Platy On Its Way Out!?!

Hello,

I have a platy which has suddenly gone down hill! My set up is a 35ltr tank, with 6 tetra, 2 ottos, 3 plates, 1 ram cichlids and an amarno shrimp. The tetras and ram were added Friday just gone and the rest are about 18mths to 2yrs old. I've been cautiously watching the ram because it ate on its second day and then hasn't eaten since, some of its colouration has dulled and it doesn't appear very active. I also saw it rub on some of the decorations a couple of times.

Today I saw some of the Rams colour is coming back, but I then noticed one of my platys was at the top of the tank. Then it moved to the bottom of the tank and then it started darting up and down the tank. Now it's sat at the bottom of the tank and looks like its on its way out!😞

At first I suspected Ich, but I would've thought if it was showing these symptoms then there would be some white spots by now. It fins are not clamped down.

Today I have added a tablespoon of aquarium salt dissolved in a pint of water over a period of about an hour, I also have a bucket of water reading for a water change in the morning (I don't have any chlorine removal treatment, hence the change tomorrow).

I tested my water yesterday with ammonia at 0, nitrate at 25 and nitrite at 0 (the latter two tested with a tetra testing strip). I do not have any more strips, but I have just checked for ammonia again and that is still at 0.

All the other fish appear unaffected. Can anyone help with my mystery?

Thanks  for the quick reply. I thought I was close to my limits with that amount of fish, I've bought a new 70ltr tank which is being delivered tomorrow. I don't think the platy will make it I just hope the rest are ok while I cycle the new tank.

It's a female platy. I don't have exceptionally hard water where I live, but I wouldn't call it soft. The ph was at 7.6 so it is more on the alkaline side. I'm going to go to a LFS tomorrow to pick up some stress coat and I'll see if I can get something to lower the ph level.

Well.......make that 2 platys now!!! It must've been old age she went over a period of about 6 hours, she has had fry about a year ago.  The Ram seems to have brightened up a lot though!?

I wasn't sure whether to use the old media or just transfer some of the decorations, so thanks for that.  I've got quite a beginner tank at the moment which i bought with decorations from a friend, the new one i want to set up as more of a natural habitat tank with plenty of live plants and bog wood.

I've also bought an API master testing kit, so i'm hoping this will give me more accurate readings in future.

Thats great, thanks Sue.