Bleeding tail on guppy

[je760]

I have purchased a male delta-tailed guppy close to two months ago, and I'm always having problems with it. Just yesterday I noticed its tail fin was bleeding again as I could see the blood on the fin tip. I don't know what I did wrong.

I'm keeping it in a 10-gallon tank that has been set up for about 3 years. I only have the nitrite test kit, and it shows 0 readings. I change 25% of the water bi-monthly. In it I have five female guppies and two male guppies plus a cory catfish. I also keep Java Moss in it.

This is the third time I have problems with this male guppy. The last two times it had bloody fins, I put it in a litre of water with 20 grams of aquarium salt for 15 mins daily until the blood is gone, which usually took 3-4 days. Then it'll be fine for a while and the blood will come back.

Do I need something stronger than salt to help it heal? Since I acquire this guppy I put one tablespoon of salt in the tank.

 

[GuppyDude]

do a 50% water change and a ph and nitrate test, u might also want to treat him with nelafix to prevent infection. so they blood is comeing off his fin or from the base of his tail where the fin startes? finage doesn't userally bleed

 

[guppymonkey]

It sounds as if your guppy is being nipped by another fish. I would suspect that another male is nipping its tail. Male guppies are very competitive over females. If there are not enough females to go around they can nip each other fins. Its similar to the way that high school boys show off to try to get girls. Usually this nipping is not fatal but it can sometimes lead to injury (like in your guppy's case) the only way to really stop it would be to separate the males and females so that the competition wouldn't exist. If the male is not mortally injured though I wouldn't bother!

 

[je760]

Thank you! After observing my fish more closely, I believe it's the other males that are nipping its fins. I always enjoy watching my fish, but it's usually feeding time and that's when everybody stops doing their thing and eat eat eat ...

It is the latest addition to the tank, and it also has the largest tail. I don't want to separate the males and females because the displaying features of the males to females are what make the tank interesting. I'll buy more females this coming week.

Also, I got myself Melafix and had put in as directed. It has a strong odor! I also saw Primafix (spelling?) by the same company, and instruction said to put it with melafix.

Anyone use this other product?