Guppy Being Bullied

[Osian]

One of my guppies is being harrassed by another and now has fin damage, I was going to get melafix for him to help stop infection but wasnt sure what else i can do? The tank is 2 foot x 1 foot x 1 foot and has 4 guppies and 10 ember tetras. It only has a 15w bulb, but i do have a few java fern and amazon sword in there with two pots for hidding.
The water stats are
0ppm ammonia and nitrite
6.8-7 ph
15ppm nitrate.
The tank has been running for one week now with fish. (was fully cycled)

 

[OldMan47]

Not sure what you mean by fully cycled after running for a week. I hope you mean the tank has been set up for several weeks and you have followed the fishless cycling method like is laid out here http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/ . If you have, then all I can see is that your tank is fully stocked with all those fish in a 15 gallon (56 liter) tank. Crowding is not too bad for your water quality yet at that stocking but it could be enough to cause the guppy to feel a bit crowded. I think I would suggest some more plants for hiding. They need not be real to give your fish good hiding places from each other.

 

[5teady_2012]

You tank is not overstocked at all as long as you do regular water changes, is the guppy male or female? if its a male chasing the female, then all ya need to do is get 1-2 more females and the harrasing will be spread out over the 3 of them decreasing the stress on each of them.

Your stats seem fine and i persume you meant (your tank has been cycled - and you have had the fish in there for 1 week after cycling )

 

[Osian]

Sorry yes i did a fishless cycle which took 6 week, then i ran it for another week to make sure, afte which i got 2 guppies, which one is the bully and the other the victim, and the 10 ember tetra. As one was being picked on i got a further two guppies to try and even out the agression but it doesnt seem to have made any difference, the two new are being ignored as such. Well three of them swim together but the large orange one still picks on the spotted one.

All 4 of the guppies are male, have two fairly well planted sections in the tank, with two small teracota pots, some stone with java moss on it (still growing and held down with a net) making another cave. It also has a fairly large piece of bogwood in the middle so it brakes the bottom of the tank into two halfs but keep the top half free.

The victim guppy has been hidding in the amazon sword all day, and is now in one of the pot. He hasn't really been harassed much today, but he hasnt been out much. I would think the tank has enough plants to hide but i'll take a few pictures tomorrow so people can judge as i'm quite new.

The thing that bothers me is i can see a little bit of blood on the tail of the guppy now.

I've been doing 2 water tests a day, morning and afternoon, since i've had the fish and the nitrite and ammonia have been 0ppm and the nitrate has been from 10 to 20ppm.

thanks for the help.

 

[Osian]

Here's the picture of the tank.

the victim is still hidding a great deal but is being left alone, although one of the others has started bulling the bully. Also i think that the melafix is droping the oxygen in the tank as their all by the surface. I've pointed the outlet of one of the filters so it shoots up to gain more surface aggitation, and i'll go buy a bigger airpump tomorrow so i'll have 2 running in the tank aswell. But i'm stil not sure why their fighting, could it be a lack of oxygen?

 

[Osian]

Last night after about 3 days hidding the bullied guppy died. I've taken a picture and was going to upload it but i forgot the camera, so i'll do it later. Unfortunatly the one being Orange(the bully) one is now being bullied by a much smaller one(black one), although the black one doesnt follow him arround just if he see's him he shoots accross the tank and hits him and goes back. The Orange one now hides in the top corner of the tank by some long leaved plant. The black one also goes after the little blue one but doesnt seem to be fast enough, and the blue one just goes around as he likes.

My water stats are still 0ppm ammonia 0ppm nitirite and under 20 for nitrate. I'm expecting a new air pump today to make sure i have enough oxygen, although non of the ember tetras seemed to be acting strangely. Is there any reason they'd be so agressive? Should i take the black one back.