Ok, I finally have to ask about this. I have had my 30 gallon for 20 years and my 10 gallon for about 7. I love platys and am always hearing how they are an easy fish. I have NEVER had a platy or a sword last more than a month. My tanks are cycled, no ammonia, no nitrite. My ph is quite high, 8.0-8.2, but I've given up trying to regulate it. I have about a half a teaspoon of salt per gallon in each tank, although I just started the salt about ten years ago and the platys die regardless of salt.
I have had tetras of various kinds, all sorts of barbs, loaches, mollies, angelfish, a black ghost knife, a bala shark, and various other freshwater fish you find at the pet store. All breeds lived long and happy lives. Gouramis don't seem to like either tank, but I can live without them.
I want platys in all their many colors very much, but it just does not work. I get them, they are OK for a couple days, then they get lethargic and die. The only platy this didn't happen to was the most beautiful fish I ever had, orange and black, lyretail, stark raving crazy, committed suicide by jumping out of the lid opening in the back of the tank. Is it the ph? Every other breed besides the gouramis does fine.
I have had tetras of various kinds, all sorts of barbs, loaches, mollies, angelfish, a black ghost knife, a bala shark, and various other freshwater fish you find at the pet store. All breeds lived long and happy lives. Gouramis don't seem to like either tank, but I can live without them.
I want platys in all their many colors very much, but it just does not work. I get them, they are OK for a couple days, then they get lethargic and die. The only platy this didn't happen to was the most beautiful fish I ever had, orange and black, lyretail, stark raving crazy, committed suicide by jumping out of the lid opening in the back of the tank. Is it the ph? Every other breed besides the gouramis does fine.