Bloated/Mysteriously Pregnant Platy??

[maykaym4]

Hello all,

I have a tank with mollies and platies. A week or so ago, one of my platies looked like she was pregnant--incredibly pregnant--like on the verge of popping. She got huge really fast, and then the next day she was back to her girlish figure.

I assumed she had given birth and that my other fish had somehow found and eaten all the babies, but a few days later, she was just as round as when she was "pregnant". Has anyone ever had this happen before? There are no babies in the tank, she is HUGE, and I don't know what is wrong with her. She literally went from looking like a bowling ball, back to normal, then a bowling ball again in a few days.

I'm hoping there isn't anything seriously wrong with her, but I have no idea what's going on or if this is something that I shouldn't really be that worried about. The only problem I've had with her is that when I brought her home, she got ick, but we got rid of it and that was at least 2-3 months ago.

Any ideas?

Thanks so much!

[Buggy]

Sounds like she might have bloat. Try not feeding her for a day or two then give her some skinned green peas.

[lohachata]

maybe she has gas......not so sure if bloat comes and goes that fast;but it is possible.do what buggy has suggested and keep an eye on her and the other tankmates.

[Asully70]

i had one exactly like this and i posted a thread with pictures. people thought that she was pregnant but then the same thing happened. not pregnant just eats alot.

[maykaym4]

Well, I have separated her while feeding the others since yesterday, and it seems that her size has gone way down. She did have a rather large (girth-wise)..."bathroom deposit" last night, so I'm hoping that it may have passed. Sorry if that sounds gross!

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it!!

[maykaym4]

Hello again,

Well, yesterday she started looking puffy again, and today she looks just as huge as she was before. This is the third time she has puffed up. I Assume she will just go back down again, but it certainly can't be comfortable for her to keep bloating up like this and back down again. She is definitely not pregnant, because she has done this a few times for the past week or so, and there haven't been any babies. The first time that she shrunk back down to her normal size, I hadn't done anything differently. The second time, it was because I separated her when I fed everyone else. I watch how much she eats now, and it isn't a lot. I obviously can't just NOT feed her ever... but does anyone have an idea of what I can do for a permanent solution? It's becoming an every-other-day thing, and I just feel bad for her. I took some pictures of her a couple minutes ago and figured I'd post them. You can't really tell from the photos, but she is so stretched out that you can actually see inside her from her rear-end(in the third picture, that big light-colored spot under her anal fin isn't a spot, it's a hole... her.... [well, you know]....and that certainly can't be good.

Sorry if this is a totally weird post, but I am just worried about her!

[emc7]

I agree thats not good. You can try adding some salt to the water. It might help if she has a kidney problem and the bloat is excess water.

[maykaym4]

Okay, thank you I added some salt today and we shall see what happens...

[emc7]

What does her poo look like?

[maykaym4]

It is a little wider than normal, but not a LOT bigger...

[emc7]

but food colored? not white or clear or wiggling. Thats good.

[maykaym4]

Yes, it is food-colored. Well that's a relief, at least. At least she has normal poo, if nothing else :-/

[Obsidian]

If the salt doesn't help you can try feeding skinned peas. That would help with any constipation issues that might be adding into the issue.

[micstarz]

It's probably a gas problem...my bichirs get it

[InuGirlTeen]

Just to add in here, you can almost ALWAYS tell taht your platy is pregnant because when she reaches size yours is at, there will be a mass of dark spots near her anal fin. These are the babies eyes. If she is massive like that with no dark spots, you can pretty much go ahead and assume that she is bloated due to some reason and not pregnant.

[maykaym4]

Originally Posted by InuGirlTeen

Just to add in here, you can almost ALWAYS tell taht your platy is pregnant because when she reaches size yours is at, there will be a mass of dark spots near her anal fin. These are the babies eyes. If she is massive like that with no dark spots, you can pretty much go ahead and assume that she is bloated due to some reason and not pregnant.

Thank you for the info! Hopefully she will shrink back down sometime soon, and next time she gets this big it will be because she is pregnant! Cross your fingers for me

[maykaym4]

It's been a few days since she puffed up again; I've tried the skinned peas and salt...how long should it take to see results? She seems to be getting bigger... I looked up some things for more clues online... could this be dropsy?? Would the bloating possibly come and go like that, or is it permanent until the fish expires? I've been able to find some information on it, but nothing about if the fish will bloat and unbloat.... I'm not sure if I'm totally on the wrong track or not... So if that sounds completely dumb, please forgive me. I am just worried about her and I've never really had to deal with anything besides ick.

On another note, I found some posts about doing a salt bath. Could this possibly help? If so, how do I go about doing it?

[maykaym4]

So this bloated platy of mine has been acting weird again. She has been bloated for a few days (not as big as usual), but I have noticed that she is producing bubbles... and she is now kind of just laying at the bottom of the tank. I've used the peas and the salt, and it seemed to be working before, but now the same thing is happening. . .

Would a bloating problem be lasting this long or could it be something much worse than just gas????