Guppy - top fin problem

[EmmaH]

Hi, I am a newbie. I have a 5 gal tank with 3 male guppies. One of my fish (Fred) dropped to the bottom of the tank about 4 days ago and looked like he was dying. I took a sample of water to the pet store for checking and they recommended a 50% water change due to possible overfeeding, as the nitrate and amoonia levels were up.

I immediately did a 50% water change and after about 24 hours Fred has started swimming around the tank again, which I take to be a good sign. The problem is that Fred is not using his top fin at all and is swimming at an angle i.e. not swimming level - his tail fin is well below his head.

I have reduced feeding to just a pinch of dry food once a day, and the tank water quality is much better. There does seem to be a small barely visible white worm in the tank. Is this a problem?

Thanks.

 

[ct-death]

Are you in a cycle? It sounds it. If so, and doing a fish-cycle, you will NEED a testing kit for Ammonia, nitrIes and nitrAtes at a minimum...

If you are in a cycle, you will need to keep ammonias and nitrItes below 0.25 This easily could be his issue, but we need more info please

FYI - If in doubt do a water change (WC), they cant harm your sysyem (use de-chlorinator w/ tap water if not doing so and try to keep the water temps the same when adding).

Keep us posted, and let us know

 

[abh19]

How long have you had your tank running? How long have you had your fish?

What else is in the tank? Have you added any plants or rocks from the wild?

The little white worm is probably a nematode. Where is it? is it free swimming or attached to something? I had a tank once that had tons of them in it... of various lengths, ranging from a mm to 1 inch long. They cropped up when I was feeding too much, but were harmless otherwise, and the fish would sometimes eat them. That said, however, many nematodes are parasitic, so if your fish is sick, that might be the problem.

I found this article: http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article1.html

Need more info about the tank...

 

[EmmaH]

Hi ct-death

We are beginners so your advice is much appreciated. The pet store recommended a 50% change, then 3 days later a 30% change and again 3 days later a 10% change. We are about to do the 30% change tomorrow.

Fred is looking much better so I suspect we were guilty of overfeeding. The tank looks healthy at the moment.

Thanks for the help.

 

[EmmaH]

Hi abh19

We are beginners and have only had the tank 3 weeks. We have 3 live plants in the tank. It is heated to the recommened temp for guppies.

The info on Nematodes is very useful. Since we did a 50% water change and stopped over-feeding we have noticed a significant drop in these little worms. The article you pointed us to was great. Thanks.

Tank is looking better and Fred is almost back to normal, although he is still not using his top fin.

Thanks for your help.

 

[ct-death]

Okay, so I have NO idea how i missed the bold text about the worm!!!:duh:

Anyways, here is a GREAT source for disease ID (w/ pictures!):
http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Worm

These are usually associated with poor water conditions and unvacumed gravel.

I would do a very aggressive gravel vacuming and very large water change, followed by daily WCs (say 20%) and vacuming for a few days after the last worm is gone...

These are VERY hard to rid yourself of, but personally I do not know of a 'treatment' specifically for nematodes (I'm sure other do though).

Get that test kit!, keep up on those WCs and vac's, and reduce your feedings! Don't worry about not feeding them for a few days too, they will be fine. <-in fact that's probably a good idea w/ nemtodes in your tank (if that's what they are).

Here's a write up from (http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm):
"Nematoda
Symptoms: Worms hanging from the anus.
Nematodes (threadworms) infect just about anywhere in the body but only shows itself when they hang out of the anus. A heavy infestation causes hollow bellies. Lighter infestations usually cause no problems with the fish.
Short of destroying the fish, which is easier, two treatments have been suggested. First treatment; soak the food in parachlorometaxylenol and give the fish a bath or treat the aquarium with 10 ml per liter. The bath should last for several days. Second treatment; find special food containing thiabendazole as a nematode (threadworm) cure and hope the fish will eat it."