something white and long thread-like sticking out from platy

[ah_hup]

i noticed my female platy who just gave birth has a white thread-like stuff hanging from her anus.. at first i thought it was her trying to poop but after a few hours it is still there. and she seems restless just staying near the surface of the water. occasionally swimming away when i approach close. what is wrong with her? any help would be appreciated!!

[SmallFish]

That I think is an obvious sign of internal bacteria infection (did you feed live worms recently?)
As for treatment, if you do not have critters in the tank, you can dose anti-internal bacteria medicine (avail in all LFS) directly as per recommended dosage.
Otherwise, you may need to quarantine the sick fish, and treat it separately while doing a large (50%) water change in the main tank, and observe over time if other inhabitants are infected.

Good luck.

[benny]

More likely to be internal parasite infestation than internal bacterial infection. Could be a variety of worms. If you really need to save this fish, you might want to consider deworming medication like the type they use for discus. The monumental effort may not yield results, but at the least, you can say that you've tried.

Cheers,