# New Fish in Shock



## EricC (Aug 19, 2011)

I went to Petco today and bought three different colored platies from 3 different tanks. No problem with 2 of them. The 3rd one seemed to go into shock when the person at the store netted him out of the tank and put him in a plastic container before bagging him. I tried to pick out a healthy individual but I don't know which fish he ultimately netted, as the tank was full of fish of the same color. When he put the fish in the container he kinda went stiff and drifted vertically with his tail down. I drip acclimated all 3, matched the pH to within .2 and put them into a 10 gallon tank which I had filled with dechlorinated water about 12 hours previously. The tank is not cycled but I am about to put an HOB filter and a sponge filter from my established tank in the new tank. 2 of the platies seem fine, but the one that seemed to go into shock at the store is resting on the bottom in the corner and not moving. I should have realized something was amiss from the beginning. Anything I can do to help him make it through this adjustment?


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

EricC said:


> I went to Petco today and bought three different colored platies from 3 different tanks. No problem with 2 of them. The 3rd one seemed to go into shock when the person at the store netted him out of the tank and put him in a plastic container before bagging him. I tried to pick out a healthy individual but I don't know which fish he ultimately netted, as the tank was full of fish of the same color. When he put the fish in the container he kinda went stiff and drifted vertically with his tail down. I drip acclimated all 3, matched the pH to within .2 and put them into a 10 gallon tank which I had filled with dechlorinated water about 12 hours previously. The tank is not cycled but I am about to put an HOB filter and a sponge filter from my established tank in the new tank. 2 of the platies seem fine, but the one that seemed to go into shock at the store is resting on the bottom in the corner and not moving. I should have realized something was amiss from the beginning. Anything I can do to help him make it through this adjustment?



I doubt it. Sounds like you may have got a fish that was already having trouble. I hope he makes it. If it was just stress of being caught, he hopefully will recover quickly, if he's going to recover. Best of luck.

Gwen


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## EricC (Aug 19, 2011)

Update: he is doing much better. seems healthy, although still scared. Spends most of the time hiding under the sponge filter, but makes little trips out into the open. today I got him to stay out longer by offering him food. Seems like he just needs time to overcome his fear.


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## slkb (Oct 18, 2011)

I know my local petsmart has a 14 days guarantee. If your fish dies with 14 days you get you money back. I hope your fish gets better though
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

EricC said:


> Update: he is doing much better. seems healthy, although still scared. Spends most of the time hiding under the sponge filter, but makes little trips out into the open. today I got him to stay out longer by offering him food. Seems like he just needs time to overcome his fear.



I'm so glad to hear he is doing better. Sounds promising. :-D

gwen


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## AbbeysDad (Mar 28, 2011)

Fish have personalities. I have some platy's that are fearless, others that 'run and hide' when there's any movement outside the tank - unless I put some food in there...then it's every fish for him/herself! I have one that pretty much lives in the corner by a plant unless there's food in the water.
It was prolly just scared to death not knowing what was gonna happen - imagine if you were netted and dumped in a new place!
Glad to here s/he is doing better.


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## EricC (Aug 19, 2011)

*Update on the Platies*

The shy one is no longer shy. The aggressive one has mellowed out.

Unfortunately, the third one is acting weird.

He has been hiding alot, shimmies a little bit, looks like he is stressed or sick, but there aren't alot of symptoms. His left pelvic fin stays clamped to his body most of the time. There are no external symptoms ( in terms of white spots or anything else on the skin)

Total ammonia is below .25
Free ammonia reading on Seachem Ammonia Alert is below 0.02
Nitrites are 0

I am going to do a 50% water change daily and see if that helps. 

My next move would be to treat for internal parasites or bacterial infection. I got the fish from Petco and their tanks are pretty nasty.


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## EricC (Aug 19, 2011)

*Help! Platy died and another is showing similar symptoms*

The platy died by the time I came back Friday night.

The fish looked ok externally, the only symptoms were very fast breathing, started rejecting food, and hiding.

I was surprised that he died so quickly. I am worried about the other fish in the QT, especially one other platy that looks pretty ok, but acts a little lethargic and dopey, also spit out food at last feeding.

