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Fin Rot... (Poecilia; health, behaviour?)
1/30/09 Hi there, I'm not sure where to start exactly, so
I'll give you the set up and situation, then hopefully my question
will be clearer. And please forgive the length of this question. The
set up is: * 10 Fancy Guppies (8 females, 2 males) in a 29 G tank. * 2
sponge filters stacked and running on and air pump that's
circulating 200 GPH * Water temp is 79.4 * Water chemistry is brackish
with SG of 1.003 * Water Parameters are: NH3 = 0, NO2 = 0, NO3 = 20
(!!!This is part of my question) This is a fish only tank. By that I
mean there have never been, nor are there now, live plants in the tank.
Before you say anything, yes, I know that live plants keep nitrates
down, but I've had trouble getting plants to live in this tank for
some reason, so I gave up on it. But, more to the point, is up until
about 3 or 4 weeks ago Nitrates were never more than 5. So part of my
question is what may have caused the change? I faithfully test the
water in the tank every Thursday. The parameters are always perfect
with ammonia and nitrite at 0. I also faithfully gravel vac, and change
10 gallons of water every Friday. That's about a 30% change, which
I would think to be sufficient to keep parameters in check. Yes, being
guppies I get a litter or two of fry every couple of weeks. The fry are
removed from the tank during the Friday water change and (forgive the
harsh reality here) fed to my frogs. (Xenopus) So the first part of my
question is do you have any guesses as to why Nitrates started rising?
Which leads me the second part of my question/situation. Can Nitrates
AT or BELOW 20 ppm cause Finrot? Because I can't figure out how
this happened. One of the males has a clear case of Finrot. Two red
spots on a frayed tail. I've removed him to a 10 gallon Q Tank, and
have been treating him with a concurrent course of Maracyn and Maracyn
II for the last four days. I'm not really seeing a lot of progress
yet, but I'm hopeful. In the meantime, I've treated the 29
gallon tank with a course of API's Fungal Cure which says it cures
tail and fin rot. The problem is I can't quite tell if the other 9
guppies need a more aggressive treatment. Some of the females have
started to have a mild fading at the ends of their tails, but not all.
No one has any noticeable red streaks/spots, or fraying. In addition,
I'm not convinced there's a fungus present. There aren't
any white spots or patches or whatever the fungus is supposed to look
like. Obviously I'm trying to avoid having to treat the 29 gallon
tank with antibiotics. But I don't have ten 10 -gallon tanks laying
around to individually treat all the fish. But I'm also not
interested in having my little friends suffer and die. So I'm at
something of a loss as to how to proceed with treatment of this
problem. Also, guppies are schooling fish, so does the stress of being
alone in the Q Tank for 5 plus days sort of cause more problems than it
solves for the poor little guy? Thanks for taking the time to read all
of this. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Laura
<Laura, the short answer is than 20 mg/l nitrate shouldn't cause
any health problems at all. That's a very safe level of nitrate for
a freshwater aquarium. So let's move on from there. Your
maintenance regime seems fine. Finrot is often caused by water quality
issues, but not always. The other common reason is physical damage.
Now, I mention this because Guppies are not peaceful fish; indeed, the
males are apt to be aggressive. They are not schooling fish as such,
but rather the females congregate in groups while the males fight over
access to the females. A dominant male will try and bully any other
males that get close. Because Fancy Guppies have particularly long
fins, they're less able to swim away from danger, but their front
ends (their teeth and jaws) aren't any different. So it's still
possible for them to bite one another, and quite possibly any damage
caused will be more severe. In other words, my gut feeling is that this
is a social behaviour issue. Livebearers generally do best in groups
where the females outnumber the males by three to one, or more! For
example, at the moment I'm keeping a single male Limia
nigrofasciata in a tank alongside eight mature females and their fry.
Although this species isn't especially aggressive, when kept in
groups the males certainly do chase one another and try to assert their
dominance. Put another way, removing some males and adding more females
could fix the problem. In any event, treat Finrot in the main tank.
Since it's not a contagious diseases as such (all tanks have the
bacteria that cause Finrot present all the time) there's no need to
isolate suffering fish, unless of course that fish can't feed or
swim normally. Cheers, Neale.> Losing Guppies one after another. 12/15/08 Hello there, I have kept tropical fish on and off for most of my life and have normally considered myself pretty knowledgeable. But much to my poor guppies dismay, I am at a loss with this one. I returned to fish keeping about a year ago and have made the usual hobby progression from, oh lets just get a small 5 gallon all the way to my current 20 gallon tank and plans for a 55. In my current 20 gallon tank before the crisis, I had 5 guppies 1 male and 4 females (all second generations from my first pair) 2 neon tetras (want more but cant find good ones and afraid to overload tank), and a snail problem. Ammonia and nitrite 0 nitrate barely detectable. ph 7.0 and hardness 150ppm I do have pretty hard tap water but all my fish have always done fine. Use Prime for a dechlorinator. Everything has been stable but then I added a few more fish. I'm not only regretting that choice but also that I didn't quarantine. I went to my LFS and bought a pair of guppies to provide some genetic diversity, since all my current ones were related, and a small 1 1/2 to 2 inch clown loach for the snails. (I know they get large and do plan on moving him to a 55 gallon as he outgrows the 20 gallon. Also disappointed I didn't get more and cant really fit more in the tank. I acclimated them to the temp. and the water and introduced them. Then I saw it, the small white spot on my clown loach. Knowing their weakness to Ich I immediately took notice. I didn't want to make any drastic changes as they were just getting acclimated to their new home conditions, so over the next few days I raised temp. from the usual 78 to 82 and added aquarium salt gradually, keeping the dosage low because of the loach's sensitivity. My biggest neon showed specks after a few days but none of my other fish. All of my water parameters stayed in check and I thought I was going to make it through. Then something went terribly wrong. Day 1 of the catastrophe I found that one of my females had given birth, and she looked horrible. She was pale and hovering near the surface in a corner but not gasping for air. 12 hours later she was laying on her side on the gravel, occasionally dashing up towards the surface and falling back down. Removed and euthanized her. All of my other fish seemed fine. Then later in the evening another female started the hovering at surface behavior. Following morning she also was on the bottom. None of them showed signs of Ich just the weird behavior then crash. I now have only 1 female guppy left, my newly purchased one. My new male went down this morning, and quick. From looking fine to bottom flopping in 2 hours. My clown loach is doing great no more Ich, my neon cleared up too. Only issue with him is he likes to sit in a spot and gasp a lot but then goes about just fine after a bit, but he's always done that, the other one doesn't. I did get a baby in my bag of guppies and its doing just fine. The newly born fry are doing just fine, but there was a mass adult guppy genocide and I don't understand why. I'm watching my female. I think she looks fine but I'm paying so much attention to her behavior that every now and then she does something that makes me nervous, and then quickly returns to normal. I'm sure it's just me, being overly alert, but I desperately want at least one of my guppies to survive. Especially since she mated with my pretty 2nd generation male before he withered away. I don't want to go throwing medications at the problem. For one I have no clue what's going on and 2 I know loaches do not tolerate a lot of meds. For the most part I have always had good luck with raising temp and adding salt for Ich, none of my fish ever reacted badly from the change. And I would have thought that the babies or the loach would have fallen victim first. So now I am completely at a loss. I have gone through the forums and tons of websites but can't find anything that seems to match. Any help would be appreciated, and thank you ahead of time. Desperate and confused, Brandon P.S. In case low Oxygen was considered since I raised temp. I do have a large airstone in the tank and surface agitation from filters. <Hello Brandon. Wild and "feeder" Guppies are generally very easy to keep and tolerant of a broad range of conditions, but the Guppies sold in pet stores are typically "fancy" varieties and these have become increasingly delicate and disease-prone. The use of salt can help, and is likely ubiquitous on fish farms. At low doses (1 g per litre) you aren't likely to stress tetras or loaches in the short term, but generally speaking I'd always recommend keeping livebearers with salt-tolerant species so that you can add more salt as required. Sodium chloride does have a useful nitrite/nitrate detoxification function, and the carbonate/bicarbonate salts in marine salt mix (my recommendation) steadies pH and raises the carbonate hardness. With Mollies, the use of marine salt mix is the difference between easy maintenance (with marine salt mix) or persistent health problems (without). Guppies are not usually so delicate, but over the generations it may well be that fancy Guppies are drifting in that direction. So if possible, I'd recommend adding marine salt mix at a dose of, say, 3-6 grammes per litre. This won't harm Guppies or any other livebearers, but would not be compatible with tetras or Clown loaches. The benefit though is you could cross off water chemistry and water quality issues from the list of possible causes. If adding marine salt mix isn't an option, then I'd certainly be monitoring nitrite and pH stability very closely. All this said, I'm not convinced that either water quality or water chemistry are the key issues here. Whitespot/Ick can be dangerous, but it's usually something that becomes an obvious killer: at levels likely to cause death, the fish would be covered in white parasites. But Whitespot can transmit viruses, and I wonder if that's what's going on here. That would explain why the Guppies dies but the other fish recovered. Viruses are essentially untreatable so far as aquarium fish are concerned, so beyond waiting for the cycle to break, there isn't much you can do. Those fish that survive are presumably immune or otherwise able to deal with the virus. Good genes, hybrid vigour in the case of cross-breed babies, overall health and youth may be factors. In any event, I'd wait a few weeks and see what happens. If the other species work out fine, I'd leave the Guppy population to settle down, and as/when you buy some more, get some wild-caught or perhaps feeder Guppies to get some good genes into the system. I'd avoid buying any Guppies from your last supplier, at least until they've sold out whatever variety you bought last time. Do also review diet, water chemistry, etc.; most anything that improves overall health will be useful here. Cheers, Neale.> My fancy female guppy... beh./hlth., need for data,
reading 12/10/08 My fancy female guppy all
of a sudden in the past week has started swimming and staying on her
