Sick Platy!

Question
Hi Karen,

I have recently started up my own ten gallon freshwater fishtank. I own a few tetras, corydoras, long-fin white cloud minnows, and one male platy. He had a mate but she was picked on by him and died early on when I first had the tank. I am a university student so it is safe to say that I have a busy schedule and I probably should be cleaning my tank more than I can find time for. Yesterday I came home to find that my male platy was sitting on the bottom of the tank and was not very active. This is very unusual for him for he is the most social fish in my tank. I also have noticed that he looks spikey like his scales are lifting off him. I have done some reading on the site and am wondering if he has dropsy? Although since I am new to this whole tank owning business I am really not sure! I can't tell if his lip is droopy or anything but he seems to be opening and closing it a lot. I put him in a separate container and tried to feed him and he was not interested which again is out of the norm. My friend fed him yesterday and said that he didn't even realize it was feeding time...again not the usual for him. And when I went to get him out of the tank he put up no fight to get into the net, which is not normal either. He is my favourite fish out of the 9 that I have and I would really like to save him if I can. Please help!!! Also I don't know if this will factor in, but I am moving my tank to another place about 3 hours from my school and I'm not sure if that will stress him out more or make him worse? I am prepared for the worst but I am really hoping he can be helped!!! Also I will give you a few more details about what I am doing with my tank...I use Cycle and Easybalance weekly to maintain my tank...and I feed them dry flakes every two days. If I am doing anything wrong any advice will be greatly appreciated. But first I would like to save my platy if I can!!! Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi Brittany,
I do believe you have properly diagnosed your platy as having the 'dreaded' dropsy disorder. This seems to be a common condition in livebearers like platies but it can occur in any fish. Fluid buildup will cause the scales to stick out and generally the fish will act listless and won't eat. There are many causes to this condition and its difficult to pinpoint the exact one but I feel the most common reason is due to stress from prolonged inadequate environmental conditions as well as diet deficiencies from lack of variety. But genetics and simply weak fish can also be to blame.

Unfortunately once it gets to the stage your fish is in it is very difficult to reverse. Treatment in a hospital tank with epsom salt to help release fluid (1 teaspoon per 5 gallons) and a powerful antibiotic can be tried. But sadly it may not be worth spending the money on unless you want to because the little fish likely will not make it due to internal problems.

The three hour move will be stressful to him. He may not make it.

But I say never give up without trying first. I would try to do some daily water changes on him (always make sure replacement water is treated with a water conditioner and is equal in temp or a bit warmer than his water), redose the proper amount of epsom salt according to however much water you took out, and if you do get an antibiotic for internal infections--redose that as well of course.

Best of luck with the little guy and I'm sorry to hear he is so sickly.

Karen~