Guppy Mouth Problems

[emilythestrange]

Since moving my tank (2 + weeks ago) I have changed my stocking levels a little, increased the number of male guppies to 12.

Unfortunatly I live in a countryside area (Cheadle, Stoke-On-Trent) I am constantly on the look out for LFS's, but mine are not so local as it seems. Pets at home has 3 different chains, which i have been buying guppies from.

A couple died within the 1 week replacement time, but now another has got a similar thing wrong.. Acting listless clinging to the surface not doing much, when i take a good inspection i see their mouth is white in colour (not cloudy or fluffy from my view) and they don't seem to be eating as much as the others.

What should i do about this?

Also has anybody had luck with guppies being posted (in the UK)

 

[Louiseness]

This doesn't exactly answer your question but I did a quick Google out of curiosity and 3 or 4 of the first page of results were 10-15 miles or so from you. The closest P@H it brought up was nearly twelve miles away anyway. Presumably you've tried those shops already?

 

[emilythestrange]

Yes the only one i know of is Glovers in fenton, which is actually worse somehow

Im worried now because today after feeding last night, one guppy isnt swimming at all just gliding upside down.
Theres a few which look as though they are on their way out.

Is it me or the petshop ? Or both?

 

[Caprichoso]

If you are unsatisfied with the state of the fish at a particular store, you can always talk to a manager or head office. You are wondering if it's their fault or your fault, well it could be either or, or a combination of both. The problem is this; if you buy fish that are not good quality and bring them home you already have 1 strike against you. Now, if you are NOT providing perfect water conditions/temp etc, that's a second thing going against you. This is usually why fish die. Believe me, you can purchase a fish that is in horrible condition and nurse it back to health as long as you have top notch water quality and do the weekly maintenance. The biggest issue that most fish keepers face is trying to figure out what is wrong with the fish in the first place. They get misdiagnosed all the time. THis is why I always suggest doing 25% daily water changes for 10 days, then 50% weekly. If ammonia or nitrite is present, then 75% daily until at 0, then monitor closely and follow up with 50% weekly. I always go this route first. If there is no improvement, I start looking in to whether or not they may have a parasite. In 16 years, I have only used medication 2 or 3 times. All 3 times it was due to a parasite and the water changes were not curing the fish. Any other problems I faced were cured with water changes and keeping the tank well maintained. If this is the only store you can get your fish from, you are potentially going to have these issues. I would complain to the manager if the fish and tanks in the store are looking horrible. If enough people complain to the right people in charge that is when change will happen for the better.