side I just discovered 10 baby fish no clue which guppy they came from
but my question is what can cause her to stay like this, she still
moves around and tries to eat is it possible that the babies could be
stuck inside her? <Mmm, yes...> She appeared to be very pregnant
when this first started. PLEASE HELP!!! thank you dawn <Dawn... need
to know what your system consists of, its maintenance, feeding... water
quality, history of the set-up... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm New to website and to fish... Guppies, et al. FW fish hlth., stkg. - 12/06/08 Hi, I was given 7 breeder guppy, 1adult male, 1adult female and the rest were different ages.(1is a maturing male, 3 are smaller and 1 is a fry baby) <Guppies cannot be easily or safely kept in a 10 gallon tank; the males will pester the females, and will likely fight with one another too.> Well the 2 males started chasing the 1 female and wouldn't let her rest so I moved the males to a different tank. <What happens...> I guess I didn't move them fast enough she died. Her chest started turning dark after I moved them. It look like someone's chest x-ray that has cancer. Did she get some kind of disease or fungus? <Could be a variety of things, likely stress- or environment-induced. What is the water quality like? Guppies need zero ammonia and zero nitrite, and in a small, new aquarium this can be difficult to ensure. Moreover, Guppies also need hard, basic water. Some aquarists make the mistake of imagining the pH is the critical factor -- it is not. What Guppies need is water that has a high carbonate hardness. Adding small amounts of marine salt mix (not "aquarium salt" or "tonic salt") at a dose of 5-6 grammes per litre is probably the easiest way to do this. Although marine salt mix contains mostly salt, it also contains calcium carbonate and other water hardening chemicals. This automatically raises the carbonate hardness, making sure the pH is stable and offsetting any problems with soft water you might have. Always remember never to use water from a domestic water softener. Salt by itself has zero impact on hardness and pH.> I now have all my fish together. I have a 10 gal tank and my filter quit working for that tank so I'm using the one for my 20 gal. Will that hurt anything? <Shouldn't do.> I have the 6 small guppy, 4 blue Neons (3 female and 1 male) and 2 African dwarf frogs in that tank. Is that too many fish for that size tank and will they all get along? <Neon tetras and Dwarf Frogs are fine in 10 gallon tanks, though Neons should be kept in groups of at least 6 specimens. In small groups like yours they will be permanently stressed and scared.> Later I would like to get 2 dwarf flame Gouramis, will they fit in this community? <No chance. Moreover, Colisa lalia is extremely prone to a disease called Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus that claims the lives of a ridiculous number of specimens. While the trade and experts like me know all about this, inexperienced fishkeepers don't know, and keep buying the wretched things, causing the breeders in Asia to keep pumping out these disease-infected fish. Until folks like you stop buying them, the problem will continue. Just say no to Colisa lalia!> Thank You, Gina <You still have some reading to do. Check out this article in Conscientious Aquarist this month: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_5/volume_5_3/stocking.htm Cheers, Neale.>
Need immediate help with guppy
11/19/08 I have a "tequila sunrise" (orange and
yellow) guppy that has recently become ill. <What's the water
chemistry? Water quality? Fancy guppies are extremely sensitive to poor
water quality. If you can detect ammonia or nitrite, then that's
the likely problem right there. Guppies also need hard, basic water;
hardness 10-25 degrees dH, pH 7.5-8.0.> I have a 25 gallon tank with
only three small neon tetras, one guppy, and one Pleco that has been
established for about a year. <Please buy at least as many more
Neons; they're sociable animals and very unhappy in such small
numbers. The Plec will obviously get way to big for this tank. The
average Plec gets to about 45 cm (18 inches) within 2-3 years.> I do
water changes weekly and the water quality is fine.
<"Fine", unfortunately, covers a lot of ground! Some
aquarists imagine all sorts of things as being "fine", when
in fact they're idea of "fine" is actually
"Hell" from the perspective of the fish. So please, give me
the numbers. At minimum, you should have a pH and a nitrite test kit.
Use them.> Only the guppy has become ill but he is eating and
swimming normally. On one side of his head, which has become bright
orange, his scales are sticking out around his gills and his fin on
that side also has some orange color while the other fin is still
clear. He has an ulcer that has become larger over the past couple of
days and some of his scales are falling off. He doesn't stay near
the water surface or scratch on anything. I tried treating with
tetracycline for several days with water changes but it did not help. I
couldn't get a good picture so I attached a short movie.
<Let's talk about the ulcer. That's a secondary bacterial
infection, almost always related to poor water quality. The redness of
the head is also likely a bacterial infection, and the orange spots on
the fin surely Finrot. While there may be situations where these things
happen outside of water quality problems, ninety-nine times out of a
hundred they're related to water quality or physical damage. Given
the tankmates here, I don't believe physical damage is the
issue.> Please Help! <Review water quality and water chemistry.
Give me the numbers if you're not sure what they mean. Treat with a
suitable anti-Finrot medication (such as Maracyn or eSHa 2000),
remembering to remove carbon from the filter (if you use it) any time
you add medications to an aquarium.> Thanks, Jessica <Cheers,
Neale.> F/U to Mysterious Guppy deaths...
11/22/08 Need immediate help with guppy 11/19/08 I
have a "tequila sunrise" (orange and yellow) guppy that has
recently become ill. <What's the water chemistry? Water quality?
Fancy guppies are extremely sensitive to poor water quality. If you can
detect ammonia or nitrite, then that's the likely problem right
there. Guppies also need hard, basic water; hardness 10-25 degrees dH,
pH 7.5-8.0.> I have a 25 gallon tank with only three small neon
tetras, one guppy, and one Pleco that has been established for about a
year. <Please buy at least as many more Neons; they're sociable
animals and very unhappy in such small numbers. The Plec will obviously
get way to big for this tank. The average Plec gets to about 45 cm (18
inches) within 2-3 years.> I do water changes weekly and the water
quality is fine. <"Fine", unfortunately, covers a lot of
ground! Some aquarists imagine all sorts of things as being
"fine", when in fact they're idea of "fine" is
actually "Hell" from the perspective of the fish. So please,
give me the numbers. At minimum, you should have a pH and a nitrite
test kit. Use them.> Only the guppy has become ill but he is eating
and swimming normally. On one side of his head, which has become bright
orange, his scales are sticking out around his gills and his fin on
that side also has some orange color while the other fin is still
clear. He has an ulcer that has become larger over the past couple of
days and some of his scales are falling off. He doesn't stay near
the water surface or scratch on anything. I tried treating with
tetracycline for several days with water changes but it did not help. I
couldn't get a good picture so I attached a short movie.
<Let's talk about the ulcer. That's a secondary bacterial
infection, almost always related to poor water quality. The redness of
the head is also likely a bacterial infection, and the orange spots on
the fin surely Finrot. While there may be situations where these things
happen outside of water quality problems, ninety-nine times out of a
hundred they're related to water quality or physical damage. Given
the tankmates here, I don't believe physical damage is the
issue.> Please Help! <Review water quality and water chemistry.
Give me the numbers if you're not sure what they mean. Treat with a
suitable anti-Finrot medication (such as Maracyn or eSHa 2000),
remembering to remove carbon from the filter (if you use it) any time
you add medications to an aquarium.> Thanks, Jessica <Cheers,
Neale.> Guppy disease 11/15/08 Hey! I haven't talk to
you guys like in forever! Well....My mom went out and bought me two
guppies, one is a girl and one is a boy. When she got home, I did my
usual routine and put the bag in the water for 45 min. and then I let
them out into my adult guppy tank. (I did this yesterday) Now, this
morning when I checked on them, the boy was completely fine, but the
girl had developed a abscess or pimple right next to her head.
<...sound like she was nipped. How many other fish are in the tank?
...what size tank? etc.> Ten I noticed some Ich so I treated the
Ich. I just now checked on her and the Ich got worse. I put her in a
separate fish bowl to isolate her. What should I do? <You should
start reading... http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwich.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwichremedyyes.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/ichfaqs.htm
> Thanks! -Sarah <De nada, Sara M.> Mysterious Guppy deaths... Hi there, So, as the
subject line suggests, I'm losing guppies and can't figure out
why. Here's the system: 10g tank Inhabitants: 6 Fancy Guppies (2
males, 4 females) 3 Feeder Guppy Fry (maybe 1 week or two old)(I
started with 6 Feeder Guppies, 1 pg female, 1 male, and 4 fry) 8 Fancy
Guppy Fry (just two days old) 2 ghost shrimp (the fry will be moved in
about a week) Sponge filter running with an airstone on a Rena 300 air
pump (approx. 40GPH) 50% dose of Malawi Salt Mix (this was started when
there were apple snails in the tank, I just kept doing it because I was
told livebearers would like it too) Plastic plants and decorations
(hiding spaces etc.), standard gravel American Frogbit (Limnobium spongia) Floating Daily dose of Seachem Flourish Excel for the plants
Water temp: 78F NH3/4 = 0 No2 = 0 No3 <20 pH=7.8 ( could be more
like 8) KH = 180 GH = 300 No chlorine or anything like that. I feed the
guppies high quality mix (flakes, freeze dried) a couple times a day.
Only what they can clear in 3 min.s. They occasionally get a treat of
Frozen Bloodworms. I drop an Algae Wafer in every few days for the
ghost shrimp. (I don't know if that's necessary, but
wouldn't want to starve them unwittingly) Now for the problem. The
wild/feeder guppies seem to be dying for no reason. The first death was
the pregnant female on Monday. She hung around the top of the tank for
about 24 hours, I thought she was getting ready to give birth. Later
that night, she was floating at the surface. I just thought there had
been a complication during the birth. The next day, I went to test the
water parameters and found another feeder guppy dead on the bottom. I
never noticed any odd behavior, but I had moved him from another tank,
and assumed it was stress or shock of some kind. Then today, I was just
watching them, and making sure everyone was doing ok, and found another
dead feeder on the bottom. Yesterday, I did notice that this one had
been hanging out at the bottom. Not really swimming around like the
others, and not making much of an effort to find food or eat. None of
the corpses showed any signs of infection or disease, no spots, or
tears, or anything. So what's happening? My concern is that
whatever it is that's killing the feeders will get to the fancies
as well. They're (of course) different stock, they're also from
different stores. Of interest, however, is that there are 10 more
feeders from the same stock living in a 55g tank that's only 71F.
