It's All New To Me.

[Syfish]

Hi All!

Thsnk goodness for frouns like this. I am new to fish keeping. I have read a number of books and have prepared myself the best I can. I have started off with a small tank (25 litres / 18") to learn from but have much bigger ambitions.

However,

I started off with two fantail male guppies as starter fish. The shop recommended these and has actually sold me 4, two more males to be picked up at a later date once the tank has matured a bit more. However after only 2 nights I woke to find one of them has a torn tail right up to the body. He is now hiding above the filter with his mouth permanently at the surface. The other fish seems as happy as anything.

I have no idea what to do now. Also, I have no idea why this has happened in the first place. Any advice would be grately appreciated!

Thanking you in advance.

Simon.

 

[5teady_2012]

Was the tank cycled before adding the fish?
Does the rips in the tail have white edges?


Whats your water stats?

Ammonia?
Nitrite?

 

[Assaye]

They could have been fighting. Sometimes the males squabble.

It could also be a fin-related disease such as fin-rot. Quite often when fish are feeling poorly their fins become fragile and rip easily. As for the mouth - sounds like he's not getting enough oxygen which probably means one of two things - nitrite poisoning or lack of aeration.

You need to be doing daily tests for ammonia and nitrites and to be making sure you bring the levels down to zero everyday with water changes. Do you have a test kit? Whatever is wrong with him won't get better if the water is toxic - in fact, it might just kill him.

Also, I am wary about your LFS' advise. Guppies these days are fragile and overbred, like fancy pedigree dogs. They tend to get sick or die really easily and don't tend to be suitable for cycling a tank.

LINKY - this is our bible on fishkeeping. HAve a read up on cycling and setting up a new tank. It might highlight some things that have gone wrong.