** UPDATE** Platy Fish Can't Eat, Thin, Dying

Hi Frankie, welcome to the forum.

You did the right thing looking to see red threads - that's camallanus worms, an intestinal parasite. My fish had camallanus worms a few years ago, and the worms stick out a few mm so you can see them even with heavily pigmented fish. The reason you have to look when the fish is motionless is because the worms go back inside when the fish swims.
Other possibilities include tapeworms and bacterial, viral and protozoan intestinal infections.

When the fish 'go to the toilet' does the poo look white and stringy or normal?



I don't like to suggest a medication until we can pin down what the problem is. There are medications for camallanus worms, tapeworms and internal bacteria/protozoan infections, though nothing treats viral infections I'm afraid.






For a complete understanding of the tank can you tells us:
How big is the tank - volume or dimensions
How many platies do you have
Are there any other fish
What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings for the tank water?
How hard is your tap water - you should be able to find this on your water company's website. We need a number and the unit rather than some vague words.

Thank you for your replies. Sorry delay in writing, I have an emergency at home. I will reply later to your messages.

If the tap water is hard, that is fine for platies. it's soft water that will cause them to struggle.

Since you can't see any worms, I would think about treating them for internal infections rather than parasites. Antibiotics are everyone's first thought but in the UK they are only available on prescription (which is not a bad thing, think of drug resistant bugs caused by over use of antibiotics).
The medications available in the UK are not very strong but you can try them. They include Interpet anti internal bacteria, and there is an NTL labs version, and AquaCare (Maidenhead Aquatics brand). If this doesn't work, I suggest you run some carbon in the tank to remove the medication, then try eSHa gdex which treats tapeworms.
You do need to remove the first medication before using a second. The easiest way is to run some carbon in the tank for 24 to 48 hours. either in the filter or in a small internal filter. I keep a cheap filter in the cupboard just for this. Carbon granules can be bought from most fish shops, and you just need to put them in a mesh bag (I use net fabric).

Keep the water clean by doing a daily water change and substrate clean. If it's gravel, make sure you suck as much muck as possible out of the gravel with the siphon tube. On days when medication is dosed, add the med after the water change. On days when you don't dose, after the water change add the med at the amount needed for the volume of new water only.


If at any time you start seeing red things protruding from the anus, get eSHa-ndx. And remove the previous med before using it.

The cleaning routine recommended nowadays is to do a 50% water change and gravel clean every week. And by cleaning the gravel I mean pushing the siphon tube right down into to the gravel to suck up all the muck (fish poo, uneaten food etc) that gets down between the particles.
With fish that are sick, a daily water change often helps.

As for dechlorinator, that depends on how you refill the tank.
If you use a bucket, add dechlorinator to each bucketful of water at the dose rate for the volume of the bucket. For instance, my dechlorinator uses 1 drop per 4.75 litres. I put 2 drops of dechlorinator in the bucket then run in water up to the 9.5 litre mark, then empty that into the tank.
If you use a hose pipe, work out how mcuh water you've removed, add enough to dechlorinator to treat that amount of water straight into the tank, then refill.

If you have a combi boiler you can use hot tap water to warm the new water to roughly the same temperature as the tank. if you have a hot water cylinder with a header tank in the attic, boil a kettle of water and use that to get the temp right. It's because of what might be in the header tank that you can't use the hot tap when you have a hot water cylinder. You don't need to measure the temp with a thermometer, feeling old water and new water with your hand will get it close enough.



Can you tell us what model of filter you have? That'll make it easier to say about carbon granules. In my case I have a small cheap internal filter and I made a bag from from some net fabric. I just get the filter out of the cupboard, pour granules into the bag, wash it thoroughly under the tap as carbon granules are very dusty, then put the bag into the filter and the filter into the tank.
But you can also use the carbon pads you mention, it's just that they are expensive as you have found. Since the carbon has to be thrown away once the old medication is removed, the cheaper the better. And depending on what your filter is like, you can probably use a bag of granules in place of a carbon pad.
If you already have a carbon pad in the filter, remove it before adding medication. Although carbon gets full quite quickly, even if carbon has been in the filter for months there is the theoretical possibility that the medication will be more attracted to the carbon than what's already there, so it will push the current stuff of and stick to the carbon instead. And medication stuck to carbon can't do its job.

The bad eye does sound like an internal infection.


The PF2 media is:
Biochamber, a small box containing ceramic noodles
Foams (ie sponges) - a white one and a black one.
https://www.interpet.co.uk/Media/InterpetUK/Skoo/2202/2202_7.pdf

You need to take out the black sponge(s) before adding treatment, then put a new black one back in afterwards to remove medication. Throw the black sponges away once they are taken out of the filter.
I don't think it is possible to use a bag of carbon granules in this filter. I know they are expensive, but stick to the Interpet black sponges for now, we can talk about how to modify the filter once the fish are OK.



You won't catch tapeworms from the fish, but it is always best to practice good hygiene.
Wash your hands and arms with plain soap and rinse well before putting them in the tank. This removes any chemicals such as deodorant, perfume, grease etc from your skin, which would affect the fish.
When you've finished, wash your hands and arms thoroughly, I use an anti-bac soap for this.

Forgot to mention in my last post that the reason you won't catch tapeworms (or camallanus worms) from your fish is because you need to eat the eggs or larvae to catch worms. Provided you don't drink tank water and wash your hands thoroughly after putting them in the tank you'll be OK.
There are certain rare bacterial infections that can get in through a cut, but again, wash thoroughly.

Picture of Skinny Platy and Popeye Platy both eating peas.

They are now swimming around tank no longer hiding.  Good improvement, let's hope they recover 100%.

Quick update...

Good news -

Female Platy that was not eating & stringy poos. She is improving, now eating small flakes and constantly pecking algae off plants.

Platy with Popeye, one eye is still bad, the other eye has improved well.  Eating & Pooing, no problems.

The rest of the tank are absolutely fine.

Bad news -

Lost the very thin platy although he did start to improve eating. It was sadly my fault giving the treatment too late.

I'm still keeping the tank clean doing water changes & keep monitoring the couple of poorly fish.

Big thank you for all your help getting my tank well again, I probably would have lost all the fish without the advice. Frankie

Sorry to hear that the very thin platy has passed, but I think you've done really well with the rest of your gang. I hope that they all continue to improve.