Guppy In Really Bad State!

[ATK!!!]

It would seem that my Guppy is really going downhill, since I got home this afternoon it has just layed on the bottom of the tank, its scales are easily visible and it seems to have red marks on its tail. I have to admit that this may be related to a lax in water changes over the Christmas period Here are some pics:

Here are some details that hopefully will help:

Guppy is roughly 2 years old, I started off with four but there are now only three since an *accident* with the cat. They are all male and recently have been nipping each others fins every so often.

Tank is 35l Biube, been set up for around 1 1/2 years

Other tank occupants include: 6 cardinal tetra, 1 zebra nerite snail and multiple crystal red shrimp (around 8) I know that it is relatively overstocked but until recently I had been doing water changes very often and have been monitoring ammonia/ nitrite levels thouroughly.

I did a quick test a minute ago to see what may be causing the problem, it came up with: 0-0.25ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, 30ppm nitrate, pH 7.6 so I will be doing a water change in a mo to get that ammonia down.

Do anyone know what is happening, if neccesary I will set up my new juwel rio 180 and moving stocking into there if this gets serious... Any advice will be happily accepted!

 

[This Old Spouse]

Be sure to do a big water change to get the ammonia to the 0 level. It looks like dropsy, which results in the "pineconing" effect on the scales. Dropsy is the buildup of fluid inside the body cavity or tissues of a fish. Dropsy is a symptom rather than a disease unto itself and can indicate a number of underlying causes including bacterial infections, parasitic infections or liver dysfunction. It is best to quarantine him, then treat with medication. I'm sorry to say, he likely won't make it if it's gotten to this stage.

 

[ATK!!!]

I had a feeling it was not going to be good news, the thing is that I can't reall quarantine him as the other tank hasn't even got water in it yet and I wont be able to start on it until the weekend... Is there any chance that an infection could spread? If so, what should I do, fill a bucket with dechlorinated water and a air pump and just make do? I will likely do a 80% water change, any more on this type of tank and the fish would be flopping around in the open, the undergravel filter keeps a lot of water contained beneath the substrate.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Undergravel filter, eh? That's too bad. Yes, do an 80% change right away, then I'd be doing a 50% change daily to possibly help the other fish.

It's really sad, because that's a very pretty fish. It's possible it might survive. Please keep us posted.

Also, if anyone reading has any experience with dropsy success, please join in!!

 

[ATK!!!]

It's really sad, because that's a very pretty fish. It's possible it might survive. Please keep us posted.

Also, if anyone reading has any experience with dropsy success, please join in!!

Sadly that may have been one the causes that that paticular Guppy has been affected, when I bought it the man warned me that those paticular Guppies had been line bred to achieve those long fins/ spots. The water change has been done now and the ammonia levels seem to be 0. I'll keep a good eye on it this afternoon and hopefully it'll still be around by tommorow.

On the bright side, I found a spare heater/filter so I could move the Guppy to a quarantined bucket, is this advisable?

 

[steve1]

has it not got dropsy?

 

[ATK!!!]

The fish died this morning I took the fish out just before the shrimp got to it. I did another 50% water change and will now monitor the other fish closely over the weekend.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I'm sorry for your loss.