Older Female platy - stress of pregnancy

[CACAdmin]

I should have taken pictures but was more concerned with the health of one of my adult female platys at the time. She is an older female, and was VERY pregnant. She didn't look well... tail drooping, dorsal fin laying flat for the most part, appearing lethargic.

I have had lots of pregnant females who become a little quieter nearing the end of their pregnancy but non have looked 'ill'. Thinking that she might be ill, I did try once to net her... only to have her retreat to the inaccessible planted lower regions of the tank. So I left her and hoped for the best. Several days later, she gave birth and within 2 days is her bright energetic, healthy looking self again. :smile: Now to net all those tiny fry. :rolleyes:

So one thing I have learned from this is that pregnancy is hard on the females (goes without saying) but more difficult and stressful on an older fish. I'm glad my platy came through it all right, but I've made a mental note that some older females might not survive the stresses of pregnancy and birth.

[Melody]

Its also the size of the broods - they increase as the female ages. She's like a woman carrying full term quint's. Its harder for her to swim, etc. She's tired. But yes, it is stressful and that leaves her more open to 'post-partum' infections so keep the water extra clean. You already use salt I believe so that will help her heal too.

OUCH.:err:

[CACAdmin]

Yup, it was a big brood, just by the numbers I see in the tank (poor gal... and she's not a terribly large platy... not like some females I have). And yes, I always use some salt in the tank and will do an extra water change to be on the safe side. Thanks for the heads-up about potential 'post-partum' infections.

[Soggybottom]

Hmm, I'd better watch my Limia nigrofasciata female carefully then. She gets so obscenely rotund when shes pregnant that I fear for her well being, and she's still young too, I can't imagine her getting much bigger. Sometimes I see her off by herself hanging out in the surface jungle, looking healthy enough but obviously not in the mood for gono-pestering ;)I'll try to post pics next time she's full term and you guys can tell me if it's normal or not...

[blainep]

I've found the same with most of my livebearers, when the females are close to dropping, they get so huge that I'm afraid something is terribly wrong ! :err:

After her last drop, my oldest Silver Sailfin Molly went kind of limp for a couple days. I took her out of her tank so the males would leave her alone, after a couple days in her own tank, with a little salt, she recovered fine.

Shes about to pop again :wideeyed: , so I've got her post partum holiday tank ready to go.

[Melody]

That is one good thing about moving females to a brooding tank - you can leave them there for a day or two to recover. Of course, you trade off by stressing a heavily pregnant female. I prefer to leave them unless they look ill. You can also have a tank divider handy and just chase the brooding female into a section when she's close to delivery. You save more fry then too :D .

[CACAdmin]

Update: It appears that my female platy eventually developed a swim bladder infection. I guess the stress of birth did leave her open to infection. The first symptoms showed yesterday. Tonight I euthanized her... I felt it the kindest thing to do. :(

Her fry on the other hand are doing extemely well.:smile:

[Melody]

That's too bad, but at least she had her babies first. She must have been getting up there - how long did you have her?

[CACAdmin]

Yup, lots and lots of babies... many generations in fact:D... some of whom have found their way into your tanks at one time or another, Melody. She was one of the first 3 platys I bought when I got back into the hobby about 1 1/2 year ago and she wasn't really young at the time. She was obviously a full grown, fully mature pregnant female then, so who knows. At the beginning, she survived the cycling of the first tank, then a couple of bouts of ich but even when I lost fish to ich, she recovered. And she had been pretty much constantly pregnant from the moment I brought her home from the lfs.(very prolific little gal).

[Melody]

Ouch - a tough one to lose then. Platy's are lucky to live over two years though, so she must have been treated well. :smile:

[thegrandpoohbah]

Sorry for your loss. At least you got a bunch of nice fry from her first.