# Red Micky Mouse Platys head turned yellow?!



## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

I recently started a 10 gallon tank for my son. We cycled it and had pet smart check the water before buying more fish. We bought 2 red micky mouse platys and by the time we got home one of the platys mouth began to turn yellow. By the end of the night his whole head was yellow and he died. Took the fish back and got a new one. Our blue male guppy died with no sign as to why. 2 days later now and one of the platys head is turning yellow and he isn't as active. All the other fish seem to be fine. I have no been able to find anything on yellow heads. Can anyone help? Thanks!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Have you tested your water? When you cycled the tank, what method did you use?


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## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*IIf fish keep dieing like that, its definitely your water quality. Something is wrong with your water. Cycling a tank usually takes a 3 weeks - 5 weeks. You might have cycled it wrong. What did you do to cycle it? Some people thinking cycling is adding water, running a filter for over 24 hrs and its cycling, but cycling involves time to grow beneficial bacteria to break down toxins. Also, did you use a water conditioner?*


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## Inga (Aug 31, 2010)

Tell us more about your tank. When exactly did you set it up? How long did it run before adding any fish? Does it have live plants? What are your water parameters? I would advise buying an API Master test kit for the freshwater tank. Test your water each day for a few days, then you can back it down to once a week. 

First thing though, you probably need to do a partial water change each day for the next week or so. Maybe as much as 50% water. Don't forget to add a good quality water conditioner each time. I use PRIME and I encourage you to check it out. It is a good product. You might want to add a few live plants if you don't have any. They will help eat up any Ammonia and Nitrite that might be in the water.

Water changes with a good water conditioner like Prime, can more often then not, help any situation like that. I am sorry for your loss with the fish. The fact that one died almost immediately suggests it was maybe too stressed by transport or it was an ill individual right away.


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## intensejustin (Sep 8, 2010)

Check your fish now, Are their gills dark red and are they breathing at the surface?


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

After i wrote the first post i checked on the fish and he had died. The tank has been up for a week and a half. I ran it for 2 days prior to buying any fist. it has a 20-40 gallon (carbon) filter with "loose" zeolite crystals in a filter bag. No live plants. I started with what was suppose to be (and looked like) 2 male guppies and one balloon belly molly. Acclimated them for an hour and then put them in the tank. One hour after putting them in the tank one of the guppies had babies. There were 8 and now there are 2-3 left. The first red MM platy that died had a yellow mouth when i put him in the tank. prior to buying the 2 platys i had my water test and it was "pristine", or so i was told. I replaced the platy the next day and then the blue guppy died of no apparent reason. he was swimming and eating and acting normal then within an hour he was swimming belly up and then died. Very odd. Today i checked on the fish and one of the 2 platys face had turned yellow. 15 min later, he died. I just checked on them again and the last mm platy lips are yellow- he is swimming around . The other fish look to be staying towards the back and bottom half of the tank, but are swimming and seem to be fine other then there location. It really seems like there is something wrong with the platys. I am thinking that the blue guppy died of a very different reason. He had no discoloration. Hope this helps. I have had tanks all my life and never had this problem with a freshwater, just my salt tank was a failure.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Did you use water conditioner? Your tank has not cycled. You need to read up on the nitrogen cycle and get testing supplies. Of course your water was "pristine" it was straight out of your tap, with nothing added to it yet.

This was all just a big train wreck, but we've all made msistakes. Please read up on things before you add any more fish. You'll save yourself a lot of time and money.


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> Did you use water conditioner? Your tank has not cycled. You need to read up on the nitrogen cycle and get testing supplies. Of course your water was "pristine" it was straight out of your tap, with nothing added to it yet.
> 
> This was all just a big train wreck, but we've all made msistakes. Please read up on things before you add any more fish. You'll save yourself a lot of time and money.


yes i used conditioner. I had my water test a week after starting the tank, so it was not right out of the tap.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

All I was saying is that if you had it tested before putting fish into it, it probably was good. Once you added fish your cycle started. If you want to do it right and least be able to see why you're having any issues, you need to get a test kit and test your water daily until your cycle is complete.


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## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*I keep thinking its the water, it is my hunch. I'll explain my my theory. Although the tank was up for a week and a half and running for two days, there was no source of ammonia in the tank. There was no fish food, no fish, no ammonia itself to start a cycle. The water was "pristine" before the fish was added maybe because nothing was ever introduced. When you cycle a tank, you must introduce a source of ammonia so the beneficial bacteria can feed on it and multiply which initiates "cycling". The tank must have ammonia in it and have a long enough opportunity to grow the beneficial bacteria that is necessary to break down toxins. So far every fish keep dieing. The guppy was a different species and probably did not show the same symptoms of the platy but I think he died due to the same reason. Majority of the local fish stores use test strips to test when they need to be testing with liquid testing. All you need is ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate testings. 

Bottom line, the water was "pristine" because you never introduced any ammonia or anything in the tank. So it was just plain water for two weeks with nothing in it. After you added fish, there was no beneficial bacteria in the tank to break down the toxins because you never grew them, so it overloaded the tank. 

