Guppy Rescue

[rammsoldat]

Hi all I just thought id share a lil story with you all.

Id set up a 3ft tank in my bedroom recently as my nan has passed away and left my family with a new 3ft community tank. its got various fish in it and its got the family in a tropical fish mood. Anyway, i set up what i could and waited on getting the rest seeing as over the past year my brother has had away with the heater and pump from my old tank.

After he bought me some new stuff my tank was set up and working away to itself without fish. I did what I could to get the nitrate cycle going and left it alone. Then one day my mum told me they had some very nice guppies in local water garden centre and seeing as id expressed interest in keeping some guppies i thought id go and take a look.

This was a week later and I arived to see that the guppies were in a terrible state, as were the rest of the less costly fish in the shop. There were all males and females together and a few were dead in the weeds, there was some fry hiding in the tank and alot of the adult gups had fungus growing on them and their tails were rotting away.

I thought to myself that mabye i shouldnt get them as it was a risk to do so but seeing as i havent got any other fish in my tank i thought itd be a nice thing to do to try and rescue a few of them and at the very least if they died it'd be in a nicer tank.

I got them home, 2 females (pregnant ones)blue one and a yellow one and a nice looking blue male. Theyve been in the tank for 2 days now, the yellow female gave birth to about 8-9 fry and the 2 blues are looking quite happy. Ive got a little aquarium salt added to the water to help combat any finrot they may have had but they were the most healthy lookin ones in the tank.

Anyway im hoping they will all be ok and i dont plan on getting anything else for my tank for a while, not until im sure the gups are ok and happy.

 

[01edmn]

its good to see you rescued them and their babies will be happier i'm sure normaly the best thing to do is not by them then they tell them and thay might change their ways its a big might though as the lfs's are only intrested making money

 

[rammsoldat]

its good to see you rescued them and their babies will be happier i'm sure normaly the best thing to do is not by them then they tell them and thay might change their ways its a big might though as the lfs's are only intrested making money

Aparently the guy who looked after the fish quit. its a water garden centre so its got alot of other staff but they just lost the guy who knew about fishkeeping but to be honest the states some of the tanks were in looked like they took more than a week to get as bad.

Like i say i just felt i couldnt leave em there to rot alive.

 

[kpintheshed]

i love hese stories well the bit when poeple resue them its very hard to most people would be like its to much hassle and leave them. i have to thank you for doing that are they ok now?

 

[rammsoldat]

i love hese stories well the bit when poeple resue them its very hard to most people would be like its to much hassle and leave them. i have to thank you for doing that are they ok now?

the mother guppy that gave birth died, the other 2 are very happy and active and all the babies seem fine too. The mother gup that died seemed to have a large light patch on its side.

 

[slipperysucker]

i love these stories well the bit when people rescue them its very hard to most people would be like its to much hassle and leave them. i have to thank you for doing that are they ok now?

the mother guppy that gave birth died, the other 2 are very happy and active and all the babies seem fine too. The mother gup that died seemed to have a large light patch on its side.

a large light patch on its side. Sounds like Saddleback Columnaris to me. Please do yourself a favor and check this disease out on the net to see if it is for sure before treating...but to let you know...melafix and pimafix is for fungas and bacteria...so if that is your prob then it will help. It is also safe with cat fish, plants etc.. wont harm bio filter. etc. I hope this helps...basically I have found all gups to be a disease problem due to inbreeding as this makes them weak...I would recommend quarantining all new fish specially gups...chances are they will need some form of treatment. Its best to raise your fry in a separate tank...then breed them...this will hopefully take some of the disease factor out of it. Well this is my plan. Its been a battle...very interesting...knowledgeable...addictive...and yes...expensive. Think Im addicted to

