Platy young getting thin.

[Fancyfish]

I bought from an aquabid seller a bunch of platies, I've had them for about 2 weeks. These were all ages of fish. They have been fine until now.

This is a general description of what I've noticed:
One young platy fish is very thin, not swimming much, just hanging out on the bottom and is not eating any longer. A 2nd fish about the same age started doing the same thing.

No medication has been tried.

Tank is 15 long, with a hanging filter. There are about 15 platies of various sizes. 3 baby(.5") cory cats and 8-10 apple snails.

The tank was set up to receive the platies. No water change has been done on it. I've added conditioner and amquel several times since setting it up.

flake food(about 10 years old) brine shrimp pellets(same age) and algea waffers(brand new) are fed. pellets once a day and flake 2-4 times a day.

as far as tank and equipment goes, the tank is planted. the plants are in plastic food containers with gravel. there is very little gravel on the bottom of the tank.
a grow light is on 12 +hours a day over part of the tank. Water looks clear.

The rest of the fish in the tank are eating and swimming normally. The snails however are all (or most) are sitting on the glass at the top of the water column.

I don't have any meters so I've no idea on temp, ph, amonia, etc. I live in Houston and use Houston city tap water(thus why I use amquel).

While trying to figure out what is wrong the 2 things that have shown up repeatedly are TB and Internal Parasites. I don't have anyway to look at the feces of these fish. (which are white and stringy, though the other fish have normal looking feces)

Thanks for any help you can give.

[imagirlgeek]

I don't have experience keeping platys, but the white, stringy feces usually points to internal parasites (as you already stated). When I've treated the white, stringy feces symptoms in my cichlids, I've treated with Clout, but not sure if that would be too harsh for platys. One thing that you could do, that I've found never hurts, is a water change. Clean, fresh water is always the first thing I do when I see signs of illness. Since you don't have a test kit to check your water parameters, it's hard to say if the platys are stressed because of the water conditions. I'm sorry this isn't much help, but it's a start.

[Fancyfish]

Thanks for responding. I'm really frustrated. I jumped the gun and got fish before I was really ready. I've always used a counter top water filter to fill my tanks with. Well we moved but left the filter at the old house. And it turns out they are not popular anymore, we had to mail order one. And I'm scared to do a water change since I killed all my high priced fancy goldfish when I did one at the new house. Sigh. The rest of the fish in the tank are fine. It's so far just 2, and if they had been born that way, I'd think some sort of deformity. Cause their fins are not clamped, their eyes are bright, and the poop is not always stringy. The just have a hard time swimming and are supper thin. Ah well. I'll moniter it and do a water change when the filter gets here.

[imagirlgeek]

I have a book that lays out likely diseases based on the type of fish, you know, like guppies are more susceptible to ABC, angelfish more often get DEF, etc...I got it out and here's what it says about Platys and 'Bacterial Infection':

Behavior:
Slow, separation, listless, resting on bottom or hanging at the surface, gasping for air, 'wobbling', clamping of the fins
Signs:
dark body color, fin- and tailrot, pale (sometimes red) skin patches; pop-eye, emaciation with deformed back, secondary fungal infection may occur
Treatment:
Anti-bacterial medicine

I don't like that it isn't more specific, but I thought it was interesting that a symptom of the bacterial infection is emaciation with deformed back.

Just thought I'd share.

[fshfrk]

Please get some fresh flake food. Water change will help. Are you using amquell or amquell plus? If yoiu have chloramines you will need the amquell plus. Good luck.

[mnemenoi]

Perhaps add some non-iodized salt, I have found it was helpful with most of my livebearers that started showing signs of general illness. One teaspoon per gallon would be a good start, everything else in the tank should be able to handle it. I'd likely mix it into a water change , perhaps at half strength to allow your cories to acclimate a bit more slowly.

[Fancyfish]

New food is ordered. Filter should show up soon so I can start doing water changes. I ordered a medicated (bacterial) food. Lost a large pregnant, platy and she has the red streaks I associate with a bacterial problem. Fortutunatly it is only one tank affected so far. I'd not thought about the food going bad.

Thank you all for your help.