I’ve noticed on one of my guppy fish that there seems to be a small patch of what looks like just peeling skin? It has been acting completely normal and still eating and all other fish seem to be absolutely fine. I have treated the tank for any bacterial/fungal infections just incase but any suggestions as to what it might be and how to treat it would be fab!!
My guppy’s scales look flakey??
- Thread starter cait.russ
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If you could please reply with pictures of the fish in question, tank info (Like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels, ph, tank size, other fish in the tank and any other info you have)? This might help to identify any other problems that might be going on, outside of what you have treated for. Thanks!
yyes, pics?
Okay so it’s pretty difficult to get a clear pic of it so I do apologise!! Parameters are all okay I checked them and I’ve also done a 75% water change as they were due a clean today anyway! I have 4 other guppy, 4 black phantom tetra, a pleco and a yoyo loach and there’s been no signs of any aggression between any of the fish whatsoever.
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Doesn't look good. Could you please switch to the daylight feature rather than the blue light on your tank lights, then take more pics? It's hard enough to figure out what might be going on, but clear photos help!
What size is the tank? Any new additions recently? How is this fishes behaviour? Fins clamped, gasping at the surface, strugging to swim etc?
When you say the water parameters are normal, can you give us numbers please. For ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH especially.
More questions, sorry! But since we can't see the fish or tank for ourselves, the more info you can give us, the better.
How long has this been going on for?
What treatments did you use for bacterial/fungal illnesses?
How long has this been going on for?
What treatments did you use for bacterial/fungal illnesses?
i think it is fungal maybe
Hard to tell under the awful blue light but either bacterial or fungal.
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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for one week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for one week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
---------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
thank you everyone for your advice/questions!! After doing further research and speaking with a local aquarium it seems to be a fungal infection (cotton mouth disease/fin rot)
Can anybody suggest a good testing kit for the water as clearly my old one isn’t too good! Also is it normal for this to only affect 1 fish as all other fish seems to be absolutely fine?
Can anybody suggest a good testing kit for the water as clearly my old one isn’t too good! Also is it normal for this to only affect 1 fish as all other fish seems to be absolutely fine?
If your looking for a water testing kit, I, and most of the people on the forum, normally go with an api master test kit. they might be a bit pricy but its high quality and lasts a long time. As for the other fish, I'm not specifically well knowing about the disease that your fish had but there is a chance that none of the other fish got it. However, it is likely that the partials from the disease are in your tank and they will infect the rest of your fish. That's why you need to do the thing Colin_t said, it should eradicate the disease from your tank.
Okay I’ll try this test kit and hopefully will be able to clear up any signs of infection in the tank soon! Thank you everyone for all your help and suggestions!
The API kit is worth investing in, trust me! The dip strips often appeal to people at first (I bought those when I first set up a tank too!) Because they're cheaper, and they look easier. Not many of us got into the hobby to play with chemistry! But you actually get many more tests out of the API kit, so it really is better value for money in the long run. Crucially though, it's much more accurate, which is important when things are going wrong and you really need to know the right numbers.Okay I’ll try this test kit and hopefully will be able to clear up any signs of infection in the tank soon! Thank you everyone for all your help and suggestions!
Salt water treatment can really work miracles with issues like this. If you follow the plan outlined by Colin above, it'll give your guppy the best chances of recovery, and reduce the chances of any of the others falling victim to the same problem. Clean, fresh water is the best medicine. I cured this guppy who fell out of the tank and tore most of her tail off, and developed a fungal infection all down one side of her body, just through water changes and salt treatment alone.
Day after she fell from the tank. She was somehow caught up in the sponge filter when I lifted it out for cleaning, fell to the tank stand below and was only out of the water for seconds, but by the next morning, a fungal infection had taken hold at the remains of her tail, and along the side of the body you can't see in this pic. I began water changes and salt water treatment.
Within days, the fungus started to reduce, and her tail began to grow back. A year later, she was my largest, healthiest female, with only some scar tissue on her tail to show for her ordeal
wowowow i have a female just like that! shes the 2nd biggest! recovered from dropsy after melafix!
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