairs to find a platy in another tank dead. Close examination revealed the same problem -- very slightly eroded tail and dorsal fin -- no other obvious problem. No other fish in that tank appears sick, either.

However, it did make me think back to the beginning of the summer, when again, I lost a platy who hadn't had major symptoms -- just a slightly eroded tail and dorsal fin. When I say slightly eroded, I mean that it's 90 percent intact -- you'd have to look pretty closely to notice there was a problem.

Obviously something's going on in these two tanks. They're not in the same room and each have their own hoses and buckets, but it's impossible that some kind of cross contamination occurred.

Whatever the problem, it's obviously it's not very virulant; it only seems to be affecting platies, and the three that have died over the past six months were all older -- at least 2-1/2, and probably older. None of the younger platies appear affected, although I'm obviously keeping an eye on them.

I should add that we lost power over the weekend for about 12 hours, which may or may not have expedited an already brewing problem. No ammonia or nitrite problem; biowheel filters on both tanks, and both are below stocking limits.

Any suggestions as to what I should do? Water changes? Quarantine all platies? (Not very practical.)

Probably the platy's were e to tail and finrot,I would add some salt to there tanks if the fish you keep can tolerate salt.

Does tail and finrot progress that slowly?

If they have had tailrot and finrot before and it has healed they tend to be e to another attack of it.