# Fish dropped dead. Stumped on why.



## Fearmancer (Apr 24, 2011)

No pic on this one. SO found it dead and gave it a burial at sea. I'll try to give as much detail as I can.

First off here’s the latest log entry. Water tested at home. (AMM 0ppm, NI 0ppm, NA 80 ppm, pH 8.1). No real distress noted with fish, all eating fine. The livebearers seem skittish but otherwise fine.

The fish was an adult female Platy. I've had her for about 6 months or so. She was found dead on the bottom of the tank. She was bloated and gloss eyed. She was acting fine the day before other than being really plump (no real pine coning, just looked real prego) and ate well. She has hid alot under my driftwood lately.

The tank seems fine over all. The pH is high and the NitrAtes are high and I suspect that to be the culprit if not a pregnancy gone badly. The stock is 1 female platy (was 2), 3 swordtails, 1 clown pleco, 1 farlowella cat, 1 ABF, and an apple snail. My filter may need a change since I last changed it the first of June.

If it is the pH, I'm not sure how to change it as my alkalinity are pretty high, 250+. The nitrAtes are always a problem because my tap water is 10ppm to start with.

Thanks for any help. Personally I'm stumped. I hate it when I lose a man, but its worse when I have no idea why.


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## PapaM (Jul 10, 2011)

I have platys and my study of their water parameters says they can tolerate a ph range of 7-8. 8.1 isn't unreasonable unless it raised real high in a big hurry, causing some shock. Peat moss can lower your ph.


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Your Nitrates are boarder line high. Your ph is fine for your livebearers. To lower both your ph and Nitrates I would make all water changes in the immediate future with distilled or bottled drinking water. Some Bottled Drinking water has a high ph so check it first. To avoid shock I would make changes of only 10-20% at a time.


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## Fearmancer (Apr 24, 2011)

Alright. Thanks guys. I've had no other problems and my farlowella and ABF are not having any problems, and they are the most sensitive guys in my tank. I'm just going to chalk it up to a bad pregnancy because nothing else is off. Perhaps I should have not mixed the swords and the platys. Ah well live and learn.


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