Male Guppy - Dark Edge To Tail

[fourthtimelucky]

I left my tank in the care of a friend for six days. I think he has been over-feeding them slightly as my readings were:

Ammonia <0.1 (just slightly darker than 0, but definitely higher than 0)
NitrIte 0.1 (up from 0)
NitrAte 12.5 (I use NitrateMinus as my tapwater has high nitrates in it)

My tank is 5g hex with wet/dry trickle filter (built in) and an airstone, with 4 male guppies. I did a fishless cycle before they went in and my readings for ammonia & nitrite were 0 for over a week before I added fish. There are three plants and four or five moss balls in the tank.

I did a 50% water change as soon as I had done these tests to get the NitrItes and Ammonia back down, and a thorough vac of the gravel. There did seem to be slightly more debris than usual, but I could just have been imagining it. All the gups seem very active & healthy.

However, my blue boy's tail now seems to have a 1-2mm band at the edges which is darker than the rest & doesn't have the same light blue iridescence. There is no sign of fraying/bleeding/splitting etc. The dark colour is the same as his belly. He is thriving in every other respect & has grown quicker than the rest (used to be the second biggest, now the same size as his larger tankmate. About 3mm bigger than when I got him a month ago). I have been watching for fin nipping and although he and the other larger one chase each other around every so often I haven't observed any actual biting.

Is this slight ammonia & nitrite spike the reason? Could it be ammonia burn at this low level? Is it *gulp* a symptom of a disease? Or is this just new growth that hasn't coloured up?

Didn't want to post in emergencies section as it doesn't seem to be affecting him at all, but maybe one of you guys can explain this to me!

 

[lilfishie]

sounds like the start of finrot to me, get some antibacterial or finrot meds in there

 

[fourthtimelucky]

Nooooo!!!!

I can't believe it. I was so careful with everything.

There is a P@H within walking distance.

Two quick questions before I go:

q1 : What meds would you recommend? Their staff aren't the greatest & would like to have some idea of what I'm after.

q2 : I should take the carbon out of the filter whilst using the meds, right?

Thanks lilfishie!!!

 

[lilfishie]

can't really recommend one as i haven't had finrot for a few years but yes take out the cabon part of the filter

 

[MHunt]

I'd just watch it to be honest, the colours on a fish do change as the fish grows. Some have a subtle change, some quite dramatic. To be honest, i wouldn't worry yet. Fungus is a white fuzzy growth on the fish, and is normally secondary to another infection or injury. In guppies it would normally start with a nipped or split tail, especially if they become blood streaked.

For now i would just calm down, and give it some time before medicating. it's worth having the appropriate meds in for when you do need them, but i wouldn't think you need to treat just yet.

Concentrate on maintaining your water quality. Feed less and do several small water changes over the course of a week to get the water quality back to where you had it. Sometimes an improvement in water quality is all a fish needs to get better, which is why the first bit of advice if you have a sick fish is test the water and do a water change.

 

[fourthtimelucky]

Okay. A bit calmer now. I have looked up fin rot symptoms and this really doesn't look like it. Yet, anyways. Maybe I am in total denial, but he just looks so healthy and it is definitely dark, not light, fluffy, ragged, bloody etc. I can't believe he's sick.

I'll start doing daily water changes (about 20%) and will test again today after change to make sure water is back to normal.

I'll go and get the meds this afternoon to have on standby just in case.

Would adding a little aquarium salt help, do you think? Haven't put any of this in so far but have been thinking of it as I heard livebearers like it.

Thankyou both for your help.

 

[kewskills]

my advice is, if your water stats are fine and hes eating and behaving normally just wait and see what happens next.
however it is always a good idea to have meds available just incase
hope all stays well

 

[fourthtimelucky]

I enclose a pic in case anyone has any further ideas.

It looks more 'raggy' in the photo but looks smoother in real life, very edge is clear, just with this dark band. Took a pic with light shining through it as it shows up more - when he is lit from above it looks much darker, same colour as his back and belly.

I haven't put anything into the tank yet but have been changing water etc.

He seems v active and healthy still but I am WORRIED!!!

 

[MHunt]

Looks healthy to me. You only need to worry really if he starts to sulk, or goes very bloated like mine did. But a slight change in colour is nothing to worry about.

Enjoy your fish!

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

I have a guppy whose tail gets a black edge around it...usually a bio indicator of when he's extra hungry or the tank nitrates have crept up to 30 ppm.

*Edit* Yes I know 30 ppm might sound high to people, but our tap sometimes contains as much as 20 ppm so I can only get it so low!

 

[MHunt]

I have a guppy whose tail gets a black edge around it...usually a bio indicator of when he's extra hungry or the tank nitrates have crept up to 30 ppm.

*Edit* Yes I know 30 ppm might sound high to people, but our tap sometimes contains as much as 20 ppm so I can only get it so low!

30 ppm isn't too high at all. Apart from my planted nano cube, most of my tanks have high nitrates with no obvious effects on the fish.

 

[fourthtimelucky]

The high nitrate thing is interesting. My tapwater has 12.5 to begin with... it got very very high (off the scale on both standard and high-reading tests) when I was cycling and I started using NitrateMinus which brought it back down to 12.5 again according to my test kit But maybe it is higher / the nitrateminus stuff disguises the results? Similar to ammo-lock?

Whatever the reason, he still seems absolutely fine in all other respects so am going from red alert to amber now.

I don't think he can be too hungry... like I said, I think he was a little over-fed when I was away. Bought one of those 7-day pill-box things for next time so I can measure out the food myself (another good idea gleaned from this forum!)

Thanks again.

 

[scooterchick]

Possibly could be the start of finrot but it's easily reversible with good maintenance if caught early. I'm sure he'll be fine, just keep an eye on it for a while.