Depressed guppy?

[neptuneviv]

Hi,

I'd lately bought a trio of guppies (3 males) and unfotunately two of them died. Now there's only one left, and he's skulking on his own behind the filter and only comes out for food. Besides him, there are 4 platies and 3 cory cats in the tank (it's a 14 gal, fishlessly cycled). I've never been quite sure about this, do guppies need the presence of other guppies (male or female) to be comfortable? Or is he just developing some sickness?

Thanks!

 

[William]

No guppies are not shoaling fish and as such do not require company although it would be nice for him if you were to buy a couple of females for him I worry though as he may be ill, keep a close eye on him.

 

[Alien Anna]

They're not? Maybe that's why mine don't shoal

I've got 8 in a 30 gal tank.

 

[neptuneviv]

LOL, I did know that they don't shoal, but when there were three of them, they did kind of stay in a "Guppy-Group". Bettas aren't meant to shoal either, but put 6 females in a tank, you'll soon see that they make their own hierachy and akways move as a "pack".

But yeah, I'm not very happy with this guppy's behaviour, it doesn't look sick, but as the two others died not long ago (sudden deaths, one had dropsy, the other had no visible symptoms), I suspect that they may have all got some internal disease from the shop. I've noticed that his tail has been slightly frayed/irregular at the edges since I got him. I read that adolescent guppies can have irregular tails and as he's pretty puny I'm hoping that it's that...

Thanks!

 

[colin5861]

Hi

I would first check what are your water readings. Guppies can stand a large variation but not all of a sudden.

Do you have salt in your tank. He may come from a salty environment ( a lot of breeders keep them in brackish water) - By the way if you do have salt in your tank its really bad for your cory's so dont add any.

You can put him in a quaranteen tank and add some salt to that tank. If he recovers wean him of the salt gradually

Problem is the other two dying - I would quaranteen him anyway.

sorry that i cannot be of more help.

Colin

 

[ramesses]

Hello neptuneviv,guppies really don't need any others of their own species to feel at home.Guppies will feel right at home with platies,as a matter of fact if he is a healthy young male,it wouldn't be rare seeing him chasing after female platies or even the corys.Trust me,a young healthy male guppy is the horniest fish you will ever find not kidding.So,most definately your guppy is sick.Now you have to options.Either try to cure him or flush him down the crapper.

 

[neptuneviv]

LOL, the crapper isn't an option just yet. The guppy's come out from hiding and is now swimming around with the platies. But his tail is definitely getting nipped (it's not fin rot as far as I can tell), so I'm thinking that there's a bully in my tank and I know who it is *glares at red male platy*. I've seen that bastard swim right up to the guppy or the cories and try to bite chunks out of their tails for no reason. I suppose that the guppy has come out from hiding because Fat Red Bastard has found another victim. Sooooo... what do you do with a bully in your tank?

 

[Alien Anna]

LOL, the crapper isn't an option just yet. The guppy's come out from hiding and is now swimming around with the platies. But his tail is definitely getting nipped (it's not fin rot as far as I can tell), so I'm thinking that there's a bully in my tank and I know who it is *glares at red male platy*. I've seen that bastard swim right up to the guppy or the cories and try to bite chunks out of their tails for no reason. I suppose that the guppy has come out from hiding because Fat Red Bastard has found another victim. Sooooo... what do you do with a bully in your tank?

Firstly, environmental responsibility announcement: please don't flush dead fish down the toilet. They could carry tropical pathogens into the water table, which could then infect native species. It could be the fish version of SARS!

Secondly, what do you do about a bully in the tank? Good question. I wish I knew the answer to that because I've got a bully in one of my tanks. Last time I had this problem, with a gourami, I ended up taking him to the LFS and exchanging him.

If the guppy is injured you could put him in a breeding trap, but be aware that that can be a stressful experience for a fish.

 

[neptuneviv]

Good thing you pointed out, Anna. I always dispose of any dead fish in the garbage. It is tempting to flush them, but it's dangerous for the environment, particularly if they had something highly infectious. And as for disposing of live fish into the loo... don't get me started on that one. If a fish is dying I euthanise it with clove oil first (this is especially important with labyrinth fish, who can survive for a long time outside of water).

I'll see what Bully-Guy does and if he keeps up the attitude. I'd say that there may not be enough females for him (right now it's 2 males/2 females), but the fact is he started bullying when he was alone with the girls. I'll try moving *him* to another tank for the time being and see if that helps.

Oh, and the temp in the tank has gone down by 2°C now (gradually, over about 5 days), I think that the panda cories have taken it as a cue to try spawning. (despite the high PH, LOL)