mickey mouse platty fish (sick)?

Question
I have a white mickey mouse platty.  It started to have a hunch back, and it was swimming very weird.  It isn't as lively.  What does he have and is he sick and how do I get him better?  thank you and I hope you can answer my question very soon.  I don't want to lose him. jd

Answer
Hi JD
I would suggest quarantining the fish asap.  There's several diseases out there that have a symptom of a curved spine.  One is fish TB, which can be transmitted to humans if you have open sores on your arms/hands.  Now, you don't mention other symptoms that also usually go along with that disease-wasting away/sunken belly, sores, etc.  So I don't think that's what you're dealing with, but still make sure you wash your arms/hands thoroughly after messing with the tank-and definitely don't if you have any sores on your arms/hands.  and, fish TB isn't all that common....just so you don't freak out about it, just be aware of it.

Another possibility is neon tetra disease-which is not specific to neon tetras.  But again, you don't mention other symptoms-commonly a white/pinkish area on the back in the muscle tissue.  

It could be a genetic thing that's happening.  
Or, it's possibly from an improper diet.  The only thing that is somewhat curable, is the diet, and sometimes increasing the vitamin C will help, as well as mixing up the types of food you feed the fish.  All fish benefit from a varied diet. So you can try that and see if the fish improves any.  Otherwise, I'm sorry to say, I don't think there's much hope of him making it.  I'm hope I"m wrong, and good luck!

Christy