I am guessing that there is some kind of parasite or bacterial infection of the gills, but I don't have any way to diagnose. I saved the corpse of the dead fish, but I don't have a microscope to look at the gills.

Any advice on if I should treat the other platies, and what I should treat with? Normally I wouldn't be so quick to medicate, but the other fish went downhill really fast once he got to a certain point!


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## Groovysunflowers (Sep 29, 2011)

EricC said:


> The platy died by the time I came back Friday night.
> 
> The fish looked ok externally, the only symptoms were very fast breathing, started rejecting food, and hiding.
> 
> ...


Even though most resources say that platies are hard enough to withstand the cycling process, doesn't mean it's ok to do so. These fish went from a well-established tank to a completely un-established tank (you mentioned the tank hadn't been cycled.) This kind of environment change will definitely have a stress impact on the fish, lowering their immune systems, heightening chances for disease, and stressing the fish, ultimately, to death. My advice, before shelling out money on medications that probably won't work, is to wait it out, see what happens, and if they all end up dead, I'd cycle the tank completely before trying to get any more fish. 

I've dealt with this 'shock' problem a number of times at PetSmart, and if i see a fish go into shock as soon as it hits that plastic container before getting bagged, i make the staff dump it out and grab another one. It ends up being worth it to be picky!


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## EricC (Aug 19, 2011)

I agree with you that poeciliads aren't as tolerant of poor water conditions as most of the resources seem to say.

However, the quarantine tank is essentially cycled as I started it with 2 filters (HOB and sponge) from an established tank. Ammonia and Nitrites have been essentially zero ( there were some small spikes of total ammonia of .25ppm, with free ammonia being less than .02 ppm, so for all practical purposes it's been zero all along) for 2 weeks. I test every day and don't expect to get any different readings in the following weeks. I don't think that this is the problem.

The fish came from a dirty pet store tank and went into a clean QT with much better water conditions. When I go to the chain stores, about 2/3 of the platies are already hovering in one place with clamped fins. It was probably foolhardy of me to purchase any fish from these stores, but there really aren't that many options. There is only one store in my tri-state area that actually has tanks without dead and diseased fish, and they charge $8 for a platy or tetra. I will be going there next, as obviously it's worth the extra cost.

I do think that I made a mistake in adding too many different kinds of fish to the QT at once. I think that the social dynamics may have stressed the fish that died. I believe that he probably had a latent infection and it got may have gotten worse with stress. From now on I will be limiting the number and type of new fish that I quarantine at one time.

The other fish look completely problem free, with the exception of one who is slightly slower than the others. I am worried that he may develop the same thing the now deceased fish did. That's why I am looking for an appropriate med so I can be ready.

I am tired of posting on these forums with a problem and having people tell me my tank isn't cycled. Even if the tank wasn't cycled, if my ammonia and nitrite readings are 0, then it doesn't matter. If the tank wasn't cycled, then the way to deal with that would not be to wait and see if all the fish die, but rather to test ammonia and nitrite daily or every 12 hours and make large water changes to keep both within safe levels.

Funny thing, the fish that went into shock isn't the one that died. He is the one I am worried about though.

Hopefully there will be no more deaths.


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## Groovysunflowers (Sep 29, 2011)

EricC said:


> I agree with you that poeciliads aren't as tolerant of poor water conditions as most of the resources seem to say.
> 
> However, the quarantine tank is essentially cycled as I started it with 2 filters (HOB and sponge) from an established tank. Ammonia and Nitrites have been essentially zero ( there were some small spikes of total ammonia of .25ppm, with free ammonia being less than .02 ppm, so for all practical purposes it's been zero all along) for 2 weeks. I test every day and don't expect to get any different readings in the following weeks. I don't think that this is the problem.
> 
> ...


I didn't tell you that you're tank wasn't cycled, because obviously I'm not there to have any proof otherwise, I was simply quoting what you already stated. And the reason I suggested 'waiting it out' was simply because it would be inconvenient to buy medications for fish when you don't know what to treat specifically, especially considering you have fish who are or were displaying different symptoms than the others; that could make it harder to diagnose. As you stated, hopefully there will be no more deaths.


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