1.
Notice if you have the piranha going left initialy it works left to right. The solution is to use else in there so that it turns left to right or right to left but not both at the same time.
EX:
+ Sprite6: On collision between Sprite6 and "Solid"
+ Sprite6: Animation "Swim Left" is playing
-> Sprite6: Set animation to "Swim Right"
+ System: Else
+ Sprite6: Animation "Swim Right" is playing
-> Sprite6: Set animation to "Swim Left"
2.
When you go to the pause menu just use the system expression "LayoutNumber".
-> INI: Write value LayoutNumber to item "layout" in group "Player Stats"
All that's left is to load the "Layout" variable in the pause menu events at the start of the layout. Then it works.
Here's your cap with the fixes for a visual: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5426011/fixed/plat.cap