Guppy Hanging Around

[Marius]

One of my female guppies is just hanging around in the middle of the thank,she looks healty but doesnt go anywhere,she responds to food but i cant see if she actually eats..
And another female ,her ?gills? looks swollen,shes skinny but she does try to eat,what could be wrong and should i remove her? shes been this way for about a month when i bougth her and i didnt notice at first..

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Some fish are just naturally less active than others. I have a black-skirt tetra which is the exact same. However, swollen gills are never a good sign. Gill swelling is usually a sign of some form of parasite or poisoning. I'd say that the best course of action for now would be to test your water for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite and post the readings as this may well be part of the problem. If the readings are fine and the fish seems to be getting worse, remove it into a spare fully cycled tank for the time being, if you have that option available.

 

[SLIM]

I had these exact same symptoms in a rainbowfish awhile back. Stayin still in the middle of the tank, skinny, responding to food but not really eating and swollen gills.

It turned out to be Gill flukes and stomache worms.

I treated successfully with waterlife sterazin and my fish made a full recovery after a week.
This treats both gill flukes and the worms.
Normally I would say put the fish into a hospital tank and treat but if it is worms and/or flukes you will need to treat your whole main tank as parasites lay eggs and spread.
Sterazin is safe to use with fish and wont harm your bio filter or plants providing you dont overdose.
Hope that helps

 

[Marius]

My amonia ect. must be normal because i do regular water changes about 10-20percent weekly and its a cycled tank. Ill get those meds tomorrow and ill hope for the best,another one looked like is geting sick

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Make sure that's definitely what you think it is before you medicate.

 

[Marius]

the petstore says its amonia poisoning,can the gills become swolen becuz of amonia? It doesnt make sense.

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Yes, they can. I suspected it would be some kind of poisioning. Make sure you test the water for levels of ammonia as you may not be doing big enough changes often enough to keep it down, hence the ammonia poisioning.

 

[SLIM]

Sorry. I asumed your tank was cycled my bad I shud of asked.

 

[Marius]

they told me my test kits was top of the range,but amonia level never rises with the kit. I moved them to a new thank with cycled filters and can c the change in colour etc. The 2 sick ones in hospital tank. How often should i clean my gravel and wont it stress the fish?

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Cleaning the gravel won't stress the fish as long as you do it as gently as you possibly can. I tend to vacuum the gravel every week with my water change and it doesn't seem to bother the fish at all now.

 

[Marius]

Okey thanx,i must say,all my guppies looks in beter condition,, males looks a bit more active with the girls,so it must have been amonia poisoning since i never cleaned my gravel,but the two sick ones in the hosp tank doesnt seem to get beter,atleast i got to fix it before they all got sink..