sick guppy?

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Mgamer20o0

Mgamer20o0

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Jun 4, 2003
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i looked at my take today and there is something up with my male guppy. nothing looked wrong last night. his back tail is gone, well most of it. he also looked like he changed color. i tested the ammonia it was 0 and the nirites are also 0. the tank is 20 gal with only 4 guppies and some ghost shrimp. the tank has been running a little hot so i have been puting in frozen bottles of water. i will try to get pics some time tonight. does anyone think they know whats up?
 
Is his tail just gone or are there tatters left? Could he have snagged it on something in the night? That happened to a betta of mine once, lost half his tail but it grew back eventualy. sry I cant help more...
 
It sounds like your guppy has finrot, which can be a very deadly disease. Fin rot is caused by either a bacterial infection or a fungal infection (which is indirectly caused by stress). I would put some salt in the aquarium, which will help relieve stress and fight off the infection if it is fungal. (I don't know which infection is which, but one is far more fatal... I have had it kill a guppy in 5 hours after the infection gave off noticable signs). Also, what do you mean by running a little hot? What is the temp, guppies in general can take water temps as little as 68 and as high as 85. Adding the ice may be adding stress which has adversly affected the guppy's health. Maybe some one else can help you further. Best of luck :)
 
If you have another tank I would recommend using it as a hospital tank. (Fill it up with water from the original tank to reduce stress). Add about 1 teaspoon per five gallons of water. Also, is there like a white film on the edge of his tail? Does the tail look a little lighter colored or clowdy? If it does, I would say this is fungal fin rot, I would treat it accordingly with medication to treat fungal diseases. Good luck :)
 
Hmm.... is there maybe some fin nipping going on... sometimes guppies go through stages where they are intolerant of one another. But I would still watch out... fin rot can be very, very tricky! :)

Also, is he eating well and swimming actively/with purpose?
 
I've heard of male guppies being aggressive towards eachother if they have to compete for females, especially in inadequate space. Also, I have heard of ghost shrimp attacking other fish - but have yet to see this for myself! The best thing to do is get him in a hospital tank and salt really does help, the fish always seem more vibrant with salinity. You could treat for finrot even if your fish doesn't necessairly have it, because it will not harm your fish, however, it will harm plants. Good luck with your fish!
 
Ok, here is a something everyone has avoided to ask, how long has this tank been setup? how often do you do water changes? Are they fancy or common guppies? Most of these fish are kept in large containers and are over crowded. As for salt, I would use it sparingly, readed what I wrote for another topic earlier. If you havent done a water change in awhile, this could be the issue. Do weekly water changes and also have your LFS check your water. Fish tend to get illnesses because they are stressed and that usually will mean bad water conditions. But I highly suggest reading the websites i provided if you are interested in livebearers.

jim

Hmm.. from what I have read and noted is that many liverbearers do not need salt and survive very well with out salt. Please check out the following website.
http://tcoletti.tripod.com/molly_salt_debate.html

The main issue for many livebearers is a hardness factor and clean water. If you have clean hard water, 9 out of 10 times you will not encounter any issues with your fish. The salt makes the issues caused by irregular water changes and over crowding tolerable.
Salt is basically a myth that has been passed around our trade for a very long time. Another great site for links is this:
http://tcoletti.tripod.com/thelivebearer.html
by Dr. Ted Coletti (writer for FAMA and of the ALA)
 
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