Did you add salt to the tank? Did you add anything at all to the tank? Test the water with liquid testing.

Maybe you have discovered a new Yellow Head Disease lol.*


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> All I was saying is that if you had it tested before putting fish into it, it probably was good. Once you added fish your cycle started. If you want to do it right and least be able to see why you're having any issues, you need to get a test kit and test your water daily until your cycle is complete.


I had it test a week after i added fish. That is when they said my water was fine and it was safe to add a 2 more. The remaining guppies are for sure fine. the mollys seem fine as well. The platys are the problem. There faces keep turning yellow and i am unable to find any information on why this is happening.


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

I'm sorry, I guess i confused everyone. 2 days after setting up the tank, I added 3 fish. It ran for a week and i had my water tested. They said it was safe to add a few more fish. I added the 2 platys. That is when problems started. When i put the platy in the tank one had a yellow mouth. I didn't not think it was a problem till a few hours later when his whole head was yellow and an hour after that when he passed. All the platys have had this problem. I have lost 2 to this yellow head thing and the last one now has yellow lips. The other fish in the tank (including the guppy babies) all seem to be fine. They eat, swim and have no visible defects.

When i first started the tank, i added water conditionare that was suppose to take care of everything bad in the water. I also added the 
"loose" Zeolite crystals in a filter bag in the filter. Its a rather good filter for a tank size 20-40 gallons.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Okay, I think I understand a little better now. Those 3 fish probably got your ammonia levels up. Whether or not that is what killed the first Platy you may never know. I've had more fish die within a day or two of the fish store than any other time. However, you need to at least get an ammonia test kit and test for ammonia. Test strips, which is what was mentioned fish stores usually use, are well known for being inaccurate. Plus, you don't want to wait until you make a trip to the store to be able to find out what is going on.

I would do at least a 30% water change and see if your Platy improves. It may not be immediate.


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> Okay, I think I understand a little better now. Those 3 fish probably got your ammonia levels up. Whether or not that is what killed the first Platy you may never know. I've had more fish die within a day or two of the fish store than any other time. However, you need to at least get an ammonia test kit and test for ammonia. Test strips, which is what was mentioned fish stores usually use, are well known for being inaccurate. Plus, you don't want to wait until you make a trip to the store to be able to find out what is going on.
> 
> I would do at least a 30% water change and see if your Platy improves. It may not be immediate.


Ok, wish i could use my test kit from my old saltwater tank lol. I will do a water change and see if i can pull money together to get a kit. The media i put in the filter has always eliminated ammonia for me in the past, so i will check it out. Thanks


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

New development. The last platy now has a white circle around both fins and both fins are deteriorating. There is white on his head too. This is fin rot right? I don't have time to research much today because i am throwing a party for my dad, but advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

The fin part sounds like fin rot to me. Not sure about the white on his head. Fin rot is usually caused from poor water quality. Could be your tank or the fish store he had come from, depending on how many days you've had him. Did you do a water change? That will help him if you don't have any meds. You may need as much as 50%, which is super easy with a 10g tank. I would do at least 30-40%. If it keeps getting worse, meds may be needed. I had a sunburst mickey mouse platy loose her whole tail (3 fish I got from the fish store came with the issue and 2 out of the 3 died). Treated her in a separate tank, moved her to my 75g, and she now has about 75% of her tail now. It will grow back.


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> The fin part sounds like fin rot to me. Not sure about the white on his head. Fin rot is usually caused from poor water quality. Could be your tank or the fish store he had come from, depending on how many days you've had him. Did you do a water change? That will help him if you don't have any meds. You may need as much as 50%, which is super easy with a 10g tank. I would do at least 30-40%. If it keeps getting worse, meds may be needed. I had a sunburst mickey mouse platy loose her whole tail (3 fish I got from the fish store came with the issue and 2 out of the 3 died). Treated her in a separate tank, moved her to my 75g, and she now has about 75% of her tail now. It will grow back.


I checked on him 45 min ago and he too passed. I am thinking its the pet store mainly because the only fish that had the problem were the platys the other fish are fine (so far) I am going to do a 50% water change this evening after the party. I'm about to run and fill up the bucket with water and condition it so it has time to work through the water. Thanks for all your help


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Just make sure that bucket is for aquarium stuff only. Most people buy a new bucket and never use it for anything else.


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## PinkFlamingo (Sep 26, 2010)

what about a huge lobster pot that has never been used?

Update- Balloon belly molly alive buy upside down. Did a 50% water change (used a different water conditioner) and quarantined the molly. Am guessing i have completely flunked a freshwater tank for the first time in 25 years. I am going to try and find my receipt and take them back and instead of getting more fish, im going to try and get something to help the tank. I've read salt is good, but never bought any or used it. I have used stress coat and stress zyme in the past but never noticed a difference. I do not have a lot of money at all (im in school and not working) so buying all this extra stuff that i have never used or needed before will be difficult. Is there anything that is inexpensive that might help my tank? I do not know anyone that has a established tank that i can get gravel or something from.


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