They're supposed to be getting eaten, but my frogs haven't
figured it out yet! Anyway, they're all swimming and living
seemingly normal lives in the 55g. Could it be the Malawi Salt mix?
Tomorrow's water change day, so I was thinking about doing a 10-15%
change with just freshwater, no salt mix. But if the guppies really
prefer the water a little harder and alkaline, I'll still need it.
The "natural" state of the water in this tank is VERY soft
and somewhat acidic for some reason. None of the other tanks have this
problem. I suppose I could half the dose again. What do y'all
think? I can't figure out what could be killing the guppies.
Everyone seems happy and healthy. One of the fancies had her fry last
night, and she and the fry seem to be doing great so far. The boys are
chasing the girls like they should. Everyone's swimming around,
picking at whatever microscopic organisms and algae are living on the
surfaces. The colors are good and aren't changing. I just can't
figure it out. Thanks for all your help and for taking the time to read
all of this. Laura <Hi Laura. It's a mystery to me too!
There's no obvious reason why your Guppies should be failing. Your
water chemistry is ideal for the species, and the water quality is
excellent. Feeder Guppies are essentially "wild" Guppies in
terms of genetics, and are usually much hardier than Fancy Guppies.
There's good experimental evidence in the scientific press that
this is the case. For example, feeder guppies can be acclimated to
seawater, whereas fancy guppies cannot. So I'm dubious about water
chemistry being the issue here, though I will make this point: any
water chemistry changes must be done slowly. If you're adding hard
water to a tank filled with soft water, you'd do weekly 20-25%
water changes, replacing the old water with hard water. Over the weeks,
this would allow the fish to adapt. What you don't do is take out
all the water and replace it with hard water, or worse, add the Malawi
salt mix straight to the aquarium, instantly making it hard. That would
be lethal! Anyway, assuming you changed the water chemistry slowly,
then I'm curious why the Feeder Guppies have died but not the Fancy
Guppies. I wonder if they were either old or infected with something?
For what it's worth, I'd sit back and do nothing right now.
Leave the aquarium as it is, and certainly don't alter the water
chemistry again. If you have the tank 100% filled with hard water, then
any new water you put in should be hard water as well. Do make sure
you're using the right concentration and types of minerals if
you're making your own Malawi salt mix. Right now you perfect
conditions for Guppies (feel free to compare your pH and hardness
values with any aquarium book) so in and of itself I doubt water
chemistry is the issue. In any case, leave things be and see what
happens, Without understanding the problem, changing things again could
make things worse. Cheers, Neale.> Dropsy Treatment 11/07/08 Hello, I emailed you
about three days ago and asked what could cause a female guppy to
become very large without having a dark gravid spot. She has seems to
be in perpetual pregnancy for the past month. She seems very happy, I
just upgraded to a 50 gallon tank and hope to get many more guppies,
but I realized that she had not been getting any darker in the anal
area. All I could find online was the disease "dropsy," I was
wondering what I can do to treat it. And, could this be what has kept
her form having the babies? Otherwise she seems absolutely perfect and
acts very normal. Thanks Much, Nate <Nate, you can't
"cure" Dropsy. It isn't a disease. It's a symptom.
It's like a rash or a runny nose on a human. While a clue to a
problem, in itself it isn't a disease or parasite. So when fish
have Dropsy, you have to review the environment and other possible
factors. Very occasionally fish get Dropsy because of things you have
no control over: bad genes, viruses, etc. If only one fish gets Dropsy,
and all the others seem fine, then there's not much you can do
beyond trying to alleviate the symptoms. Adding Epsom salt (one
teaspoon per 5 gallons) can help by altering the osmotic pressure
between the fish and the water. Keep adding this to each new bucket of
water added to the tank for as long as it takes to reduce the swelling.
Otherwise review diet, water quality, water chemistry, etc.: all these
things can cause problems ranging from constipation through to organ
failure, any of which can cause the body to swell unnaturally.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/dropsyfaqs.htm Cheers,
Neale.> Guppy Problem. Help Please! Poecilia reticulata (health; repro) 11/05/08 Hi I have two pregnant female guppies, one of which perplexes me, the other of which I need some advice. As to the confusing one, she is about 2 cm thick in her pregnancy- I hope this paints a picture, I just don't know how else to describe it, but her gravid spot is still pinkish. I have the temperature around 75 degrees, so I wonder is this has anything to do with her slow development? Then the other female has a very dark gravid spot, and she looks like she wants to be left alone, but the males keep bugging her (I have 5 females and 3 males). Should I put her in the breeder net to see how she does there? Also, if I should put her in the breeder net, should I be worried about her bullying the fry that are already in there? They are already about a cm long, so I know she can't eat them anymore. Thanks, Nate <Nate, not every swollen Guppy is necessarily pregnant, and in some cases internal parasites, bacterial infections, or organ failure can all cause swelling. It's important to note that the gravid spot isn't a "thing" that happens when the fish is pregnant: it happens because the internal organs (which are dark) are pressed against the wall of the abdomen. In other words, both pregnancy and dropsy can cause a gravid spot to appear. So above all else I'd be checking to see if other issues could be at work. Review water quality and chemistry, for example. Do also review diet; Guppies are mostly herbivores in the wild, and unfortunately in aquaria some hobbyists forget this and give them regular flake food. What Guppies (and most other livebearers) need is an algae-based flake staple augmented with high fiber foods such as live daphnia now and again. Constipation can easily occur otherwise, and needless to say this can cause dropsy-like symptoms. At 1 cm in length the juvenile Guppies should be safe with adult Guppies. I'm not a big fan of breeding nets for most livebearers, but female Guppies at least may be confined in them for short periods without undue problems. Cheers, Neale.> Gravid spots, Guppy hlth.
9/19/08 Guppy, hlth... 9/16/08 To whom it
may concern, Hello WWM, its been awhile since I've sent an e-mail
for advice. 4 of my female guppies died in 2 days. The 1st day 2 died
and I did a complete water change, the other 2 seemed alright but did
not eat. And on the 2nd day, they too perished. Why would they starve
themselves? <Fish don't tend to starve. Most species can go
weeks without food and not come to serious harm. It is MUCH more likely
they lost their appetite, and this is almost certainly an issue with
either water chemistry of water quality, though possibly temperature.
Just to recap: Guppies need basic water (pH 7.5-8.2 is ideal) with a
high level of hardness (15+ degrees dH). Adding teaspoons of aquarium
salt per gallon won't help and is irrelevant, though adding a small
amount (~6-9 grammes/litre) of MARINE salt mix per litre is useful,
particularly in soft water areas. The ammonia and nitrite levels must
be ZERO. I don't recommend keeping Guppies in tanks smaller than 90
litres; doing otherwise is a bad idea, particularly with fancy Guppies
(which are delicate) and female Guppies (which are quite large). Water
temperature needs to be around 25 degrees C; these aren't coldwater
fish.> Can 5 male guppies that have lived together in a 30 litre
tank for about 5 months be transferred to a small tank? <Define
"small". Males are aggressive and will harass the females,
and certainly shouldn't be kept with females in tanks smaller than
90 litres. You should only keep one male per two (or more) females
otherwise the females are constantly harassed and stressed.> Thank
you for your time, - Gene <We're happy to help. Do review the
requirements listed above, and check with what you're providing.
