Is my guppie pregnant or a swollen baby

[Cattina]

sorry it looks pregnant to me I have 3 possibly pregnant guppies but it doesn’t make since it’s been over 5 weeks since we purchased them and I read they have babies in 30 days and one looks like it has awhile to go ? Please I need advice ..

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can you post a picture of the fish?

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. The fish can look fat and pregnant but never give birth. These fat fish are usually heavily infested with worms.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 3-4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second and third treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish that should produce babies.