Guppy with internal bleeding???

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Jenn1979

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Fish Symptoms: Looks like a brain bleed with red circular spot on her side and red dots on the sides of her lips.

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and trying to figure out what is wrong with my guppy. I got her from LFS 2 days ago, she looked great in LFT tank, but I have to admit most of the others didn't. I was desperate trying to find a couple female guppies, because I was at a 2:1 male:female ratio in my tank and don't want my single female to be bullied to death. I floated her 20 min in her bag, then added 1/2 cup of tank water to bag x4 about 10 minutes apart and made sure to not put bag water into tank. First day and a 1/2 she looked great, next morning she was hanging out at the top of the tank, not eating and had all these red what look like blood areas, like a brain bleed or something, along with a red spot on her side. I took her out in case she has parasites. She's currently in a 5 gallon with water taken from the 55 g tank.

I've always loved guppies, have had many over the years and have never seen this before. I'm 90% sure she'll die by tomorrow, but I'm trying to figure out what's wrong in case any of my other fish end up with similar symptoms.

Tank has been set up and operational for 4 yrs.
Tank size: 55 gal
pH: 7.4-7.6 (according to API liquid test kit)
ammonia: 0 (according to API liquid test kit)
nitrite: 0 (according to API liquid test kit)
nitrate: 40-50 (according to API liquid test kit)
Total Hardness: 150 (according to Tetra Easy Strips)
tank temp: 82F

Water changes: With gravel vacuum - once a month (replacing about 20 g). Add water, 5 g every other week. (Use Start Rite for tap water)

Chemicals/treatments used: Nothing yet

Tank Mates: 2 male guppies, 1 female guppy (since I took the sick 1 out), 1 glowlight tetra, 1 male swordtail, 2 platies, 1 octocinclus, 1 cory

Recently added new fish? Yes, a couple guppies 2 weeks earlier
 

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Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Did the guppies at the shop look similar to the fish in the pictures?

The fish looks like it has been bitten by something but there is nothing in the tank that would do that sort of damage to her. She might have gotten caught behind or underneath something and injured herself.

The red in the head is a concern. If she has a fractured skull she will probably die.

At this stage just keep the water clean and well oxygenated. Don't have too much water movement in the container because it will make it more difficult for her.

Maybe float the container in the aquarium so the temperature remains constant, but make sure the container can't tip over.

--------------------------
Onto the main tank. You should be doing water changes more often and this will help bring your nitrates down to a safer level. I recommend doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate once a week. If you have water restrictions or a really heavily planted tank, you can do it every 2 weeks. But you want to do it more often than once a month.

You should also do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate if you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

--------------------------
Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better. If you have a power filter, wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use them.

You should wipe down the inside of the tank every time you do a water change. This removes biofilm (bacteria, fungus, yeast and viruses) that builds up on the glass.

--------------------------
Your GH is a bit low for livebearers. They prefer a GH around 200+ppm. However, you have a tetra and a couple of catfish that come from soft water. A GH of 150ppm is fine for the tetra, Corydoras and Otocinclus.

If you want to keep livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails), then I would get rid of the tetra and increase the GH to 200ppm.

Swordtails and platies will hybridise and should not be kept together for that reason. If you want livebearers, then keep them in a single sex tank (all males or all females). If you want males and females in the same tank, have at least 6 (preferably 10) females per male.

If you want to keep the tetra, then get more of them. All tetras need to be kept in groups of at least 6 and preferably 10 or more. The Corydoras should be kept in groups of 6 or more too, and the Otocinclus should have a few companions. However, I would not add any more fish for a month. You want everything to settle down and all the fish to be happy and healthy before adding new fish.

If possible, quarantine all new fish for at least 2 (preferably 4) weeks before adding them to the main tank.

--------------------------
Right now I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for the next week. This will dilute any disease organisms that might be in the water, and it should reduce the nitrates. Check your tap water for nitrates too.

Keep the guppy in clean water and hope for the best.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Did the guppies at the shop look similar to the fish in the pictures?

The fish looks like it has been bitten by something but there is nothing in the tank that would do that sort of damage to her. She might have gotten caught behind or underneath something and injured herself.

The red in the head is a concern. If she has a fractured skull she will probably die.

At this stage just keep the water clean and well oxygenated. Don't have too much water movement in the container because it will make it more difficult for her.

Maybe float the container in the aquarium so the temperature remains constant, but make sure the container can't tip over.

--------------------------
Onto the main tank. You should be doing water changes more often and this will help bring your nitrates down to a safer level. I recommend doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate once a week. If you have water restrictions or a really heavily planted tank, you can do it every 2 weeks. But you want to do it more often than once a month.

You should also do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate if you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

--------------------------
Filters should be cleaned at least once a month and every 2 weeks is better. If you have a power filter, wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use them.

You should wipe down the inside of the tank every time you do a water change. This removes biofilm (bacteria, fungus, yeast and viruses) that builds up on the glass.

--------------------------
Your GH is a bit low for livebearers. They prefer a GH around 200+ppm. However, you have a tetra and a couple of catfish that come from soft water. A GH of 150ppm is fine for the tetra, Corydoras and Otocinclus.

If you want to keep livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails), then I would get rid of the tetra and increase the GH to 200ppm.

Swordtails and platies will hybridise and should not be kept together for that reason. If you want livebearers, then keep them in a single sex tank (all males or all females). If you want males and females in the same tank, have at least 6 (preferably 10) females per male.

If you want to keep the tetra, then get more of them. All tetras need to be kept in groups of at least 6 and preferably 10 or more. The Corydoras should be kept in groups of 6 or more too, and the Otocinclus should have a few companions. However, I would not add any more fish for a month. You want everything to settle down and all the fish to be happy and healthy before adding new fish.

If possible, quarantine all new fish for at least 2 (preferably 4) weeks before adding them to the main tank.

--------------------------
Right now I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for the next week. This will dilute any disease organisms that might be in the water, and it should reduce the nitrates. Check your tap water for nitrates too.

Keep the guppy in clean water and hope for the best.
 
Sorry it took so long to reply. My guppy did end up passing away later that night, but so far no other signs have shown up with my other fish.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. No, the other guppies in the FS tank seemed very listless but none had the red areas. Like I said, I shouldn't have taken the chance.

As for the red areas, I supposed if she were being chased around by the males in there, she could have gotten caught on something.

My nitrates are very close to nil after water changes, so hopefully that will keep improving. And after all my numbers are good again, I can add in a few tank mates. I'll definitely be setting up a quarantine tank in the near future. I had been putting it off for a long time, but I just have to bite the bullet.

Again, thanks for all the advice, it is greatly appreciated!
 

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