Any differences between what you have and what your fish need is where
the problems are coming from. Good luck, Neale.> Help! Please! Guppy hlth., no info., or
reading 8/23/08 Hey My new fish tank which I set
up about a week and a half ago has developed some sort of mucus on my
guppies' bodies. Like if you look down on three of them, you can
see mucus coming off and where the mucus was their fin look red. Please
help! If I have to I will kill all of the guppies that are in there but
it grieves me to do so. -Sarah <Mmm, Sarah, am hoping we can help
you help your guppies, but really need data to do so... For instance,
the actual physical set-up, your maintenance, water quality tests,
foods/feeding, the history of your husbandry... Please read here re
others similar situations, input, to get an idea of what we're
looking for: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gupdisf4.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> Clamped fins, Guppy hlth. 8/19/08 Hello, <Hello!> One of my male guppies has clamped fins. Are clamped fins contagious? Is there a cure? Will he die? I have aquarium salt and I don't know what I should do with it. Should I use that? <First, clamped fins is not a disease, just a sign of stress from disease or bad water quality. Check your water parameters before medicating.> Please help! <Happy fish keeping!> -Sarah <Merritt A.> P.S. My neighbor has two tanks that he is giving away to me. The big one (probably 120) has had saltwater fish in it. Could I clean it out and put freshwater fish in it? Or would they die? Would it be cheaper to just make it a saltwater tank and put saltwater fish in it? Or would it be cheaper to buy freshwater filters and stuff because my dad says that saltwater aquarium equipment is much different than freshwater. <You could easily clean out the tank and use it as a freshwater tank. But, this depends on if the neighbor is including all the equipment with the tank. If he is, then you could easily keep it a saltwater tank, if not then it would be cheaper to turn it into a freshwater tank. And, saltwater equipment is very different from freshwater equipment, here are some helpful links to give you an idea of the work involved in a saltwater tank vs. freshwater tanks: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/setup/marsetupindex1.htm , http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marsetupindex2.htm , http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/maintenance/maintindex.htm , http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsetupindex.htm. Just do lots of research before turning the tank into a saltwater tank! > Male guppy... hlth. cont.? 8/14//08 I have no idea what the problem could be with this little guy. <If all else fails, check water quality. Nine times out of ten, mystery sickness is down to water quality. Simple as that.> It is swimming and is upright and straight as far as side to side. However his back is bent in half with extreme tail droop. <Not good.> It is as if the back part of his body is paralyzed. <Quite possible, if the fish has been severely stressed/shocked.> I did check water and was bad ammonia. got it under control 3 days ago everything is fine now. <Define "fine". Ammonia and nitrite levels that aren't zero are extremely bad, and Fancy Guppies are not hardy. Far from it in fact. So you must keep perfect water quality at all times for them to remain healthy. It's also important that the water is hard and alkaline. Adding a certain amount of marine salt mix (2-3 grammes per litre) isn't essential, but helps. Tonic salt ("aquarium salt") is less useful.> The other fish guppies are ok with no signs of a problem. I expected him to die 3 days ago. Well he is eating and still trying to hold on. <He may well recover, given time. I have seen livebearers and indeed other kinds of fish go "loopy" in response to severe shocks, and then recover over a period of days. But actual damage to the spine or nerves won't recover. If the fish is feeding and shows no other signs of damage (e.g., no Finrot) I'd be tempted to see how things go.> Any information would be helpful for me to help this guy out. Thanks Joe <Not much to say with a photo, but please do review the needs of the not-so-humble Guppy and act accordingly. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm Cheers, Neale.> Guppy Emergency-8/9/08 Here is the background: 10gal tank, cycling for four weeks now. <Hello, Merritt here!> Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate levels very low. <What exactly is "low"?> The pH is a bit high, but we have been very gentle in trying to lower it. We perform regular dechlorinated water changes with prescribed amounts of aquarium salt and careful addition of Prime to detoxify. Tank is equipped with good filtration, aeration, lighting, and heating. Temperature maintained between 77-80 degrees. No females, no other fish except guppies. <Sounds great!> Four guppies of five have died. No signs of tail/fin rot. No salt or sand grain-like things on the bodies. No bulging eyes, no red/swollen gills, no gasping. Two of them had a small grey/white spot on one side of their body in front of their tail. It did not appear fuzzy and the scales did not appear to stick out. It almost appeared as if it were part of the natural coloring. <Coloring could be possible but it also could be signs of bacteria, internal parasites and many other fish problems. Tell me more about this if you can, maybe send a picture.> Before they died, they would listlessly float/swim near the surface or in the top back corners, only to later end up at the bottom corners. Later, the body would almost stiffen, with the side fins continually moving as if trying to continue swimming. This would soon turn into vertical swimming, bobbing, haphazardly floating throughout tank. <Is this occurring after purchase or when that have been in your tank for a few weeks?> I am at a loss for what this is and the pet store has been no help at all. We live a bit far from a pet store, so we would need some idea of what this is so that we may purchase all the necessary items. We are careful not to overfeed and do regular water changes to ensure the cycling does not stress the fish, always siphoning from the bottom. There are NO females or other fish in the tank. All levels have been checked and are very low and close to clearing completely. Two were relatively young, while the other two were mid-sized (both groups from different batches - same store). These symptoms would appear for 24 hours before the fish died. Calls to the store have only resulted in them telling us the fish might just have genetic defects, but we are not so sure. We maintained a tank with the same conditions for over a year with three guppies and no losses! What are we doing wrong? I've researched some of the diseases, but I am afraid to medicate for the wrong thing and I am not even sure all the symptoms fit. Could this be a result of Columnaris? <I do not think you have Columnaris, but I do think your guppies have an internal parasite causing these problems. I would feed them medicated fish food to kill the parasites. If that does not work then they could actually have bad genes or not been taken care of correctly at the pet store from which you are obtaining them. I have had these problems before with guppies.> Please help! Monica <You are welcome! Merritt A.> Guppy question, dis. 8/2/08 Hello, Last night I noticed that my female guppy had a bunch of orange lumpy stuff protruding from her backside. I assume these are eggs? <Nope. Guppies are livebearers.> They aren't coming off though. They're "stuck" on her. I put her in a breeding container in the tank to keep the other fish from picking at her, but what can I do for her? She's not eating, but doesn't seem to be in pain. Please help! <Without a photo, can't be 100% sure, but I wonder if this is actually a Camallanus worm infection? These look like reddish threads protruding from the anus. Treatment is using a worm-killing medication such as Levamisole, Piperazine or Praziquantel (sold under brands like Prazi Pro). http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwwormdisfaqs.htm > THANKS!! Tara <Cheers, Neale.> Female guppy that looks like she is bleeding internally 07/28/2008 Hi there, I am sorry to bother you but I have searched relentlessly on line and haven't found a good answer. First, I need to say that I have no idea what my water levels are or even tank temperature. My 3 year old wanted fish, my husband said "no goldfish" so we found guppies. The pet store wasn't very helpful with how to care for them. <So I hope you did the sensible thing which was to put your money away and left the shop. Stores that sell fish but don't give information aren't worth patronizing.> Last Sunday (7 days ago) I purchased 3 female guppies for my daughter from a local pet store. <Hang on, you bought fish the day you bought the fish tank? Or did you set up the fish tank, cycle the filter using some appropriate method, and then buy the fish?> I was told that the one was pregnant and they suggested using a breeders net for when she has the babies. I came home and did as much reading as I could about pregnant guppies and the next day noticed that she appeared to be giving birth. I put her in the breeders net and she delivered 15 fry. I was very proud of her since she had been put through so much (being transferred home to a new 5 gallon tank). She only lost a little weight, she was still very big but her gravid spot went from black to orange/red. <The gravid spot isn't a patch of colour. It's an area of the body wall that is sufficiently thin that during pregnancy the uterus can push against it when the fish is pregnant. The "dark spot" you see is the uterus wall. Post-parturition, the uterus wall relaxes and the colour of this area will change.> I thought she was either pregnant again or just didn't lose her baby weight. <Doesn't quite work like this!> On Tuesday one of the other females began to give birth (she wasn't as big as the 1st fish so I wasn't sure if she was pregnant) so I put her in a separate bowl and she gave birth to 9 fry. She went back to being skinny. I put her back in the tank and the new fry in the net with the others, all appeared to be well but the spot from the 1st mommy appeared to be getting bigger and looked redder. It even looked as though something red was coming out (my thought was a fry that had gotten stuck). She now looks like she is bleeding internally, the red has moved towards the side but isn't a solid red like I had found on another posting. <Can indeed be internal bleeding. Livebearers usually give birth without problems, but just as with humans there are things that can go wrong.> I would say it looks like a hicky (I'm sorry it's the only comparison that I can think of). I have moved her to the bowl out of fear for the other fish & fry. She had been swimming and eating fine in the tank but since being moved she only just lays at the bottom. <I'd first of all review water quality. Use you nitrite or ammonia test kit for this (preferably nitrite, one of the two ESSENTIAL test kits). Guppies are very sensitive to poor water quality, and poor water quality can produce a variety of odd symptoms. I'd also review diet; Guppies are omnivores and need an algae-based flake food as well as the usual foods made for carnivorous fish like tetras. Insufficient fibre can cause problems with the digestive tract, including secondary bacterial and protozoan infections. The symptoms you describe aren't (to me) immediately indicative of any one thing, hence my advice to cross off any potential environmental issues first.> I would appreciate any help that you can give. Thank you for your time! Karen
