platy is dead, was it my beta or just sickness?

[Sena Hansler]

Well, none of mine will try :p

[wmuav8tor]

I took the dead fish back to Petco and returned it to the same guy that sold the fish to me, He was absolutely shocked that the fish died but gave me my money back. I'll give the tank some time then I'll look into adding some more shrimp after cycling is done I think.

I have thought years ago of getting a part time job at a petstore because I love animals but I have much to learn yet and my classes are too demanding at this point anyways I decided to be able to have a job and do school at the same time

I'll have to give the zucchini a try!

LOL @ Silverfang

[osromatra]

I've only had a tank going for 3 weeks but I have a betta, and a mix of mollies and platies. I can NOT keep a platy alive. Mine all just up and die. No clamped fins, no obvious wounds, parameters great, no aggro from anyone, not even the betta (mine never bothers anyone, the most I've seen him do is flare his gills or give someone the you-best-be-moving-on look). But I've noticed all the platies I've gotten, they seem to be so prone to stress, they hide more, water changes freak them out more, they linger before going to eat when fed and hardly get any, the don't bounce back from labor as good as the mollies, they are just more skiddish in my limited experience. I've had three now. I am trying one more because asthetically I prefer their appearance to mollies and by far their more sedate behavior is much more relaxing to watch. But for now, it seems to me that they are just more prone to stress-issues than mollies.

Have you got plenty of hidey spots? My betta is hardly aggressive at all. Like I said, he will "defend" his territory, which is the back right corner where the driftwood reaches up top. I put several plants there for him, and a leaf hammock. We looked underneath before adding him and based on the stillness of the water, we figured that would be his spot and were right.

Maybe take him out, do what I did, check the surface area, then rearrange the tank decor and plants to sort of "shepherd" him to a spot that stays stillest (assuming you have a filter). My layout is very open yet also compartmentalized. It's almost like a house with an open-concept design, and I think that helps everyone feel like they have a spot, yet also keeping it open where we can enjoy watching them.

HTH!