I Have A Bit Of A Guppy Problem

[allie95]

Okay, so I have a ten-gallon tank with 3 male guppies, 2 female platies and 1 male platy. I've had this tank set up for maybe... 8 months? I can't remember exactly, but it's cycled and everything. I've noticed that one of my guppy's tail has been almost completely chewed off . His tail was really pretty, too, and one of the others looks a little ragged around the edges. I don't know what to do? I'm afraid that he's going to be killed by one of the other fish. Explanations/tips would be appreciated.
(Btw, is this the right place to post this? Idk if it counts as an emergency?)

 

[helterskelter]

Have you tested your water for any of the following

• ammonia
• nitrItes
• nirtAtes
• pH
• hardness

Also have you tested these in the past and noted any differences?

Do u do water changes?
If so how much and how often?
Have you added any new fish of late?
Do you see any bulling from the other guppies to this one male?
Dose the other ragged guppy have any redness to the fin's?

 

[WILDER]

Finrot can be caused by bad water quality or nipping.

Seen any fish nipping fins.

Signs of bacterial finrot are.
White, pink, or red edging to fins.
Transparant fins or cloudy looking fins.
Holes in fins.
Red streaking in fins.
Fins falling apart or fraying.

 

[allie95]

Okay, thanks for the replies. Um, I do about 50% water changes once or twice a month. My most recently added fish (the two female platies) were added on Ocober 5th. Every time I test the water it is always with ammonia & nitrites at zero, and my pH stays around 7.1. I haven't tested for nitrates or hardness, though. Should I?
But as for the fish, they all have that clear edging to their fins and one of the guppies that I can see has the white edging as well. None of them have red fins or red streaking, but all of them but the mickey mouse platy (female) has some sort of tearing in their fins. So, if I had to guess, I'd say that they probably do have it. But what do you guys think? And if you think that they do have it, should I treat it and what with? (I'm in the US)

Oh, and I don't know if this is relavent, but they eat a diet of Nutrafin Max tropical fish flakes and about once a week a treat of freeze dried bloodworms.

 

[WILDER]

You need to be doing a water change and gravel vac once a week.

Test your nitrate reading.

Water changes for now.
If the water changes don't help you will need to use a bacterial med.

Inprove the fish diet with frozen foods and veg.

 

[allie95]

Well I just did a water change on Thursday. Whenever I do the change I always vaccum the gravel. But right now I can't do a change because I don't have any water, and our well water has a pH of abouut 6.2. I was also told that I can't use well water for a tank? Is that true? But my dad & I are going grocery shopping later and I'm going to get water there. We will also go the the lfs and I'll test my water for nitrates there. I'll see if they have a test, as well. I was going to see about getting an algae-eating fish while I was there, but in light of what's happened I would guess that I should wait for that until I get the finrot under control. Oh, and my well water has both ammonia and nitrites at zero. (I'm sorry for all of the questions- I'm still relatively new to this and am a bit nervous. In the early, dark days before I discovered this site I lost 8-10 fish. I don't wwant to kill any more.)

 

[WILDER]

You can use well water but I would do a thread in tropical discussion, so members can ask you questions to make sure it's safe.

You will need to check the bottled water in ph to see if there a big difference.

 

[allie95]

Okay, I'll do that. Off to tropical discussions I go!

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi,

Hopefully you read this as you said you're moving to another forum. I put a female platy in with my very passive female betta and it took a few weeks before the platy attacked and nipped all the fins on the betta. If you can, I would seperate the guppy out to another tank.