Deformed Guppy 5/29/08 I've had a 30 gallon setup with a BioWheel and undergravel filter for about a year and a half with no fish deaths for about 8 months. <Sounds great!> I have an assortment of 13 fish - mostly livebearers. <Very good. Livebearers are best kept alone so you have the option of adding marine salt mix -- a real lifesaver with Livebearers.> My question is about one of the guppies I've had for about 5 months. When I bought him, he was a vibrant orange and looked normal, but over time he has begun to turn white - and now he only has a belt of orange around the middle of his body. Also, his dorsal fin appears to be clumped together and not flowy like the other guppies. His body is also becoming deformed (possibly enlarged) and his scales look strange. He does not have a fungus or anything that resembles one - he is actually turning white. His symptoms have been slowly progressing over about 4 months but he doesn't seem to be sick or in any pain. None of the other fish in the tank exhibit these symptoms and all seem perfectly healthy and happy. I'm just wondering what's wrong with him - maybe something genetic? <Sounds very plausible. If the fish was sick, it'd be dead by now. Guppies, or Fancy Guppies at least, are very inbred, and the quality is variable. Lab work shows that Fancy Guppies are much less hardy and adaptable than their wild-caught or "mongrel" (Feeder Guppy) brethren. The best you can do is remove unsatisfactory fish from your breeding population, and keep adding "fresh blood" by picking up good quality males and females as you see them.> He just keeps getting weirder looking, and I don't want him to make any of the other fish sick. <Unlikely do directly cause problems, but if he's genetically at fault, his offspring will likely carry those bad genes too.> Thanks for the help! <Good luck, Neale.> Poorly Guppies 5/29/08 Hi again, thanks for your advice - I hope you can help again! <Will try.> We bought 4 guppies (1 male 3 female) a week ago - they are in a Q tank (luckily!) - 35l, internal sponge filter, air stone, some plants, Nitrate 40 (that is our tap reading :o() nitrite 0 ammonia 0 ph 8, temp 25 degrees. The male was ok at first then was very lethargic, laying on the bottom of the tank or sitting on top of a floating leaf at the top, he didn't eat. I put some Interpet Liquisil in and he is now ok - took a good 4 days for him to perk up though - he is now a busy guppy again. <Good.> However, since then the females have started down the same way. <Ah, this suggests an environmental issue may be at fault. What's the hardness? Guppies like "liquid rock", and adding a source of hardness, particularly carbonate hardness, can help. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm In particular, carbonate hardness helps prevent pH changes, which Guppies don't like. If all else fails, marine salt mix can be used. Guppies can be acclimated to brackish water very effectively if done gradually, and the hardness in the marine salt mix helps. The salt also provides other benefits, including inhibiting some disease-causing organisms such as fungus and Whitespot.> 1 female seems to have a patch of white almost like a saddle across her back, the other has been really lethargic and not eating - much like the male was. But the one that is causing most concern started off with white edges to one fin. She now has a red pattern under her scales and what looks like a blood blister on her side. She is not puffed up or swollen - but the scales are raised where the blood blister thing is. <White patches are typically Finrot or Fungus.> I did a water change at the weekend and put in some ESHA 2000 when I first noticed her fin on Sat, since then she has gotten steadily worse - today the blood blister thing has appeared. I am not sure what to do, the water stats have not changed - I have checked them morning and night. (liquid and dip stick methods). <eSHa 2000 is good, but *do remember* carbon removes medication from the water. I've made this mistake one too many times, which is why I'm a bit anti-carbon frankly.> I did a water change again today as the nitrates had risen a little and I added a little salt (about 1 tablespoon to the 35l) and re-medicated with the ESHA 2000. <Pretty much what I'd do. I'd also be doing saltwater dips to clean the wound. Add 35 grammes of salt to one litre of aquarium water. Dip the fish for 2-20 minutes as you feel suits (pull the fish out when it becomes obviously distressed, e.g., by rolling over). Return to the aquarium. Repeat daily. Saltwater dips are very good at dehydrating the pathogens on the outside of the fish, reducing the infection. The eSHa 2000 should cure anything "curable" such as Finrot and Fungus -- but if the infection is an internal bacterial infection it won't help though.> Help please, I hope that is enough for you to go on. <A photo always helps.> Thanks Lynn <Cheers, Neale.> Question about my tequila sunrise guppy -- 4/12/08 Hello, I tried to ask this question on your website but it asked me for a login which I don't know. <???> I recently bought a Tequila Sunrise Guppy from our local PetSmart along with a blue/silver guppy exactly a week from today. I put them in the tank with my Betta fish, and they were doing great. I woke up this morning and my tequila sunrise guppy was at the top of the tank floating on it's side. <Almost always when people tell me stories like this, it's because of the following issues: tank too small, tank under-filtered, tank not properly matured. So let's review. Guppies MUST have an aquarium at least 10 gallons in size, and in all honesty fancy guppies are so delicate (and the males often so aggressive) than a 20 gallon tank is ESSENTIAL. Water chemistry needs to be hard and alkaline. Adding a little MARINE MIX (not aquarium/tonic) salt, 3-6 grammes per litre, helps, especially if you live in a soft water area. The aquarium needs to be very well filtered, certainly the filter should have at least 4 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour. There should be ZERO ammonia and nitrite at all times. Temperature must be not less than 25 C, 77 F. What you CANNOT do with Guppies is stick them in a small, unfiltered aquarium of the sort (sadly) used for Bettas by some people. They are completely unsuitable for that sort of maintenance.> I thought it was dead and when I approached the tank it swam, while still being on it's side just a little. In fear that my beta fish had done something to it, I moved it to a different bowl. When I first moved it, it swam like normal then after a bout 30 seconds turned over on it's side and slowly swam that way then just sits at the top of the bowl. I don't know what's wrong with my guppy. I've searched yahoo, and I've looked all over your website typing in key points for my question, but all I found was a plenty on it's side and the rest was about pregnant guppies and nothing about being on it's side. If I could get an answer a.s.a.p.. I would greatly appreciate it. I don't know if my fish is sick or not, or hurt. -Lori <Honestly need more information re: aquarium size, filtration, water chemistry, water quality, etc. So, before going further, I'd suggest you read over this: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm Once you're done and you've got some information together about your aquarium and how the Guppies are maintained, we can try to move things forward. Cheers, Neale.> Infusoria, guppy loss of color and Moscow guppy purchase? - 4-11-08 Can you please answer a few questions for me; I did not find any answers to them in my extensive research on various web sites re specific aquarium fish. (1 A) I was told that infusoria for Betta fry should be placed in a warm, D A R K, place and elsewhere in a warm, S U N N Y, place so micro organism could grow. <The latter is correct> (1 B) How long does it take before it's ready to feed? <A few weeks> I started one with organic lettuce and another with local straw from the river. I am using both now and the fry survived the first ten days, but I also feed some dry fry food and-after they were one week old-frozen daphnia. (3C) When do I add the box/sponge filter for the fry? <Mmm... if run gently from the get go... Immediately> (2) My guppies have lost some of their colors along the back. I was told to add salt to the water but the color is still missing. What do you think? <Something amiss... Nutritionally, water quality-wise... perhaps an infectious agent at play... Hopefully not the last... Columnaris...> (3) Do you sell and ship Moscow guppies? <Nope> And do you sell micro worms or other live food for Betta fry? <Nicht!> Thank you for any help. I am somewhat new at this and have already lost two sets of Betta fry and will try not to lose this one. Mirjana in Alamosa, Colorado. <Mmm, do look on the international Betta sites re... there is a wealth of info. and help to be had. Cheers, Bob Fenner> Dying Guppies 4/4/08 Hi, I've been having trouble with my female guppies dying off. I have three quarantine tanks set up, each one with a different purchase of fish. Tank 1 Ammonia-0 Nitrite-0 Nitrate-0 Temp.-77F This is a 2 gallon tank that had three females in it. No filter, but daily water changes and all test readings are fine. All were fine but a bit jumpy for the first week. The smallest one usually had her fins clamped but I could see no other symptoms. One week into quarantine, one of the larger females got "sick". I noticed that her mouth was stuck open. I didn't see any fuzz that could be mouth fungus or anything stuck in her mouth. She died sometime that night. I took her back to the store to get a refund and another fish. The other two are fine. Tank 2 Ammonia-0 Nitrite-0 Nitrate-5ppm Temp.-77F Another 2 gallon tank that was set up when I brought back the replacement female and an extra one. This one has a sponge filter. Both fish looked fine in the store and were okay for the first day. One of them also developed the mouth problem. This time I went ahead and put Jungle Fungus Clear in the tank just in case it was mouth fungus. It only seemed to speed up her death as she died a few hours later. Since putting the medicine in the other female has clamped fins. Once again I took the dead female back for a refund and another fish. Tank 3 Ammonia-.25ppm Nitrite-0 Nitrate-0 Temp.-77F Another two gallon tank setup for the replacement female. Yet again I was unable to walk out of the store with only one fish, so this time there are six guppy fry included. Unfiltered tank with daily water changes. Female guppy was fine the day I got her. The next day she developed the mouth problem but this time it was right after a water change. No medicine was added because I was unsure if it was safe for the fry and it didn't seem to help anyway. She died the next morning. Right before she died, I noticed that her gills seemed to be stuck open as well and she lost her balance. She would be vertical, head up, then slowly fall backwards to the bottom of the tank. She would lay there for a few seconds then dart off and start the whole process over again. All the fry are fine. This time I'm not going back for another fish until I know what the cause is. I have never seen anything like this before and I can't find anything on the internet. These three fish didn't come in contact in any way, not even the equipment. I would have suspected some illness from the tank at the store except that the first female was fine for a week. All the other fish in quarantine are fine but I'm checking them more often now. Thanks, Amber <Hi Amber. It's difficult to give an absolute answer to this because two things could be going on. Your quarantine tanks are too small anyway, and without filters makes it even worse. Daily water changes aren't enough. That you're detecting any ammonia at all means that your fish are constantly exposed to too much nitrogenous waste. End result will inevitably be sickness. I'd sooner you use one quarantine tank of at least 10 gallons are put them all in there, with a filter. The second problem could be that your retailer just doesn't look after these fish properly, or buys in very substandard stock. This isn't a common state of affairs it has to be said, so before blaming a retailer I'd always check to see if something I was doing could be at fault. But if observing the tanks at the store you see dead fish, dirty tanks, and signs of disease, then this would be a store to steer clear of. Do make sure you read up on the needs of Guppies re: water chemistry, diet, etc. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm Cheers, Neale.> Pregnant guppy not swimming, not much needed data... 3/14/08 Hi, <Betsy> We have a guppy who is very pregnant. Yesterday she started laying on the side of the breeder tank. She is still breathing and will swim every now and then. Does this mean she is in labor or is she sick? <Perhaps a bit of both... but... not good behavior> Hope you can help with our questions! Thanks Betsy <I would NOT move this fish (too easy to damage), but would take great care in feeding very little, and would add a bit of "floating grass"... See WWM, search tool, with the term... Myriophyllum, Ceratophyllum, Anacharis/Elodea/Egeria... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppyreprofaqs.htm and the above linked files for more background. Bob Fenner> Guppy confused, Hlth. 03/04/2008 Hello, I have 4 females and 2 males guppies. One of the females has had her second set of fry since we bought her. This time however it has been over 48 hours and I cannot get her to eat. She sits on the bottom of the tank or on parts of the draw bridge we have, I hate to lose her. <I urge patience here...> Another thing that is confusing to me is that the yellow male we have is guarding her, he won't leave her side and if one of the other guppies male or female come near her he gets in front of the and gets as close to her (the female that is not doing well) as possible. He has been doing this for about 30 hours or so now. I have tested the water once in the morning and again in the afternoon and all test come out with in specs. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I put liquid fry food in as well as frozen BBS I put flakes in the morning and evening. I don't know. Everyone else is doing great. They are in a 10 gallon tank. <Mmm, more room would be better> I have only found 12 fry that I have in my 28 gallon bow front tank in a breeder that floats in the tank. <Ahh!> Anyway That is all I found I know there are a couple more in there I have seen them but can't catch them, they like to hide in the rocks. The female in question just shot up off the bottom of the tank to the top she is having obvious control issues. She is floating around and kind of directing herself with her back fin and her body. She is not using her side fins. She is just going with the flow. Her color is normal and her fins are not frayed nothing. What could be causing this?? I don't know whether to just take her out and end it or what? <I would leave this fish where it is... continue with normal maintenance... have hope. Bob Fenner> Guppies... hlth., use, dis-use of ammonia removing tap/source water treatment products 02/29/2008 I'm sorry for being a nuisance but I wonder if you could give me a bit of advice, I purchased 2 male guppies and 2 female guppies yesterday to go with the other guppies in my tank but two of the males have since died, I checked the water and found that the PH, Nitrate and Nitrite were smack on the correct level, but the ammonia gave a reading of 8.0. <Means one of two things. Firstly, the filter could be completely immature (i.e., the fish produce ammonia, but not ammonia gets converted to nitrite, let alone nitrate, so you detect zero nitrite and whatever nitrate level you have in your tap water. Alternatively, you have a source of ammonia above and beyond what the filter can cope with, e.g., ammonia in the tap water, or a lot of decaying organic material. Either way, extremely bad news.