Guppy Body Cramping?

[Amunet]

Need some help quickly.

Just noticed one of the guppies in the quarantine tank staying at the bottom alot. I tapped the glass lightly and it swam to the top, but now it's doing this really weird thing every once in a while where its body will almost look as though it's cramping. It will bend to the side and shake a little and then it will swim as normal but then it'll do the cramp thing all over again.

Any help with what is wrong would be most helpful.

This particular guppy had finrot when we got it from the petstore, but I treated it with tetracycline. That treatment was done yesterday and I've been getting the meds out of the water since.
I was going to treat the tank with melafix as well, but then started noticing the guppy acting this way.

All readings are at 0 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)...

 

[WILDER]

Have you increased aeration in the tank, did you add the correct amount of med to the tank.
Is the fish swimming in place.

 

[Torrean]

your nitrate is at zero. That's neat. You got lotsa plants?

I'm no livebearer expert by any stretch of the imagination but is your guppy male or female.

Can the fish maintain it's balance. When it swims does it seem to tip over uncontrollably?

when you say that it stays AT the bottom do you mean AT the bottom or ON the bottom?

 

[slyost]

Need some help quickly.

Just noticed one of the guppies in the quarantine tank staying at the bottom alot. I tapped the glass lightly and it swam to the top, but now it's doing this really weird thing every once in a while where its body will almost look as though it's cramping. It will bend to the side and shake a little and then it will swim as normal but then it'll do the cramp thing all over again.

Any help with what is wrong would be most helpful.

This particular guppy had finrot when we got it from the petstore, but I treated it with tetracycline. That treatment was done yesterday and I've been getting the meds out of the water since.
I was going to treat the tank with melafix as well, but then started noticing the guppy acting this way.

All readings are at 0 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)...

Hi Amunet,

How is your fish? Has it been cramping anymore? I had the same thing happen with one of my guppies. I put him in the hospital tank and treated him with Maracyn-2. I was worried it might be TB.....since curved spine is on the list of symptoms. But he had been in the hospital tank a week now and he seems fine...he hasn't had the cramping again. I don't know what to do next.

Thanks, Susan

 

[WILDER]

What other symtoms is he showing, does he still have the bent spine, as med don't mend bent spines.

 

[Davey Jones]

not sure if this is the same thing, but my daughter's male guppies do this all the time, any time a female is close by, they look like they are almost bending in two..

 

[slyost]

His tail started decaying a while ago. But it has stopped And although it has not grown back it has not become any worse. His body does not appear to be bent anymore. I'm not sure if it was bent to begin with...he was swimming funny....but would straighten out again.

I don't have any female guppies, but I was trying to get him out of the tank (because he was harrassing my sick guy...who is now going into the hospital tank). So maybe he was swimming funny because he was stressed? Thanks for the replies!!

 

[Amunet]

Oh my.. I completely forgot about this thread!
Well it seems as though I was panicking over nothing.
B/c he soon stopped his little bending thing and is acting totally normal now. After I wrote this thread, I started the tank on Melafix and just got done with a 7 day treatment. I've watched them all closely and he's acting like the rest of them, which I'm really happy about b/c I would've hated losing another one.

I'm no good at math so I get my bf to help me measure out how much meds I should be putting into the tank. And I have a dropper thing to measure it all out so I don't overdose

Anywho! To answer some questions... all my guppies are male. I'm 100% positive after viewing that one thread that shows how to tell livebearers apart. These guppies definitely have that spike thing instead of the fan fin.

Davey Jones... so... your males will do this when a female guppy is close? Maybe he was just flirting with me then lol

AS for the nitrates being at 0.. the tank isn't cycled. No fears though... I've been doing daily 20-50% water changes to make sure it's as clean as can be.
Oh and as for aeration... the filter adds some and we also have an airstone in the tank to help with that

 

[Torrean]

male guppies sometimes "flirt" with other males when there's no female

 

[Davey Jones]

Davey Jones... so... your males will do this when a female guppy is close? Maybe he was just flirting with me then lol

I wouldn't put it past them...Horny little devils

 

[Amunet]

male guppies sometimes "flirt" with other males when there's no female

Lol, that's probably what he was doing. If I remember right, when he started doing it, he kept facing the other gups in the tank.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Just wondering, but did you acclimatise the fish at all to the tank, and if so, for how long? Guppys will do the cramping thing when in stress from their enviroment, like if you do a very cold or hot water change, add very strong meds to the tank, don't acclimatise them properly etc.

 

[Amunet]

They had been in the tank for about a week when he started doing that. I can't remember if I had just done a water change or not. I do try to keep the water about the same or slightly warmer when I do do water changes. The gups are always fine during those though, they like getting into the flow of the water when I'm pouring it back into the tank