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Hi all.

I have a platy in a small ~2 gal tank that's started acting listless and strange. We admittedly hadn't changed the water for about 3 weeks, but last night we changed about 50% of the water, vacuumed, etc. And today I noticed that the platy that seemed fine and strong yesterday is acting lethargic, sitting on the bottom of the tank, etc., where before it would almost always be swimming around up higher in the tank.

I don't see anything obviously wrong with it physically, really. It has some shiny white areas on its gills, and the dorsal fin is a very little bit ragged, but the tail looks fine. There's also a small red dot on its side fin.

Here's the water specs (tested with a Quick Dip testing strip):
Temp: 74 F
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: between 0 and 0.5
Hardness: ~25
Alkalinity: 120
pH: between 7.8 and 8.4

We don't have any salt in the tank.

Can anyone help?

Platys really shouldn't be kept in a tank that small. They're quite a robust and active fish that should be kept in nothing less than a 10 gallon. As a result, the tank is pretty badly overstocked.

The fact that you have no nitrate and measurable nitrite concerns me. That indicates that your tank may not be fully cycled. If you own an ammonia test, check it for that as well. If you don't, take a sample to your LFS and have them recheck everything just in case.

There are two things that I think could have happened.

1: When you did your water change and vacuumed, you may have actually sucked up all the bacteria in your gravel. In that small of a tank, you may have crashed it.

2: Maybe there was something in the water that you put in. Do you have to dechlorinate your water, and, if you do, did you do it this time?

Number one get that Platy out of there as quickly as possible the tank is far too small for that fish.
Having admitted not changing the water for three weeks it is a miracle that the fish is even alive.

The only way to fix the problem is get a more suitable tank but by the time that takes the poor little fella could be far from saving.

Sorry but I would rather tell you the truth than give you false hope of curing the Platy.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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