> I added some "Ammo Lock" to the water but when I checked it this morning it was still high so I changed a third of the water and added some "Tap Safe" I have just checked the water again and whereas all the other readings are correct, the ammonia is still between 4.0 and 8.0 so I added some "Interpet Ammonia Remover" <OK, you're misunderstanding what these Ammo Lock-type products do. They do not remove ammonia produced by the fish or from decay. All they do is neutralise small (typically less than 0.5 mg/l) amounts of ammonia that sometimes are found in tap water. If your tap water has ammonia, then obviously adding it to an aquarium would be bad, so these product render than ammonia harmless. What they CANNOT do is remove masses of ammonia constantly being produced by livestock or decay in the aquarium. If it was that easy we wouldn't bother with filters! So put them away; they are as much help here as a bottle of mineral water would be for putting out a forest fire. You need to establish why your aquarium is generating ammonia (because it is). Review: stocking, feeding, filtration. Do also check you are using the correct dechlorinator: if your local water supplier uses Chloramine, but you use a dechlorinator that doesn't treat Chloramine, you end up with a measure of ammonia in each bucket of treated water. Stop feeding the fish, for a start. Check the filter is running and mature. Do 50% water changes DAILY until things get down to normal. Ammonia is incredibly toxic to fish, and anything above zero will kill them quickly.> Do you have any suggestions on why all the readings are fine apart from the ammonia. <Outlined above.> The other thing which puzzles me is that although the guppies have died, all the other fish are thriving, including two very small molly fry which are between a third and half the size of my neon tetras. Many thanks for your help. <Hmm... fish that have been in deteriorating conditions will adapt (to a point) whereas new stuff added from a clean tank to a dirty tank will just keel over and die. But the short answer is if you have ammonia in the water, then chances are all the fish will die.> Regards, Gaynor <Hope this helps, Neale.> Clear blisters on guppies head 2/27/08 Hi, I have a question concerning my guppies. I have a 55 gallon tank with to many guppies to and mollies to count. I use a Aqua Tech power filter, which is only for a 40 gallon tank, but also use another power filter with it, that is for a 20 gallon tank. I make sure everyday the water temperature is stable, and have had these fish for many years. However several of my guppies have developed a severe curved spine, which I thought was maybe inherited. It started with one male with a curved spine, and then some of my females babies were born looking just like him. Now one of my male guppies has a big clear blister on top of his head. (looks like a poison ivy blister). He has been like this for months and it appears to be getting bigger and bigger. He still eats and swims around like nothing is wrong. But I was wondering what this is and if my other fish will catch it. I have been using Quick Cure medicine in the tank, but it has not made any change in him. I would greatly appreciate any recommendations you can give me. <Greetings. The curved spine issue is likely genetic, since Fancy Guppies are very inbred. You need to painlessly destroy any such fry to get rid of these bad genes from the population you have. Obviously it doesn't "get better". As for the blister, it's impossible to be sure, but I'm guessing this is a non-contagious deformity. Again, destroy the fish. Do be careful about randomly adding medications to the tank before diagnosing the problem: many medications contain things like copper that are, at some level, toxic to fish. So used sparingly they can be helpful, but used to excess they may cause problems. Do see our page on Euthanasia re: painless methods of destruction. Cheers, Neale.>
Guppy question, sel. sys., dis. 2/17/08 I've had guppies for years and stopped and restarted a few times, out of frustration of how delicate the females are. <Of all fish species... this standard used to be rock solid... the touchy stock from the Far East has ruined a good deal of the hobby the last decades> I also have a 30gallon planted tank with co2 and such, so I'm not quite a beginner. I have almost enough salt to be considered brackish, think between 1Tbls/5gallon to 1Tbls/10gallon. This is a planted eclipse hex 5 gallon. <Small... hard to keep stable... and with the salt... easy for nitrification to vacillate> I have/had 5 females and 4 males. I think I even had another female but she died back 2 months ago. They are all fancy guppies, so delicate it seems. I got them from two different stores, one being PetSmart (sorry). I've had 2 females die now in the past day. I just did a water change 3 days ago, about 20%, as usual for every other to maybe ever week. The two that died were very pregnant and one of them and possibly the other looked like they were about to give birth (both were hanging out down on the gravel or plants being alone). With that background out of the way, is there anything else I can do to make the females more comfortable and less likely to die? <Yes... see below> This is a constant problem and I only got these fish 2 months ago and already have lost almost half my original females. The temp is usually at 76 but can go up to 79 (the eclipse light always has a tendency of heating the tank up if the room is mildly warm). But lately it hasn't been. Is my tank too crowded maybe too? <Is a factor, yes> They seem happy otherwise. Should I instead be buying more reliable females, <Yes> is it possible I've just had bad luck with the ones I bought? <Mmm, not entirely, no> I think the ones that died today were both from PetSmart if that matters. It's just demoralizing. Thanks for any information. -Erin <Too many Poecilia reticulata on the market are infested with Hexamita (perennially) and Columnaris (seasonally, and in more erratic punctuated fashion)... Guarding against the introduction of these diseases can be accomplished only through careful exclusion/quarantining of all incoming livestock... and treatment with antiprotozoal (Metronidazole often) and possibly antimicrobial (most celebratedly Neomycin...). You might have "luck" with buying/selecting better stock from another source... but I would still at least isolate it for a good two weeks (to weaken pathogens) before introduction to your main displays... Having a larger system would be of great benefit here as well as bolstering the fishs' immune systems through improved nutrition... Do see the Net re the disease organisms mentioned... they can be defeated, excluded... Bob Fenner> FW... Ich, Guppy dis., using WWM 2/13/08 Exactly 2 weeks and a day ago, I bought 4 fish from PetSmart. 2 Fancy Guppies (Male is, I don't know about female) and 2 Chinese Algae Eaters. <Do read re this fish, Gyrinocheilus... very mean... don't eat much algae...> I put all four fish in Wardley's Essentials Ick Away in a 3 gallon tank <Mmm, too small, and why the medication?> for 3 days. At the end of the 3 days, <Not long enough to treat an actual case of Ich...> the male guppy and C.A.E.'s were moved to the community tank (10 gallon; four 1 inch swordtails <Will need more room than this> and some sort of snail) The female was moved into a 1 gallon hospital tank and treated for Ick <If one fish has Ich... they all, the system does...> with the medicine I mentioned. For 2 weeks and 1 day now, she doesn't get better or worse. Her top fin is clamped and her color has faded. She eats A LOT. <A good sign> All the fish food and frozen bloodworms and everything. She is also pregnant. She swims like normal, but breathes rapidly. She's always breathed fast, opening and closing her mouth. The swords don't breathe with their mouths open, but maybe guppies do. (These are my first guppies) I'm totally out of ideas. <I'd be reading on WWM re...> This doesn't look like any disease people have ever mentioned. They say that the fish stops eating. Mine doesn't. (Oh, and the edge of her tail looks like it was traced with something white. <... reads like a case of Columnaris... Chondrococcus...> (The edge of her tail is white)) When she swims all fins are erect, but when she drops down her top fin droops. I don't see any parasites on her body. I've also heard something about giving egg yolk to fish. (I can't find the website again.) Please help. Any help at all will be much appreciated. <Read, on WWM, the Net re... Bob Fenner>
Please help our guppies, Guppy Death 1/15/07 We have 3 guppy tanks. #1 is a 55 gal tank. It has our Males and females in it. I bought the tank used, the fish that were in it before died. When we got it I cleaned it with bleach and water, filled it and put in my guppies. <Did you cycle it? How many guppies did you add?> I didn't know what I was doing. I lost all of them. Next I tore down the tank and started over. This time I added AquaSafe, let the tank run for 3 days, then added my guppies. I lost all of them. <Not surprising, still not cycled.> So the next time I once again tore down the tank, bought all new stones, switched to live plants, and bought all new decor. So everything in the tank was all new. I was told not to use soap or bleach to clean my tank but to use vinegar. So I did that. I added the AquaSafe, and salt. Left my tank running without fish for about a week, then added my guppies. All have died but 4. I will probably be down to 3 by morning. <Check your water parameters, I bet you have a huge ammonia/nitrite spike happening now, which is killing your fish.> They start off by going to the top of the tank or laying in the plants. Next they start swimming on there sides only at the top of the tank. By the next day there dead. <Ammonia poisoning.> I am getting a new set of 40 guppies from a personal breeder on Wednesday. <Will die too unless you let the tank cycle.> Can you tell my anything I can do, or stop doing to keep these ones alive? <Stop adding more fish and get the tank cycled. Please see here for details http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm .> My other 2 tanks have fry in them and they are fine. 1 tank is a 10 gal it contains the really little ones,2 frogs, and 2 algae eaters 1 tank is a 5 gal it has the bigger fry,1 frog, and 1 algae eater in it. <Ok> We could really use your help. We love having the guppies but are about to give up. Please help us. Thank you The Ladd family <Right now you need to get your water conditions under control. A large water change will probably be helpful here and learn about the nitrogen cycle and what is happening in your tank right now. As far as adding more fish right now less is more, and adding 40 new guppies to this tank is not going to work well.> <Chris>
Rash of guppy deaths -12/14/07 Hi, <Hello> Recently I've had a rash of mostly unexplained guppy deaths. I had three healthy male guppies for 11 months, along with a golden algae eater who pretty much keeps to himself. <Mmm... likely Gyrinocheilus aymonieri... a fish eater...> A couple of weeks ago guppy #1 suddenly died for no apparent reason, and two days later #2 got a lump on his throat/chest area. He died several days later. A couple of days after that I bought two new guppies to keep #3 company. They swam happily together for two days, then #3 died suddenly. So, of the original three, only one had any symptoms at all, I just don't know of what. The other two seemed perfectly fine. Last Saturday I bought one more guppy. Yesterday one of the new ones died. Today, the two remaining were swimming happily at 10:30 AM, then at noon I found the second new one dead. Again, no symptoms at all. Now there is just the one left with the AE, and I am hoping he makes it through the next few days. I have a 6-gallon Eclipse w/bowel. I do 25% water changes weekly. Ph is 7.2, 0 chlorine, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, nitrates are below 20. Temp is 75-78 deg. F. <The above all reads as fine...> One live plant weighed down with a rock I boiled before putting in. I feed small amounts. I have another tank, same setup, with a female guppy (sister to #1 and #3), two platies and two Otocinclus, and they are doing fine, so I don't think anything came in through the water changes. <I agree> Could the old ones have died of age and the other two are just coincidence or bad stock? <Mmm, yes> Could the lump have been something contagious? <Not likely... if it were... e.g. Chondrococcus/Columnaris... all guppies would be dead> Everything I read says water quality, water quality, but the water seems fine. Am I missing something? What could be going on? If the last one dies do I need to tear down the tank and start over? <I would not. Your maintenance and set up are also good... This may be coincidence, senescence as you speculate... I would keep my eye on, read about the CAE/Gyrinocheilus... as this species is notorious for "riding" other fishes... removing their needed/protective slime coating... often leading to such "anomalous" deaths... Otherwise... I'd do nothing here. Bob Fenner> Thanks so much, Lauren Female Guppy, hlth. -- 12/6/07 I have a 10
Gal tank that has 3 guppies(2 male 1 female), 2 Platys, and 1 Danio in
it. I went to feed my fish this evening and realized my Female Guppy
was Hiding in The skull decor that is in the tank (which isn't
normal for her). When she came out I noticed that her fins are bright
red? <Yikes. A bad sign> I have no idea what has cause this. The
rest of my fish seem to be just fine? I'm really worried about her.
