to start off, my API test results were Ph-7.0, Ammonia .25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5.0-10 (I think)
I know there isnt suppose to be any ammonia so we did a 50% water change yesteday(little more then we do per week) and vacumed the gravel as we always do.

Im having an issue with all my platys, and now my Bala shark. We have lost 5 out of 7 platys in a week and a half!
We started having an issue last month with fin rot, ich, etc. . and it just happened all of a sudden! We treated them with Maracyn and it went away. Last week it started happening again. It seems just get out of control awfully fast. One fish had puffed out gills, all their fins were clamped, and just real sluggish and not eating. we lost 5 fish to this :-(
We started turning the temp up a few degrees to help with the ich, tried salt, did water changes, now started the maracyn again. It seems to be helping the two platys left, but now the Bala shark all of a sudden is not eating, his tailfin is almost completely gone, and we cant seem to shake this sickness going on in there. we've had these fish for almost a year, never had issues before. EVer! We have 4 tetras in there too, but they arent affected by this.
Any advice or help? Pleeaasseee

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we are about to start our 10 gallon up again to cycle it to use for a quarentine tank to put the remainig 5 fish in if something happenes to our Bala :-(

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I am not sure what is going on with your platies, but I know one thing for certain... your Bala Shark is in a tank that is roughly 3-4x to small for it. They require at a minimum of 75 gallons. They max out at about 14".

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75 Gallon Planted

Yes I know that. Hes about to get a 120 gallon. I should have added that because people always comment on him instead of tryinh to help with my problems unfortunately. hes the case where the guy at the store didnt tell us how big of a tank he needed. We've had him for awhle. But hes getting his own big tank real soon

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Sorry, it irritates me to no end when people buy fish that will out grow their tanks and the idiot pet store employees who allow it to happen. I want to punch the big box store executives in the face when I see them looking at the bottom dollar instead of the health of there livestock. They need to focus more on educating their employees instead of on making a buck. Didn't mean to hijack your thread.

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75 Gallon Planted

Thats all well and good. We got him from our local pet store actually. they were still real tiny. Hes been in the 36 gallon since the summer time. After awhile when we realized he needs to be in a big tank, and with a few more of his kind, we didnt have the money or the room to buy a 100-120 gallon until now. We moved into a house from an apt. so the big tank is going into the basement. Im surprised they didnt tell us about the size tank he needs. Theyve always been real good with our other fish we get from them

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How big is the Bala now? You sure he is not bullying your other fish? What temp is your tank?

Hes not huge by any means. And na hes been in that tank with them for a real long time. He hangs out with them and developed their goofy personality. The temp is about 80. Now I am wondering if maybe since he is sick, could my cardinal tetras be nipping at his back fins? I seem to feel like if he has some sort of fin rot, wouldnt it affect all his fins, and not just the tail? ...just thinking outloud

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I was told to slightly turn the heat up if we were having an ich problem. It was at about 76-78 degrees

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yea that was my question, what temp is the tank at?

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10g- 2 hi-fin fm platys, 3 koi & red wag sword fry
40g Breeder- 6 danios, 4 female swords, 1 male swords
"I was born with nothin and I still got most of it left."- Seasick Steve

It sounds like water quality problems, although your readings are not as bad as I would have expected. Maybe there was a spike in ammonia because of a dead fish or something that made things worse. Meds are also very hard on fish, although they can help sometimes they make things worse.

I really wish I could find out how to fix this. I would have thought my results would have been much worse as well. Ive heard medicine can make things worse too, we just didnt know what else to try. The other two platys are doing much better, and the tetras are still doing fine. Now Im just worried about my bala ( I know the tank is much too small for him. We are working on that) His tail fin is completely gone. Forosome reason he is doing better then he was. Hes swimming and eating now. But its a mystery about his fin :-(

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Tha tank temp is almost 80 when I looked last night

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If your heater can't get much above 80, I would get some quick cure for the ich and just follow the directions. If you have Neons/Cradinals or any other scaless fish, you will only add a half dose for twice as long. The fin rot can be fixed with a few consecutive water changes.

The heater can go higher than 80. Thats just where it was last I looked. YEah I have 2 cardinals and 2 headlight tail light tetras. We've been doing water changes so we will see what happenes. The balas fin is just completely gone now. Will it grow back? Whats crazy is that hes acting better now and eating. Just no tail fin :-(

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Fins grow back fine once the underlying problem is solved.

Gotcha. Well it SEEMS like the problem is starting to get better. we shall see. Id hate to lose anymore fish.

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hope it works out, keep us posted.