Black = Death?

[Kaz]

So I know that it is hard to find All black sword tails because the black pigment is cancerous only when it is on the fins.

But is that the same for Platies?

And does that meant that a platy that is orange with black fins is not going to live long or does it only count if the whole thing is black?

Kind of random but I was in a pet store and they had a platy with black fins.

They also had completely white platies that were translucent! Man I was this close to buying the 'ghosts'!

[Dave66]

A orange platy with black fins was known as a red wag platy in the old days, as they were much more red bodied than what you find in shops nowadays. Red wags live just as long as any other platy, though I can't speak for the all white you described.

Dave

[Jaster]

All of my platys look like that. I haven't had any issues with them health wise. They are trouble making punks though... lol

[Kaz]

Weird.

I thought that something that applied to Swordtails would apply to platies.

Considering they can interbreed and stuff.

It was just one of those sit too long and come up with random thoughts whilst looking at my icon/avatar sort of thing.

(So is a swordtail with black fins but not a black body doomed?
What about an all black platy?)

[cer]

There are varieties of platies that are black.

[Faith_at_Large]

I cannot speak to black causing cancer, but I have a translucent platy with a mickey mouse tattoo (bred in not painted on). Strangest thing.

I also have a red wag platy - I used to have more, but they passed on - old age I think - I couldn't figure out what killed the last two (a few weeks apart) until my husband pointed out that we had them for a long time - time flies when you're having fun.

My other latest addition is a Dawn platy. I did not even know they had a name for it until I did some research on line. Silver in the front changing to red in the back. Really pretty.

I did a water test before adding new fish into my tank and it seems that things do balance out over the long haul. My Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites were all zero and my pH has gradually reduced over time - now at about 7.6.