We have had her for about 3 months and she's already had 2 schools
of babies. Am I doing something wrong? I really don't want to loose
my female.... Please Help!!! Thanks Kris <Do you have test kits for
water quality? Am mainly concerned with measure for nitrate here...
What re your maintenance procedures? When/where in doubt, a partial
water change is recommended... Please read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gupdisf3.htm and the linked files
above. Bob Fenner> Color fading odd death... guppy hlth., no reading -- 11/20/07 Please Help! My favorite guppy is starting to fade his spots on his body (usually means his mood) are becoming less and also fading. he isn't chasing females as much and doesn't move much I recently lost a male to dropsy and I don't want to lose my favorite. And today I watched one female guppy become paralyzed. She can't move her fins just her tail fin is the only thing keeping her alive. very odd there ph is at 7.2 ammonia fine nitrate and nitrite fine <Values...> hard water everything I don't know what to do. I put some MelaFix <Not a fan... See WWM re> salt and quick cure oh and the water is at 86 degrees <Much too high> what could be wrong . <Mmmm, could be nutritional... the temp. here is way off... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm and the linked files above. RMF> Sick fish... Guppies, Columnaris?
11/6/07 Ok I have a 75 gallon fish tank perfect ammonia ph
Everything! <... Punctuation...> However I have lost many female
guppies to this weird disease, it only happens to females and it comes
over there belly like over there gravid spot up to their back and its
their scales that sort of puff up and lift off their body yet don't
fall out. <Yikes!> Eventually I separate them and then after a
while they die. I have given them a bit of salt everyday and some quick
cure <Toxic> I lost about 5 to 7 guppies and for a while it went
away, they had a billion babies ,and then all of the sudden it came
back I don't get it. I thought for a while it was Ich because they
would flick themselves off rocks and stuff, but why would it only
happen to the girls and it isn't how the books describe it. also I
have one female that has been with me since the beginning and about 2
to 3 weeks ago she got this round golden thing under her skin on her
back. It's so odd and now it's like starting to bulge out of
her back. please help I have searched every here nobody can tell what
it is. I love my guppies and don't want anymore to die. thank you.
<Your situation sounds very much like "Columnaris"
disease... see the Net, WWM re Chondrococcus... likely Neomycin
sulfate... Bob Fenner> Sick guppies. Columnaris? 10/17/07 Hi, We have had quite a few guppies over the past few months. We recently introduced some new guppy fish and ever since they have been dying, most have developed a white velvety/mouldy substance on their sides. At first we thought it could have been velvet disease however upon further reading we have come to doubt this as velvet is described to be yellowish in colour and this is pure white, we have also used velvet control treatment, however to no avail. Also one of the females has developed large white rings around her eyes which look like they could be some sort of fungal infection. <Mmm, much more likely bacterial> I have searched the internet and cannot find anything relating to this. <Look for the term "Columnaris"... or the genus Chondrococcus... and "fish disease"> We have a catfish, a spotted Plec and three black harlequins in our tank which we have had sense the tank was first set up which have remained unaffected. We have done tests on our ammonia levels, PH, nitrate which have all been fine. Can you think of anything which this could be and what is causing it? <Was likely either introduced with some livestock... and/or favored by "stress", some sort of deficiency...> We are going to completely change the water tonight and clean the tank which we are hoping will get rid of any infection in the water. Any advice would be much appreciated, Best regards Emily and John P.S they have also had more babies recently, will they be affected do you know? <Please see this piece: http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/17/2/333.pdf re Neomycin, Polymixin use... Needs to be addressed ASAP. Bob Fenner> Guppy issue 10/14/07 Hi, I noticed a problem with one of my female guppies today (I have 6 guppies in a 10 gallon tank, 2 males and 4 females). I had checked the pH, nitrate, nitrite, chlorine, hardness, and alkalinity yesterday before buying the fish and it was all at healthy levels. The tank has been set up for a while because I wanted it to get through a cycle before putting any fish in (although my roommates thought I was nuts for having a tank with no fish!). Each of the fish I picked seemed in good condition and they spent the day getting used to the tank and then I fed them a little before I went to sleep. This morning they had all seemed fine although I noticed the eyes on one female (the one with a problem now) were a little dark, but I thought nothing of it since that can happen from the stress of being transported yesterday. When I got back again about 5 or 6 hours later though, I noticed that her right fin was sticking straight out and seemed a little swollen and pinkish white at the base. She hasn't been using it and just swimming around in circles to the left, but she still has a good appetite and will swim to the right if she sees some food she really wants, she just won't use the right fin. I checked and noticed that the ammonia level is a little higher than I'd like it to be (probably from the fact that the tank is adjusting to the fish). I added some salt to the water and used some stress coat to help them adjust, but I was wondering what else I need to do or if its a much more serious problem. Thanks, Yana <Hello Yana. There's no "acceptable" level of ammonia -- anything above Zero is dangerous, potentially lethal. With Guppies, while wild fish are hardy, the fancy varieties most people buy are extremely delicate. So it is entirely likely (= probable) that you have a case of Finrot or fungus to deal with. A combination medication (such as eSHa 2000) should fix that right away. Do follow the instructions carefully. Do remove carbon from the filter (carbon neutralises medications). Don't waste your time with salt/Melafix/Pimafix. Do make sure the water chemistry is appropriate for what Guppies want: high hardness, high carbonate hardness, and a pH around 7.5-8.0. Do reduce food while ammonia is a problem. While I applaud your patience setting the tank up before putting fish into it, unless you were adding a source of ammonia as well, the filter DIDN'T mature. The usual method is to add inorganic ammonia (from a chemist or hardware store) during the "fishless cycling" phase, but adding a pinch of flake each day and letting it rot works just as well. Anyway, assuming you didn't do this, your tank is cycling now, and it'll take about 6 weeks to complete. During this phase, check the ammonia and nitrite levels every couple of days. Do regular, big water changes: I'd suggest 25% daily. That will keep the fish healthy during this critical phase. Once it's mature, you can leave the tank a week between water changes of 25-50%. Good luck, Neale> Guppy illness?? 10/12/07 Hello. I have a 55 gallon tank, with two male guppies, six female, around 20 fry (in the breeding net), and 2 speckled Corys. I tested the water yesterday and the pH was about 7.0, hardness 120, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, and ammonia 0 - .25. So the water is not in bad condition, and temp is between 78 - 80 degrees. However, I came home from school and found one female and one male stuck to the filter, but still breathing. So I turned off the filter and let them come off. They are still alive and breathing but can't swim very well. They attempt but end up swimming upside down, sideways, normally, or get pushed around by the flowing water. Right now they are both on the bottom of the tank but still breathing and upright. I'm wondering if they got paralyzed in any way or if the Corys did something to them or what. <Mmm, not the Corydoras> I was also wondering how they got sucked to the filter, so I'm guessing this was happening before they were stuck on the filter. <Yes... something weakened them...> Another question I have is one of my other female guppies has a red spot on her stomach. Her anal area also seems to be a TAD swollen. Not extremely but just to the point where you might say something if you saw it. I have been seeing about one to two baby fry in the tank everyday, so I was wondering if she is the one having the babies and just having a rough time giving birth. Or is she just inflated in that area? I don't know. I am very confused. My fry seem nice and healthy but it's the older fish that keep getting sick and all. Please help. -A Confused Guppy Owner <I would read for now: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gupdisf4.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> Guppy outcast 9/28/07 I have had one Betta and 4 male guppies <Mmm, often Bettas will go after fancy guppy males' tails...> in a 10 gallon tank with a filter, heater, live plants and air bubbles for about 6 months. Everything was going fine until about 3 days ago I noticed one of the guppies hanging around by himself on the other side of the tank and another one with a little tear in his tail. <Ooops> At feeding time the other guppies started crashing in to him and not letting him get any food at all. <Interesting behavior> I tried to help him out and made sure he got some food but the next day he seemed unable to get to the very top of the water (he was coming up within 2 inches of surface trying to eat). The other fish were still bullying him out of his lunch so I moved him into a separate 2.5 gallon tank and he was able to eat. <Good> Now today he seems worse again. He is hanging out near the surface. It looks like he's trying to eat but when I put food in the tank he doesn't even seem to notice. He is swimming around and around the edges if the tank very slowly while touching the sides. He also seemed to be resting his tail on a plastic plant. I don't see any Ich on him to explain the rubbing. I just checked on him and now he is laying on the bottom of the tank. There is another guppy that seems to be getting separated now but am not sure yet. Am scared that he might be dying. Please help. Appreciate any help. - Shine <Only time, good care on your part will see if this fish will recover. No specific treatment is advised. Bob Fenner> Question about guppies with bloated bellies -- 9/24/07 We've had a small 2 gallon aquarium since March with 2 neon tetras and 4 guppies in it. <Too small... as someone on a forum I frequent wisely said, "two gallons is a vase; get some flowers".