Sympathetic Deaths

I don't really know what happened. But this is my version of the events:

Because I couldn't handle the dozens and dozens of baby fish that seemed to be birthing every week from my two female fish, I separated the males and females. The Female Black Molly died within a week. She died of a broken heart.

After the Female Red Platy gave her multiple immaculate births, she died. She died of exhaustion and a latent broken heart.

By this time, the sole surviving Baby Black Molly and a Baby Red Platy have grown large enough, so I put them into the adult male tank. The babies relayed the deaths of their mothers to the adult fish.

Within two days, one of the Male Red Platy started dying. He was the one most attached to the Female Red Platy. I returned the babies and the Adult Black Molly to the large tank with the other babies in case of infection. Despite my treatments, this morning, I saw the sick Male Red Platy swim around a bit with his friend, the Other Male Red Platy. For a sec there, I thought he had recovered.

But shortly after that, he buried himself into a shell and died. I guess he was saying goodbye to his friend. At the same time, the Male Black Molly, who had been living in the big tank for two days and seemed so healthy, suddenly flipped over on his side. He looked sick. Maybe he's been infected after all I thought. So I put him back in the male tank where the water has been treated. But so far, he has been burrowing into crevices, flapping his dorsal fin as if breathing his last.

He is dying of a broken heart. He had heard from the Baby Black Molly that the mother molly had died, and he had checked out the tank to verify her absence. Now, his Adult Red Platy friend in the other tank sent him a goodbye message. So he flipped over and started to die in sympathy. I am most sorry to lose him - he was most good natured.

The remaining Male Red Platy looks puzzled, swimming about on his own. I am afraid to add him to the large tank with the babies in case he too carries infection. But I fear he will die unexpected because all his friends have gone.