Unfortunately I have tried rescuing at least 40 guppies with probs from 3 of mlfs's over the past 6 months. Its only been in the past 4 weeks I actually found the correct cause and was able to treat with the right meds. Columnaris - Melafix combined with Pimafix will combat this problem. I lost alot of gups and the past treatment fixed that prob....although my gups were still scratching and Im now treating with sterazin for flukes. My gups are scratching less and less...but looking a little less healthy due to parasites leaving them I presume. i have a fry tank set up with nine 3 week old guppies. I also have 3 very over pregnant guppies. Now wondering if sterazin has put a slow up on birth as it seems they have been very pregnant for at least 5 weeks. I can see many little eyes peering through the big round bellies of my 3 f gups. Fingers crossed this last battle is the last battle. All tank stats are a1 as I test all nitrite, ammonia, nitrate and ph regular. Water temps are 79 - 80F

P.s. here is a pic of my tank...its had a new construction since...i havnt yet taken pics of new set up of plants etc.. Theres no breeding net now and more plants...The ornaments etc are spread out more. Will post a pic soon. I hope this info has helped your battle with fish disease, as it took me endless research and hours of red eyes to finally diagnose. I have posted a few things on gups that may be of interest to you..it may help you verify your disease if it is columnaris.

Cheers, Cathy

 

[rammsoldat]

i love these stories well the bit when people rescue them its very hard to most people would be like its to much hassle and leave them. i have to thank you for doing that are they ok now?

the mother guppy that gave birth died, the other 2 are very happy and active and all the babies seem fine too. The mother gup that died seemed to have a large light patch on its side.

a large light patch on its side. Sounds like Saddleback Columnaris to me. Please do yourself a favor and check this disease out on the net to see if it is for sure before treating...but to let you know...melafix and pimafix is for fungas and bacteria...so if that is your prob then it will help. It is also safe with cat fish, plants etc.. wont harm bio filter. etc. I hope this helps...basically I have found all gups to be a disease problem due to inbreeding as this makes them weak...I would recommend quarantining all new fish specially gups...chances are they will need some form of treatment. Its best to raise your fry in a separate tank...then breed them...this will hopefully take some of the disease factor out of it. Well this is my plan. Its been a battle...very interesting...knowledgeable...addictive...and yes...expensive. Think Im addicted to

Unfortunately I have tried rescuing at least 40 guppies with probs from 3 of mlfs's over the past 6 months. Its only been in the past 4 weeks I actually found the correct cause and was able to treat with the right meds. Columnaris - Melafix combined with Pimafix will combat this problem. I lost alot of gups and the past treatment fixed that prob....although my gups were still scratching and Im now treating with sterazin for flukes. My gups are scratching less and less...but looking a little less healthy due to parasites leaving them I presume. i have a fry tank set up with nine 3 week old guppies. I also have 3 very over pregnant guppies. Now wondering if sterazin has put a slow up on birth as it seems they have been very pregnant for at least 5 weeks. I can see many little eyes peering through the big round bellies of my 3 f gups. Fingers crossed this last battle is the last battle. All tank stats are a1 as I test all nitrite, ammonia, nitrate and ph regular. Water temps are 79 - 80F

P.s. here is a pic of my tank...its had a new construction since...i havnt yet taken pics of new set up of plants etc.. Theres no breeding net now and more plants...The ornaments etc are spread out more. Will post a pic soon. I hope this info has helped your battle with fish disease, as it took me endless research and hours of red eyes to finally diagnose. I have posted a few things on gups that may be of interest to you..it may help you verify your disease if it is columnaris.

Cheers, Cathy

View attachment 43956

Well quarantine wasnt an issue as my tank was empty and had been cycling for a while. I had added a bit of Melafix and a small amount of aquarium salt to the tank when it was in its early days and have added a dose more of each since the mother gup died and the others are all doing fine with no signs of the condition.

I havent had a water test done yet i thought id see how it all goes. The fry in the tank are already getting bigger and eating normally and all seems well.

 

[Rillan]

Wicked story! Im glad to hear you rescued them. It sounds horrible the way they were kept. You deserve 3 cheers and a nice hearty pat on the back. Heres a thumbs up

Its cool the guppy gave birth to because imagine how it would have been for the babies.

Congrats