Platies Eyes Going Black

[terry100]

Hi, hope someone can help me. I have noticed two of my platies are swimming slowly and a bit wobbly and their eyes have turned black. Also, one looks like it has a slight indent on the top of his head. They are still eating ok. Water parameters are OK except the nitrates which are high at 50. What can this be a sign of and any suggestions of what I can do would be gratefully received. All other fish appear ok. The tank is 215 litres and I have a mix of platies, mollies, and tetras. Thanks

[terry100]

Just a quick update that one of my sick fish is also losing his discolouration, has patchiness going on his body and they are now both hiding in the tank. They also do look a bit skinny and I have noticed that another platy also has black eyes but no other symptons yet. I am worried it is fish tuberculosis?

[JJWooble]

So sorry to hear that terry100  When you say water params are ok, are the ammonia and nitrite zero? If not they may be reacting to this.
Have you added any other fish recently that could have passed this on? 
With the patchiness, are you able to get a photo at all? If not, does it look fluffy, or like an indent like the flesh is being 'eaten' away, or just like a discolouration? 

The black eyes are definitely different and it does sound like it could be fish tuberculosis. I did a web search and general read around, and it could be a few other things-- can you read through the diseases listed in this link---http://www.fishyportal.com/cgi-bin/pub/diag?c=d&symptoms=86&symptoms=83&comment=&name=&email= --- and see if anything looks familiar? 
Also have a read through this link-- http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/tbc.php --- which to my knowledge is solid information. Pay attention to the prevention for humans side of things-- I'd definitely start wearing protective gloves, just be concious of keeping your hands washed afterwards, and not use your mouth to start a siphon when water changing, just in case. 

In terms of what you can do immediately:
- Large (e.g. 40%), frequent water changes. Maybe try doing one today and tomorrow, then step it out to 5 days after (assuming no one dies/levels don't change)
- Keep an eye on your water parameters and try to keep the nitrates low-- even if they have fish tuberculosis and it isn't a water parameter issue, clean water really helps sick fish
- Consider separating the fish that you can see with symptoms into a separate tank. Try not to move water/anything inbetween this new tank and your current tank-- use different equipment etc. just in case it's possible to stop the spread of infection. It also allows you the ability to closely monitor the affected fish and give them special treatments/more frequent water changes/food that they may have otherwise missed. I also like having plenty of hiding places in quarantine tanks just to keep stress levels down for the fish  
- keep yourself safe, and follow prevention methods above

If you think it's definitely fish tuberculosis:
- Consider putting down the fish that seem to be struggling with it. It's always a tough call to make but sometimes it's the kindest thing to do for them  
- Keep your water clean and try and keep all fish as stress-free/happy as possible  
- Definitely do the prevention methods from now on when dealing with that tank
- If you ever shut down that tank and intend on using it again, wash it out with bleach before setting it up again

If you think it's something else:
- Have a look at best practice for that individual disease/condition. Usually things such as setting up a quarantine tank, keeping the water parameters crystal clean, keeping stress low on fish, are common practices for treating diseases however if it's something else you may be able to treat it e.g. if they have internal parasites you can treat that with praziquatiel or drontal or some other wormer  

All the best, I hope they are doing better than when you last updated. Keep us posted  

[terry100]

Thanks so much for your reply. The patchiness I talked about is discolouration. My ammonia and nitrites are 0, the nitrates are lowering (now at 25) with the frequent changes. I added two new dalmation mollies to the tank about two months ago and plants around the same time. My original sick fish ended up lying on his side on the bottom of the tank in a bent position on Sunday so I thought he was near his end. I put him into a fry net (still in the main tank) so I could observe him and to stop the others bullying him. Yesterday, he actually righted himself and ate a little, and today he was swimming the right way up a little bit around the net - still a far way from being healthy but I thought it very strange for him to recover in any way at all! I have been doing frequent water changes, and I also added aquarium salt to the water, (did half rate because of the tetras)  My other sick platy is getting more lethargic and wobbly, so I have moved them both to a quarantine tank today - I had fry in there so it was catch 22 as to whether I move the fry to my possibly infected main tank, but then I thought it was probably best to remove the two sick ones out in the hope that it is not the dreaded fish tb and thus prevent the rest becoming infected. I see one more of my platies though has developed black eyes and a rosy tetra is swimming tail down and not looking the best.

The links you provided were very helpful, I have bookmarked the diagnostic link for future use and have ordered full length gloves today also. Thanks again for your help, I will see how things go.

[JJWooble]

No problem at all, I hope they improve.

I would have done the same with regard to the fry and creating a qt though just be aware it may just reduce the risk and fish could continue to get sick/may have already been infected so just keep adding anyone to the qt who is showing symptoms. Hopefully they all start perking up again like the first one did, that is a good sign