Ok i need help. i had 3 red wag platys. they were my starter fish in my 20 gall. 2 have died in 1 week. ive had my one for about 3 weeks now. it is not new tank syndrome ive tested all the chemical they are all perfect. (i meen perfact no nitrite no nitrate usual ph levels ect.) im afraid mylast fish will dye, he is hiding behind plants and never really swims in the open. can u think of anything wrong and how do i fix it.
by the way i have good aeration, heating, filtering everything.

:o Do you have a decor, flowers, rocks, etc? The others were not aclimatized enough.
Do you know that, float the bag in the tank water, and administer your tank water to their bag water, 15 minutes. At least.
If you have one Platy left, get more of the same species.
Platies can live with guppies, kuhli loches, shrimp, smalll tetras. But get at Least one more Platy

:huh: BTW (by the way)
Never use platies or guppies as starter fish.
If you want to use a starter fish, in freshwater, use feeeder GF (goldfish).
They do the best.
Fishyfry will probably agree with me on this one.
New tank syndrome is not a syndrome. It is fear, of being able to keep something else alive other than youself.

i might advise against using the feeders. many have diseases and such that could be transferred to other fish later on. Ich is always present in a tank, just dormant, and the goldfish could bring more in. new tank syndrome really just means your biological system hasnt established itself in your tank yet. try sprinkling some food on the top of the tank and adding a couple zebra danios. is it a new tank withen the month? if so, the nitrates will spike later on. smaller tanks take a longer time to establish. Yopu also dont mention what type of filter you have and if you have a heater or not. we may be able to help you more with more information.

I'm inclined to agree with octoberfest about the feeders. Have you tested ammonia?

Do you have a liquid test kit? If so make sure you read the directions for the nitrate test carefully- a lot of people make mistakes with the nitrate instructions.

Good luck- the more we know the more we can help! ;)

if you have a local petsmart or petco, they will test your water too. a personal experiance of mine included setting up my first tank. it took over 2 months to get everything squared away so i could add more fish.