Platy having trouble after birth

[wlepse]

I have a female platy that has been very productive; currently I have close to a dozen 1.5" platys from her. Well recently she started to look like she was ready to drop again then she went really pale. Almost had an iridessence to her. So a few days later her color returned but she was still acting funny and swimming a little strange. I did see she dropped at least one new fry but I don't see any others. Right now she is still just hanging in the corner and when she comes out she swims very ackwardly. Could she be having and issue with releasing the fry? Is there anything that can be done to help?

Since I know it will be asked, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate is 5-10.

[Sasquatch]

A few questions to help get some background.

How old is she, or how long have you had her? I ask because the lifespan of most platies is around 2 years, if you've had her for a while, it could just be that she's old.

What do you feed her? Female livebearers need a lot of proteins in their diet. Constantly producing fry with a deficient diet can lead to females canibalizing their own proteins. Feeding twice a week with a high protein food (minimum 45% for dried foods or frozen foods) will prevent the protein loss and will give the added benefit of bigger healthier fry.

Hope this helps.

[wlepse]

Not sure how old she is overall but I have had her for about 9 months. She was full grown when I got her so I would assume she is at least a year if not more. In that time she has had four batches of fry. The first two batches didn't make it due to me still learning what to do. The third as I mentioned are still in the tank with her and I have at least 8 maybe as many as ten (hard to count since they are all over). This last batch I have seen one but there may be more hiding.

As for food...I have an auto feeder that has NLS flake in it. I don't allow it to dump much so I supplement with hikari sinking wafers, blood worms, tubifex and some other pellets. Obviously these are not all fed all the time, but I try to mix them up so there is variety. Not sure about the protien breakdown but what you are saying makes sense. So I will check it out and see what I might be able to change to save here stress. But also based on what you say she might just be nearing the end and all these births are just too much at this point.

As much as I would feel bad if she passed I would feel the worst for her mate. He is the most attentive fish I have ever seen. I thought these guys were just breading machines but this guy actually follows her during birthing and tries to block her from others making her feel crowded and from poachers. He also protects the fry as they are growing. Very cool to watch but I fear he may be lost without her.

[VoidParadigm]

Got a spare empty tank? Try putting her in there for a few days, feed her only high-protein food, do a small waterchange daily.

[wlepse]

I have a small shrimp tank and thought about putting her in there but was also afraid it might just stress her more to be in new surroundings. Maybe I will try to move her and her mate so she has something familiar so she isn't totally out of sorts. Thoughts?

[VoidParadigm]

If it was me I'd leave him where he is. If he is truly attached to her, his instincts will just tell him she's gone off to hide for the birthing process.

I find that livebearer females do better when birthing completely alone, especially if it happens during the night - though of course you have no control over the timing.

[Sasquatch]

As much as I would feel bad if she passed I would feel the worst for her mate. He is the most attentive fish I have ever seen. I thought these guys were just breading machines but this guy actually follows her during birthing and tries to block her from others making her feel crowded and from poachers. He also protects the fry as they are growing. Very cool to watch but I fear he may be lost without her.

That may be the problem. Male platies can be a litte too attentive, to the point of stressing the female. A minimum is usually 2 females per male, three is better.

Moving her to another tank temporarily might be a good idea to give her a break from the male.

Other than that, things look pretty good. I doubt she would have been more than a few months old at the petstore, so she should still have another year in her. Your feeding regime is fine and between the bloodworms and tubifex, she should be getting plenty of protein.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[wlepse]

Unfortunately I lost her yesterday. I had noticed it looked like she was perpetually looking like she was trying to drop fry. By that I mean she had a whitish protrusion from her abdomen which is what we have seen in the past when she dropped. Not sure what this stuff is but figured it was something like a placenta....anyway I noticed her belly was turning slightly brown so I tried to see if I could remove it thinking maybe it was blocking her up. I wasn't successful and a day or so after she passed.

Thanks for all the help though.

[VoidParadigm]

Sorry to hear that.