Something wrong with dad's fish? URGENT?

Question

A young red wag platy i gave my dad for fathers day is acting and looks strange. He hides constantly in plants or in the little 'tent' we made for him. He will come out for food, and seem interested and chase flakes but will not eat. His mouth is always open it seemes, but i can't say for sure if he has breathing trouble. some small stringy white things come out like a snake's tongue as he breaths, and theres some small white something on his 'chin'. Anyone have any ideas? Anyone know treatments? Quickly please, before the poor thing starves to death.

Also: the other four fish in the tank are perfectly healthy, there is almost no algae growth in the tank, and they all previously suffered severe ich, but all of them survived just fine. It is a five gallon tank with no live plants, and a pump filter.

Answer 1

well if the other fish or bigger it might have bit him and it been hurting more and more so u could only look at the gills and try to look inside i hope its okay

Answer 2

he has gill worms or bacterial gill diseaes . treat it with these productus you can buy at a pet stop. furan 2, triple sulfa, and T.C. capsles. that will help clear it up.

Answer 3

I believe the platy has mouth fungus. I don't know how to treat it. Once, I had some mollies who had it. Meds didn't work. The other fish weren't affected. I eventually euthanized them.

Answer 4

Yes, it sounds like the fish might have a disease called ich. If I were you, I would take him to a Pet store and have them look at him. But, be sure and put the same water in a jar that is from his tank, so they can test it. Platys live about 2 years, so if he is getting old, he might just be sick from old age. They do love to eat algae, so that could also be the problem. You can buy algae flakes for him. You might check with your Pet Store. He should also have some plants to nibble on, they love green plants. They have medicine at Pet stores, you might check on that too. I used to have 5 fish tanks and had fish for about 5 years and read just about every book I could find on them, so I have some experience. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

It could be ich. Chances are he/she will die. Part of the problem is you have a five gallon tank which is really too small for fish to live in and can cause problems to develop. I suggest upgrading to a larger tank. Also, I'd quarantine the platy and any fish you get in the future just in case they have diseases.

Answer 6

Columnaris, or mouth rot (a bacterial infection, not fungus), sounds like what you're seeing.  Either in a quarantine tank or the main tank, remove any activated carbon from the tank and start treating with Triple Sulfa, Trisulfa, Maracyn TC, Maracyn 2, Furan 2, acriflavine based meds, Kanaplex, or similar gram negative treatments.  If using tetracycline or minocycline based meds, keep the tank dark during treatment, as these degrade with exposure to light.

Columnaris: http://www.flippersandfins.net/Images/Mo...