i have a 30 gallon fresh water aquarium and am having problems with the platties. might be an ammonia situation. they are sitting on the bottom of the tank looking stupid. have had them four days. the tetras are still zooming around.
where are the best internet sites for aquarium information. i have spent an hour searching google and am not near satisfied with what i have found.
I haven’t done aquariums in at least 20 years, so hopefully someone else will be along shortly.
Have you checked the PH?
When was the last time you did a water change (a good 40%).
Do you see any marks on the platties? Clamped fins? Perhaps an illness?
Have you checked the temperature? Should be about 74 degrees, IIRC.
did a 50% water change, corrected the ph and today bought an ammonia cartridge for the filter. temperature is about 78.
i have had aquariums for fifty years so i am not a newbie but this is stupid. something put them into shock.
water is clear and there are no larger aggressive fish.
Have you checked out “the Krib” at www.thekrib.com ? They’ve got lots of information there if you use the search feature. It also has a link to the rec.aquaria FAQs which I’ve found useful.
Platies are brackish water fish, (meaning they need some salt in their tanks if you didn’t know what it meant). The can adapt to non-brackish water depending on where they are from, but some strains will not.
My computer keeps freezing, so I don’t have a site for you (if you do a google search on Platies and brackish water, lots of sites will come up, but I can’t get any of them open on this pos computer)
Platies are not true brackish water lovers like the monos or the archerfish, but they do like a bit of salt. However, tetras do not, IIRC. Most platies can do quite well without the addition of salt if the other water conditions are correct.
Have you gone back to the point of purchase and observed the fish from the same tank? Geez, you are right, this is stupid. We have covered all the most common problems. Ok, you have checked and corrected the PH and the ammonia, did you check the nitrites? Grasping at straws, what is lining the bottom of the aquarium? Do you have shell? Perhaps the calcium build up is more than they are use to?
Good luck
Did you cycle the tank before adding the platties?
Its possible the ammonia cycle is done and now the nitrite build-up has started (this is a bit of a stretch though).
i have decided i bought sick fish. on close inspection one of them has that fluffy white stuff on their fins.
fluffy white stuff is not good.
Take them out and return them. You might want to do a 50% water change after they’re out and add some anti-fungal dye to the water.