Guppy death question

[myersrj40]

I had a single guppy in a 1 gallon tank and today it died. It had been there for around 4 months. I just turned on the light and it was like bent in half almost. Is there some kind of disease that causes a fish to do that? Also the tank was doing some thing weird, it is just an undergravel filter and there was pockets of air being released from under the gravel. The gravel is about 3 inches deep. The air pockets seemed to be being released at a steady rate but I had not noticed it till today. I had just topped the water off about 2 days ago and added the dechlorinator and thats it. Any ideas?? Let me know what you guys think...........

[PumaWard]

Your guppy is bent in half probably because it was leaning on something before it died, then it stiffened after death. As for those bubbles... it sounds like anaerobic gases, which I have no experience in but have gained a minimal amount of knowledge. This is probably what killed your guppy. Do you do regular water changes? If you do not, I highly recomend it be done for the health of the fish.

Take some test on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and get back to us so we can help you some more :)

[myersrj40]

The guppy was still alive when I found him bent it half. From what I hear the anaerobic gases are suppose to have a smell to it, and I did not smell nothing but it was releasing built up grime into the water. I have not checked the parameters lately, but I can't imagine any thing was off seeing that it was cycled and I change the water every 2 weeks. Maybe it was just his time to go.

[tricksterpup]

myersrj40,
I don't think you had the anaerobic gas, instead it may have been leakage/over flo from your under gravel filter.
As to why your fish died, it could've been many things, I think that the water change for your tank should be moved up to atleast once a week. Plus guppies are very social fish and like company. I don't think he died because of this but it helped stress him out.
Sorry, very picky with live bearers, most need very clean water and should be kept in groups. Guppies are just very tolerant of poor water quality. If you give your hand to guppies again, i would try a larger tank, such as a 10 gallon for a small group or a 5 gallon if you try your hand at breeding. :)
If you want to know more about guppies, try these sites.
www.showguppies.com
http://tcoletti.tripod.com/thelivebearer.html

jim