> They did well with no mortality, and even provided us with several babies. Once the babies got bigger (beginning of September) I moved everyone to an established 10 gallon that had housed an angel fish. <Neons with Angels???? You do realise that Neons are part of the natural diet of angelfish...? Or am I right in thinking the angelfish had moved somewhere else at this point?> Within the week one of the babies got a very large round belly and died. <Hmm. Could be a variety of things. Possibly the wrong food, poor water quality, or the stress of being moved between tanks with very different water chemistry conditions. Guppies fundamentally want different conditions to angels and Neons: the harder and more alkaline, the better. To keep all three species, you're looking for "moderately hard" water (say, 10 degrees dH upwards) and a pH of around 7.5. Soft water fish adapt to hard water better than hardwater fish do to soft water.> Everyone else seemed to be just fine and have been for the past while until yesterday when I noticed that my female guppy, and the one constantly giving us babies, also had a very large round belly. This morning she was dead. <Have you checked water chemistry, quality? When fish die -- that's your first step.> Although I live in a small town, we have 3 aquarium stores all in the same plaza. Great for supplies, but not so great when it comes to asking for advise and I leave there more confused than ever. <Often the case, even in big cities.> I'll take a water sample in to one of them today and have that checked but I wonder if this problem might be caused by diet. <Unlikely, but possible. Guppies need a vegetarian diet, so provided you're giving them algae-based flake food (marketed as "livebearer food" often-times) you should be fine. Giving guppies standard flake is okay once in a while, but not recommended in the long term.> When I moved the fish to the new tank there was a ceramic ornament in there with artificial plants coming out of it. The baby guppy that died was fond of picking away at the algae that must have been on it, despite my cleaning of it before their addition. <Nature's way of saying, "Hey, gimme some plant food!". Guppies are herbivores. They eat algae as well as mosquito larvae. So let the algae grow, and supplement with vegetarian flake food plus things like strips of Sushi Nori (cheap and easy to buy from Asian food markets and the better supermarkets).> The adult female that also died had also been seen nibbling on the ornament. <See, they're telling you something... not enough greens and fibre in their diet, leads to malnutrition plus constipation.> We also have a 5 gallon tank where we've lost 3 platies to something that caused them to arch their backs and swim upside down. <Again, platies are herbivores. In fact, to a greater degree than even guppies. They MUST have plant material to stay healthy.> That was over 4 months ago and we've experienced no further loss, could an accidental cross contamination with the guppy tank also effect the guppies with a set of completely different symptoms? <Unlikely.> Thanks, Hawley <Check water chemistry, quality, and diet. Then let things settle down and see how you go before adding any more fish. Good luck, Neale.> Pregnant Guppy Died 9/11/07 Hi there I not
too sure if you could help me out here, I have had a few pregnant
guppies over the last 12 months and we have only managed to save a few
of the fry (not been able to get the time right for putting them in the
breeding net). But this week the latest pregnant guppy died - she got a
lot larger than the others did and started swimming at a funny angle
with the head pointing upwards (I have been told that this could be
sign she is about to have to her babies) so I put her in the breeding
net. About a hour later I went to check on her and she was still
enormous, would not eat her food and just sitting on the bottom of the
net. I honestly thought that she was on her way but about another hour
later I went to check on her and she was on her side dead and there
were loads of red lines on her tummy. We checked out water and it was
fine so we ask our local fish store to check it and they said it was
fine but could not give us any advice on what had happened with her, if
you don't mind I would really like some advice as we still have
another pregnant guppy and I DON'T want to lose her as well? Thanks
in advance Mandy <Hello Mandy. From your description, it's
almost certain that the embryos in her uterus died and began
decomposing, and fungal and bacterial infections set in, eventually
killing the fish. Why this happens I cannot say, but genetics may be a
factor, as are likely diet and water quality. Putting aside genetics,
which you can really only fix by selecting stock more carefully, look
at diet and water chemistry. Guppies need green foods. Lots of people
forget this, and just give 'em plain old flake. That's not good
enough. At the very least, they should be given algae-based flake
INSTEAD of tropical fish flake. There are lots of brands, sold as
Spirulina flake or livebearer flake. Guppies will also take a variety
of green foods from the kitchen: squished tinned peas, sliced cucumber,
spinach, Sushi Nori, and so on. Next up, water. Fancy guppies are just
not hardy, and people are often surprised when they die when kept in
"ordinary" aquaria. Wild guppies are practically
indestructible, it is true, but not fancies. So you need to keep a
close eye on the water quality and chemistry. Zero ammonia and nitrite,
obviously, are important. But large, regular water changes are
non-negotiable too. 50% a week would be a good starting point. Guppies
absolutely must have hard, alkaline water. A pH around 7.5-8 plus
hardness of 15 degrees dH upwards are required. Some people like to add
a little salt to the water in guppy tanks. This won't do any harm
(guppies can live in seawater!) and marine salt mix at least will help
raise the hardness and pH if you live in a soft water area. Salt also
has a mild therapeutic effect on livebearers particularly, reducing
their sensitivity to nitrate. On the plus side, what you describe
isn't "a disease" and won't be caught by the other
guppies. All I can suggest is you optimise conditions for the remaining
fish as far as possible. Avoid using breeding traps -- they stress the
females. Instead, use the traps to isolate baby guppies once you've
found them. Filling the tank with floating plants (hornwort is ideal)
is the best approach. This gives the babies someplace to hide. You can
then remove them every day as you find them, and put them in the trap.
Don't "trap" baby guppies for more than a couple of
weeks, and remove them to their own aquarium as soon as possible.
That's the only way to rear substantial numbers of healthy,
full-sized fish. Cheers, Neale> Re: Pregnant Guppy Died 9/12/07 Thanks again - I had no idea about this difference and the man at the pet shop knew what fish we had - will really have to make a decision now - thanks again Regards Mandy <Indeed all fish have particular needs. Establish what water chemistry you have "out of the tap", and then choose fish to suit that. Any aquarium book will list hardness and pH requirements. When you choose fish that *like* your water to begin with, everything about the hobby becomes an order of magnitude easier. Cheers, Neale> Missing Guppy 8/27/08 Good Afternoon, <AM in my current time, centro-solar arc currently. Howzit?> I have a 65 litre tank with the following:- 2 Blue Spotted Platies 3 Red Tail Platies 3 Guppies (2 now) 4 Neon Tetras I added 3 male guppies and 4 Neon Tetras a week ago and only noticed yesterday when I was cleaning the tank that one was missing. I looked around the tank and saw a very thin 1.5 cm long particle floating around. It looked like part of a fish (same colour as the missing guppy) but I could not work out which bit it was so threw it away. <Good> I thought it may be hiding somewhere but I still cannot find it. I feel so bad about this. What could have happened to the guppy? <Likely perished and was quickly being decomposed by bacteria and fungi...> Is it likely to have been eaten by the other fish? <Mmm, not very likely from what you list> Also, if remains of the missing guppy are still in the tank, is it harmful to the other fish? <Do you detect any appreciable ammonia? In a volume of this size, with good filtration... not likely a problem... or you would have detected changes in your other livestock> Problem is that I cannot see any remains otherwise I would have cleared it out. Please help! Seema <I encourage you to read on WWM re the water quality the livebearers here appreciate vs. the Tetras... and possibly re quarantine practices for new fish livestock to prevent introduction of disease mainly... Otherwise, I would not worry. Bob Fenner> Tail/fin rot, guppies 8/26/07
Hello. I just stumbled upon your website and noticed it is very
helpful. I have had a fish tank for a while but just got a new one with
new fish. It is only a ten gallon. I have a guppy who developed
tail/fin rot, and it seems to be spreading to my favorite guppy. I
don't know if it is though. I'm just trying to confirm my
observations when I ask: is it contagious to my other fish besides the
guppies? Thanks a lot. -Adam <Hello Adam. Thanks for the kind words.
There's two ways of looking at your question. If you're asking
will Finrot jump from one fish to another the way a cold jumps between
people, no, not really. The bacteria that cause Finrot are (probably)
present in all aquaria at all times, and only under certain
circumstances do they actually become a problem. However, if your
question is "one of my fish is sick, will the others get sick
too?" then the answer to that is yes, most likely. Finrot bacteria
become problematic when the immune systems of your various fish become
compromised in some way. Two factors are usually at work, poor water
quality and physical damage. They can work independently or together.
With guppies for example Finrot can start when they're kept with
nippy fishes such as Serpae tetras or black widow tetras, both of which
view guppy tails as food. Or alternatively (and more usually) water
conditions in the aquarium have dropped below a certain threshold, and
the guppies no longer have the strength to stave off infection. In the
case of guppies, ammonia and nitrite are dangerous, but so too is a low
pH (anything below 7.0) and a low hardness (basically you want
"moderately hard" to "very hard" water chemistry).
So, if you have multiple fish showing signs of Finrot, and can rule out
fin-nipping, then study the conditions in the aquarium. Do water tests
for ammonia, nitrite, pH, and hardness (ideally KH but GH will do). Oh,
and if the water conditions are so bad the guppies are getting sick,
the other species are likely be stressed to some degree, too. Hope this
helps, Neale> |
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