Clamped Fin, Ich, Something Else?

Hi, I'm sorry if my post comes up twice about this but it didn't seem to upload the first time  .  I think I've got a problem!  I've got a sick platy (since Sunday) with clamped fin and extreme lethargy (she doesn't look pregnant).  I did a 30 - 35% WC today, following a full gravel syphon, and the fish (including the sick platy) seemed to love it (and the boys got quite, I mean, A LOT frisky, with the girls!).  All water readings were good - only concern was the pH which has dropped from 8.2 - 7.8.  Then this evening poor sick platy really crashed - she's just flat on the bottom of the tank and only moves if Mr frisky bothers her (and he does).  Joking aside, I'm really worried now because two of my red balloon platys are doing the clamped fin thing now, and moping about (they seem quite bothered about the frisky male so maybe that's causing stress?).  They're also doing a lot of flashing, along with a couple of others doing the same.  The water's got loads of little tiny white stringy things (I've never seen these before) which I saw when I was examining the fish for white spots, etc. which they don't have - could these have been churned up from the gravel clean, and could this be a parasite thing causing clamped fin and/or Ich?  Should i rush out and get some aquarium salt and/or medication for Ich?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  I've attached a pic of tank this afternoon, and one of sick platy I took yesterday. I'd be so grateful for any advice  .

Hi, Colin    Yes!  I've just been posting while yours came in - thank you!  Here's what I wrote and thought about the same possibility.  So this morning (since reading pretty late last night about this), I've kept the lights off for now, and sick platy is (was) up and about, for a couple of minutes anyway - so she's hanging in there.  I still can't see any white dusting on the fish, but they re still flashing off of things.  One thing I read about, referring to this behaviour, suggested it could be a reaction to the pH change I created yesterday  :-?  Another was gill flukes (which fits some of poorly platy's behaviour).  I'm thinking, if it is Ich (or gill flukes), both suggest starting with salt treatment (plus 'Formalin' for gill fluke, which I haven't read up on yet).  If I introduce aquarium salt, as recommended (2 tbsp per 5 gal), will this affect the pH further, and should I/can I use tap safe in the water I use with the salt, or should I just get some RO (which I was thinking of switching to anyway)? The other thing that seems to be suggested is turning up the heat - it's currently at 79F, should I go a bit higher to 80F?  I haven't fed the fish since Sunday (partly due to sick platy and then big WC and clean yesterday) so they all look pretty hungry (even sick platy has come up for something  ).  I'm nervous about asking my fish shop about this, if I go and get things today, as their advice is usually way off  . BTW, now that I know how to add photos, I was reading here about people's ammonia readings, which sounds like the same issue I have of not being able to clearly tell between yellow '0', and pale green '0.25'.  If you don't think it's ammonia either - what do you think would be best to do?

Hi Colin, many thanks.  I've checked out the little white things (it's easier to see them in the tank with the magnifying glass against blue background).  They are really small, white, and to the naked eye, just look like tiny particles, drifting mostly upwards, and don't appear to have any movement of their own, i.e. no sudden moving in another direction.  Under the magnifying glass, they look like tiny strands (like fibres)?  I wonder if they could just be very small particles, disturbed by the gravel clean, yesterday, and simply rising up, due to being so tiny?  You won't be surprised to hear that I've driven my partner mad looking at the fish with the magnifier (what I can say is, no fish have white spots 'yet', gills don't look particularly odd, as described in the article - even on the sick fish).  I decided to give them a little food, and my sick fish ate with the rest of them  .  She's now hanging about - it's like she goes in and out of a catatonic state, with top fin down, and slopes off - she hasn't gone down to the ground for at least 20 mins though, which is a record since she became sick.  I wonder if they're all a bit stressed with each other, and the sick fish (I must get names  , is the worst affected to date (too many fish and randy boys in a small tank).  Not to mention the upheaval yesterday for them with gravel vac, big WC and pH wobble?  I was thinking if I do the next gravel vac, at the end of the week, do you think it would be less stressful for them if I gently cup them out into a 10L holding place with tank water, for about 10- 15 mins, while I crunch about in their tank and make a mess - the vac stirred up so much yesterday.  Whatever rubbish is in there, I need to get it out for them.  Maybe I could try a salt treatment in the meantime anyway, to be sure?  i'll read up on this site about salt cures.  Thanks Colin, for letting me talk out loud 

That's sound advice.  I'd like to ease their stress if I can so, now that I've fed them, I'll maybe turn the light out for a peaceful afternoon (for them ?  Water testing underway.  Thank you

Hello Sue,  . Thank you for that! The fish haven’t poop’d as much as they would do normally but I held off feeding them since Sunday and only fed them a small amount yesterday.  I haven’t caught them doing anything yet!  I noticed on Monday, one of the blue platy girls had a very fine, almost hair thickness, thread of poo, with a couple of bubbles along the line and could have been possibly more translucent than white?  Prior to this recent upset, all of the fish would have more or less beige or pinkish colour, and definitely thicker, trailing anything from .5cm, to occasionally a long 2cm piece, before breaking off.  When I first got the blue platys, I couldn’t help noticing how white (normal thickness) their poo was for the first few days.  Again, I just put this down to their food at the fish store, and it soon became beige or pinkish once they were eating algae and Tetramin coloured flakes here.

I decided to do another smaller WC yesterday, after all, as some of the other fish were still flashing (no white spots yet and will have to test for the golden shimmer – that’s tricky with the calico sunsets).  Most of the fish do seem to be a little better on the flashing today but still doing some.  The boy balloons are the friskiest I’ve ever seen in these last few days – coincidence?  I think it explains when I saw a couple of them displaying a lowered top fin (I panicked thinking they were going the same way as the sick calico), but maybe this is a stress from each other?  The two girl blue platys seem to be a bit tetchy with each other too - in competition perhaps?  My sick platy seems to have benefitted from the WCs – she’s still doing her vacant floating thing, from time to time, or settling on the bottom quite still, but she gets up even if I come into the room (never mind near to the tank), so definitely more energetic, but it's still worrying watching her go from active to catatonic and back again.  Do you think there is something parasitic going on?

If a salt treatment won't harm them, what sort of reaction should I expect if I put some in the next WC?  Will they get more stressed?  Should I follow a specific regime, i.e. temperature, how much, how often, WCs in between, etc.?  I've read a few things but not entirely clear about it as some people disagree with each other over this.  Is it also worth trying peas on the next feed, before a salt treatment, to help clear things out a bit, generally?  How much pea per fish is the right amount?  As always, thanks so much for sharing your knowledge 

Thank you so much, Sue!  I'm on my way to the kitchen 

I would wait a day or two before giving more peas, and watch the sick girl's poo to see if it looks normal and green. It could have been wispy if she hasn't eaten very much, but it could be indicative of internal problems.