Is there anything I can do?

[Interfecus]

A platy recently bought for me (as part of a christmas present) by my mum is now giving birth but is having a lot of trouble with it. She is giving birth to an extra large, stillborn first fry. I realise that this is quite common, but she started giving birth yesterday evening and still hasn't managed to get more than the head of the first one out. Please note that this is taking place in an unfiltered tank that I originally used as an emergency overflow tank but which my mum decided to stock for me for christmas. A sponge filter (uncycled) will be added later today when I get the airpump for it back from my dad's house. She is currently in a breeding trap without a divider but with some java moss. Could she potentially die if she can't release the fry? Should I move her to another tank or would it be too stressful for her at this time? Is there anything I can do to reduce the risk of her dying from this? I've heard of techniques for making egg-layers release eggs when they're stuck but I don't know whether there's an equivalent for livebearers.

[Caryl]

I'm so sorry I don't know what to suggest but I feel for her! I don't think I would move her though as it would stress her out even more.

[Rob]

The only thing I can suggest is to let her out of the breeding trap as the trap can add to their stress - probably shifting to another tank would be too stressful though. I've come round to the opinion that having floating plants in a livebearer tank is probably the easiest way to go - provides both the mother and fry with some place to hide - yes some of the fry are likely to get eaten but it's better than having the adult females stressing out in the breeding traps.

[Interfecus]

I just arrived back from lunch to find her on the brink of death. Figuring that any chance was better than none, I removed her and tried artificially removing the baby. Unfortunately the stillborn baby was deformed, had no spine, and was already partially decomposed so the head came off in the tweezers and the rest of the body was impossible to remove, although I spent a good ten minutes attempting to do so. She died shortly after I gave up and transferred her into a medicated jar.

[andyman98]

sorry to hear about your loss Interfecus.

[Peter McLeod]

I have found this a problem with young female guppies in the past.Like Rob has said I have found small breeding traps stress the female out and she will often hold back the fry and will also stop eatting.I use 3 litre containers and if the female hasn't dropped replace the water every 2 days.The females also get some live food rather than flakes that foul the water if uneaten in such a small area.Live food seems to snap them out of stress.I have also found most female guppies won't eat their fry if the container is reasonably small and unfurnished.

If the female will eat, some live food such as whiteworms or bloodworms can get the female to drop quicker.My theory is that the full stomoch gives more presure and aids the mother in dropping her fry.

[Interfecus]

Thankyou for the suggestions peter, but I believe that this was actually a physical problem. The female started giving birth at least half an hour before being confined to a trap at all, so although it might have made some difference I believe that she wouldn't have done any better in a larger container. As for the live food, she had been fed twice that day on live mosquito larvae since I caught well over half a kilo of them the day before that. While in the trap she was only fed flakes though.

Thanks for the suggestions and sympathy, I'll just have to try again.