My Poor Little Guppy!

[lianne3]

I only bought him yesterday, the other two look fine though.
His tail has gone all stringy and white, hes lost colour aswell (usually blue). I was doing my fish count and noticed he was missing, so i took the lid off and looked down and he looked trapped near the underside of a rock, he may have just been hiding tho. So i moved the rock and he swam to the surface and went all lobsided. He seems to be fine every now and again and then he sort of loses energy and stops for ages.

My tank consists of
2 honey gouramis
4 platies
4 cherry barbs
1 albino catfish
3 guppies (one of which is ill)

 

[Matt23]

I only bought him yesterday, the other two look fine though. His tail has gone all stringy and white, hes lost colour aswell (usually blue). I was doing my fish count and noticed he was missing, so i took the lid off and looked down and he looked trapped near the underside of a rock, he may have just been hiding tho. So i moved the rock and he swam to the surface and went all lobsided. He seems to be fine every now and again and then he sort of loses energy and stops for ages. My tank consists of 2 honey gouramis 4 platies 4 cherry barbs 1 albino catfish 3 guppies (one of which is ill)

omg this is an emergency! The fish in your tank may have turned evil like mine did on my old guppy. He may be suffering from some type of disease?

 

[phil2m]

Although it seems harsh, the best thing you can do is take it back to the shop you bought it from and exchange it for one the same. They should'nt argue about it. You'll soon get over the loss.

 

[lianne3]

I have put him in a tupperware container, floating inside the tank because i dont have another tank or heater. Is this a good idea?
Im thinkin he has some sort of disease, his tail seems to be thinning and just the spiny parts are there not the bits inbetween, like stringy. I dont want him to give it to the other fish. Or is it too late?!
Also could this have been caused by any of my other fish? I was told at the store yesterday that all the fish i already have would be fine with my new fish, but then again do i listen to her seen as she has given me a sick fish?
Im soo annoyed at these stupid stores.

 

[kribensis12]

Did you cycle? What size tank is it in? I would take it back, and get a new one. Also, what store is it from?

 

[phil2m]

Your guppy may have been stressed out during transport, if it had any minor damage to its tail, this could have triggered finrot or a similar illness, otherwise its possible your barbs may have had a nibble, they are sometimes a little hostile towards flowing fins. As I said before, don't worry, just replace it. Your tupperware idea should be fine in the short term, its just like a baby tank in a way.

Where did you buy it from?

 

[kribensis12]

Ohhhh, he has fin and tail rot. Google it

 

[lianne3]

I bought it from aquatics store in pontardulias. I have only ever had bad experiences with pets at home in swansea (always dead fish in their tanks) so i thought i would venture out a bit but maybe the drive back was too stressful? (7 miles)
Im pretty new to this, so is there a product i could buy to make sure the rest of the tank doesnt get it? Or is this not contagious? Im soo confused. I knew straight away there was sumtin up with this fish coz he wasnt chasin the females in my tank like the others, they were horny as soon as they left the bag they came in!

 

[phil2m]

Sounds about right for guppies. Pets At Home is a no go area for me, too many fish that look sick or are dead in their tanks. I bought two fish there when i first started out, both died of white spot after two weeks. 7 miles isnt too bad, my local store is 5 miles away.

Before adding chemicals to your water just keep a close eye on the other fish, see if any symptoms appear. If they do then the best thing is to visit your store and ask what treatments they stock and are appropriate for you to use.

 

[kribensis12]

Well, you can get Some Maroxy from Mardel Lab's, or Some CopperSafe from Mardel lab's. They are both good for it. Also, ihe sound's to bad to save, i would tkae him back and use the credit for the med, as putting any other fish in there also gives the the chance of getting it also. Do you have any pic's? Is the tank Cycled? What size is it?

 

[RossHicks]

I have just joined this forum for the same emergency!! I bought my fish from the same company at another location very close to Pontardulais... Cross Hands.
Any other advice anyone can give?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

We prefer it if people start a new thread for their own issues so it is less confusing. however, since we are here.

How long has the tank been set up for?
Have you checked the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH of the tank water?
If yes, what were the results?
If no, test the water or take a sample of tank water to the petshop and have them test it for you. write the results down when they do the tests and post them here. We want actual numbers not "the water is fine".

How often are you feeding the fish?
In a new tank you only want to feed the fish a small amount every couple of days. If the tank has an established filter then you can feed each day. An established filter is one that have various colonies of good bacteria living in it and has been running for over 2 months.

The best thing to do if you ever have a sick fish or the fish looks funny, or you lose a fish, is do a 75% water change and a complete gravel clean each day until we know what is going on. This dilutes nutrients, pollutants and diseases in the tank and buys you some time to find out what is wrong.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Make sure you use clean buckets that have never been used for anything except the fish.

If you can post a picture of the sick fish we will have more to go on.

 

[RossHicks]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me so soon.
I'll remember the tip for the new posts in future!!

Sadly, the guppy died this morning. The rest of the tail fin disintegrated overnight, despite being put in a quarantine tank away from the rest of the fish.

I have started to treat the water with "Melafix", an API product that was recommended by my local aquatic store.
And as for the water, i can give you the following:

Temp - 26 degrees celsius
GH -30
KH - 40
PH - 7
NO2 - 0.5
NO3 - 20

These levels have remained fairly consistent since i introduced the first fish.
The tank has been set up since 10th June this year.

 

[Essjay]

What is your ammonia reading? If you have strip testers you'll need to buy an ammonia tester separately.


Two things stand out from your results.

Nitrite should always be zero. If you have 0.5 ppm, you need to do water changes to get it to zero. Having nitrite and possibly ammonia in the water is bad for the fish.

Secondly, your GH reading, is that in ppm? The tester should tell you what the unit is. If it is 30 ppm, you have very soft water which is far too soft for guppies to be healthy. GH 30 ppm converts to 1.7 dH. You can check the hardness by looking on your water company's website - tell us the number and the unit they use (they could use any of half a dozen different units!)



How big is the tank?
What other fish do you have in your tank?






Something you need to be aware of - never believe anything a shop tells you until you have researched it for yourself. Most of them will say any rubbish to make a sale.