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Post by superwoman on Sept 7, 2006 19:23:09 GMT
Well, for the past three days I have not been able to find my blue platy. Turns out, he was under a rock... dead. :leg: What happened? Now I only have two platys left. I also have three tetras and three albino catfish type things. I have been noticing my biggest platy chasing the other platy (but not the blue one).
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Post by KittyKat on Sept 7, 2006 19:46:40 GMT
male & female having a troubled relationship?
If it was an LFS bought platy, I'd put it down to inbreeding... which would lead to weak immune system etc.
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Post by superwoman on Sept 7, 2006 20:14:10 GMT
I am not sure if I have males or females. How can I tell? What is LFS? It was a platy my mom gave me. All the fish she has given me have died within weeks. This little guy happened to last almost a 6 months. It may have been inbreeding, she has hundreds of platys  Her fish don't all die for her. She says my water is screwed up. So we bought a water softener, will that help? |
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Post by jackpike on Sept 7, 2006 21:11:51 GMT
i think your supposed to keep platys in groups that would stop the dominated platy bullying the other platy.if there was a group of them, the dominated platys attention would be divided amongst the group. so that no one platy would get haressed all of the time which would stress it.
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Post by karen on Sept 7, 2006 21:27:35 GMT
Before using the water can softener can you post your water stats? Below is the difference in males and females.  |
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Post by superwoman on Sept 7, 2006 22:10:03 GMT
I guess I have two females then. I dunno what the blue platty was.
Yes, I tested my tap water yesterday and this is what I found:
Nitrate: 0-10ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Hardness: 0ppm
Alkalinity: 250-300ppm
pH: 7.8
It is high alkaline, but other than that, pretty great I think.
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Post by jackpike on Sept 7, 2006 22:24:51 GMT
how old was the blue platy?
Also what are your tank water readings, u said in your other post that u had changed your sponges in your filter because of those black fly larvae. this could have caused your ammonia and nitrite to go through the roof and this could be the cause of the blue platys sudden death.
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Post by superwoman on Sept 7, 2006 22:58:54 GMT
When my mom gave him to me he wasn't full size yet. I don't know how old he was. He was still pretty small when he passed on.
I haven't tested tank water in a while, I will in a few minutes and post results. The last time I changed them was a few weeks ago, not sure it would affect him now...
I also forgot to mention that I have peat granules in the filter. (A guy at petsmart told me that is how you lower pH) Our pH was through the roof about a year ago, that and we buy drinking water by the gal. But that is getting expensive. That is partly why we bought the water softener, so we wouldn't have to buy drinking water for the fish. Our hardness was off the charts.
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Post by superwoman on Sept 7, 2006 23:04:45 GMT
OK, not so good on my tank readings.
Nitrate: at least 80-200ppm
Nitrite: no more than .5ppm
Hardness: at least 150ppm
Alkalinity: 40-80ppm
pH: about 6.8
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Post by jackpike on Sept 7, 2006 23:19:07 GMT
when u change filter media, u should only change half it or even less if possible. Nitrifying bacteria are very important without them your fish will get ammonia or nitrite poisoning
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Post by superwoman on Sept 7, 2006 23:26:20 GMT
So you are saying instead of changing the two blue filters every month, change only one a month? Like, every other one? Maybe that has been my problem.
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Post by jackpike on Sept 8, 2006 0:13:56 GMT
In my view sponges just need a clean now and again and replaced if they are starting to look a bit worse for wear. but some filters have cotton wool filters, carbon sponges and nitrate sponges, these do need to be replaced on a regular basis.
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Post by KittyKat on Sept 8, 2006 8:51:17 GMT
I am not sure if I have males or females. How can I tell? What is LFS? It was a platy my mom gave me. All the fish she has given me have died within weeks. This little guy happened to last almost a 6 months. It may have been inbreeding, she has hundreds of platys Her fish don't all die for her. She says my water is screwed up. So we bought a water softener, will that help? Males have a gonopodium while females have a rounded anal fin as can be seen in Karen's pic. Local Fish Store = any fish store you may visit to get your suplies/fish Platies prefer hard water, so you don't want a softner. Your water is screwed up because your tank isn't cycled properly (or at least you keep breaking the cycle when you change the filter. If you will change one filter pad at a time, take the one on the bottom and move the top one down and place the new one on the top... makes sence? |
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Post by mralgae on Sept 8, 2006 19:21:59 GMT
what type of filter/s do you have? sorry if you have posted this else where but you say two blue filters. what type are they? if its what i am thinking you should have a green and blue type filter. the green one is a nitrAte removing filter.
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