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Guppy looks like is "dragging" his (not large) tail.

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joelfernandes

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Hi.

Recently my male guppy started to swim oddly, like his tail is heavy, staying and sometimes swimming in a more vertical position. I'm very new to the hobby, and after losing so many fish when I started, I panicked, placed him in a small hospital tank, and started treating it with API General Cure 2 days ago (I gave the second dose today).

He can swim straight too, but most of the time, he looks like this:
IMG_9940.jpeg


Am I overthinking this? He eats well and still swims around instead of staying still and hiding.

Water parameters are normal.
 
Could be a swim bladder issue... I will let someone with more experience reply but definitely stop the general cure medication until we know exactly what the issue is. A lot of times meds can make it worse
 
Please stop the meds until you get further input. Chemical meds should only be a last resort with the issue well defined and the med being specific for the issue. Applying meds without knowing the problem can often cause more harm than good.

It has been over 50 years since I've had any guppies but, for some reason I can't really explain, I suspect an internal parasite.
 
Hopefully, our resident guppy experts will check in. But black in other livebearers has its cost. When I see a fish with that much black, I would look to see if it's reflective. If it is, good. If it is dull and doesn't reflect back, it can be Melanoma - skin cancer. It's not uncommon in many livebearers, but I haven't kept fancy guppies in decades. If you fish had those colours in the swordtail group, I'd be checking closely.

Calling all guppy breeders here!
 
Any suggestions on what to do? I stopped the General Cure treatment two days ago, but I don't know what else to do here. He seems to be worse today, too, as he stands a bit more vertically than before.
 
usually when that happens with my endlers its something they ate in my case...(freeze dried bloodworms)
because I feed it for my puffers but endlers eat them too
a friend of mine suggested this to me long time ago which seems to work for a few fish including endlers guppies corys neon tetras...
increase the temp a bit in the tank from whatever you have now up to 28C
don't feed the fish at all for like 3-4 days...then feed them pealed cooked green peas
works like a charm everytime I see that...you'll notice neon tetras do the same diagonal swim or corys swimming upside down or laying on their backs
the fix is the same....

good luck
 
Recently my male guppy started to swim oddly, like his tail is heavy, staying and sometimes swimming in a more vertical position
This happens as well when they're having swim bladder problem or a brain problem. Mostly they won't recover from it despite of the fact that they seem to eat normal. But in a sudden they'll die.
But black in other livebearers has its cost. When I see a fish with that much black, I would look to see if it's reflective. If it is, good. If it is dull and doesn't reflect back, it can be Melanoma - skin cancer.
I know hat you mean. In this case, this male guppy is a magenta tuxedo guppy. The magenta is underlaying. But it's more how darker the fish, it will become more optional that they will develop melanoma. You see this also happening frequently in platies and swordtails which have excessive black pigment.
 
Thank you all. The guppy did end up dying the next day after my post.
usually when that happens with my endlers its something they ate in my case...(freeze dried bloodworms)
because I feed it for my puffers but endlers eat them too

I think this is a great clue. I did feed my angelfish some freeze-dried bloodworms on that day, or days before. Heck of a coincidence. I stopped feeding that as soon as I saw this. I'll make sure to be more careful when feeding this.
 
Thank you all. The guppy did end up dying the next day after my post.


I think this is a great clue. I did feed my angelfish some freeze-dried bloodworms on that day, or days before. Heck of a coincidence. I stopped feeding that as soon as I saw this. I'll make sure to be more careful when feeding this.
some people will tell you it's the brand x,y,z has more fillers than a,b,c bla bla bla...
I've seen this with different brands..
what you should be doing is actually soak the dry bloodworms until they sink then just light stir the cup where you have it then dump the water and then feed it .it'll get rid of some scum and also remove air which can cause bladder bloat which will stress the fish and be prone to others things
endlers / guppies are more prone to this because unlike the puffers that eat and spit it out basically pick eating what they want
the guppies will just scarf it down
the same can happen with dry brine shrimp and plecos
so soaking these 2 foods specially is a good habit to have
 

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