New Guppy turning white

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Hi everyone. I am new to fish keeping. I purchased two guppies 3 days ago. One of them looks sick. He swim in one spot near the top of the water, mouth opening and closing fast, and looks like the back and one of it’s sides are turning white. I attached a picture of when I got the fish and after 3 days. The white spot looked like a strip at first.
Can someone please tell me what this is and how to treat it? I appreciate it!
 

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It's a bacterial infection and he needs treating immediately or will die. He may even die with treatment.

You can add salt and try a liquid broad spectrum medication that treats bacteria, fungus and protozoan infections, or you might need anti-biotics. However, anti-biotics should be a last resort. You can use salt and a broad spectrum medication together. See below for directions on using salt.

Use the maximum dose rate of salt (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres if you have tetras or Corydoras), (4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres if you only have livebearers).

You should contact the shop you got the fish from and return it if possible because it would have had the problem at the shop.


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Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
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.


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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

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 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt 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 (1-2 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.

If 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.
 
Hi Colin_T, thank you for the advice! I couldn’t find the medication anywhere near me yesterday so I ordered it online and will be here today (Petco suggested Melafix by API).

However, I was able to purchase aquarium salt. Petco suggested to do 40% water change and add the salt which I did. The fish doesn’t seem to be getting better. He still prefers to swim in one place and will chase the food pellets but not eat them. The bacteria has spread to his left side. Hopefully, Melafix will help. It’s sad to see him go.
 

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Welcome to the forum.
Is the tank cycled? How long has it been set up?
 
Welcome to the forum.
Is the tank cycled? How long has it been set up?
Hi, the tank was set up 3-4 days ago. I did a water test in the pet store yesterday and everything seems good so fat but the tank is not cycled yet.
If I remember correctly, they told me everything is within range with low ammonia.
 
Welcome to the forum.
Is the tank cycled? How long has it been set up?
ANY ammonia is toxic to fish....and you'll be doing a fish-in cycle, unless you return the fish and do a fishless cycle

Get one of these ASAP, you need to be testing your own water, daily: https://apifishcare.com/product/freshwater-master-test-kit

You'll also need a good quality water conditioner, get either Seachem Prime or API Tap Water conditioner

In the meantime, I'd do a large water change, with whatever conditioner you have now...match the tap temp to the tank temp as closely as possible

See here for fish-in cycling: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-i.433769/
 
ANY ammonia is toxic to fish....and you'll be doing a fish-in cycle, unless you return the fish and do a fishless cycle

Get one of these ASAP, you need to be testing your own water, daily: https://apifishcare.com/product/freshwater-master-test-kit

You'll also need a good quality water conditioner, get either Seachem Prime or API Tap Water conditioner

In the meantime, I'd do a large water change, with whatever conditioner you have now...match the tap temp to the tank temp as closely as possible

See here for fish-in cycling: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-i.433769/
Hi, thank you for your help! Unfortunately, my fish passed away shortly after treating it with Melafix earlier. I still have one guppy left and he is doing fine.

Since the infected fish is no longer in my tank, should I continue to treat the tank with Melafix and frequent water chances?

I have API Starter Kit with Stress Coat, Stress Zyme and aquarium salt. I purchased the test kit yesterday.
 
How big is this tank?
It's only had the two fish since it was set up?

Honestly, I'd see if I could bring the lone fish back to the LFS, or rehome it, and start over, with a proper fishless cycle, before adding more fish.

You don't need the "starter kit" or anything else, other than the test kit, a proper conditioner, and a source of pure ammonia, which is fairly easy to find, to complete a fishless cycle

See fishless cycling here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
 
melafix won't do damn thing to bacterial infections.

keep doing salt and huge water changes for a couple of weeks because the other guppy will probably develop the same problem.

you need to do a huge water change and gravel clean, and clean the filter to remove as many of the bacteria as possible. then bomb the tank with salt.
 
How big is this tank?
It's only had the two fish since it was set up?

Honestly, I'd see if I could bring the lone fish back to the LFS, or rehome it, and start over, with a proper fishless cycle, before adding more fish.

You don't need the "starter kit" or anything else, other than the test kit, a proper conditioner, and a source of pure ammonia, which is fairly easy to find, to complete a fishless cycle

See fishless cycling here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/
Thanks but I would like to keep the fish and hope he will survive. Tank is only 5 gallon and started with 2 guppies.
 
this problem is not caused by water quality. this is a bacterial infection that comes in on guppies and is highly contagious. The shop probably got the infected fish from a supplier who sent them out when they shouldn't have.
 
melafix won't do damn thing to bacterial infections.

keep doing salt and huge water changes for a couple of weeks because the other guppy will probably develop the same problem.

you need to do a huge water change and gravel clean, and clean the filter to remove as many of the bacteria as possible. then bomb the tank with salt.
Lol bomb the tank with salt. I will stop the melafix and follow your advice. I have some live plants in the tank. I’ll be removing them since it’ll be easier to gravel clean.

I removed my activated carbon filter media before adding Melafix earlier. I will do another water change tomorrow since I just did one yesterday. I guess it’s safe to put the filter media back in when I do the water change?
 
this problem is not caused by water quality. this is a bacterial infection that comes in on guppies and is highly contagious. The shop probably got the infected fish from a supplier who sent them out when they shouldn't have.
this problem is not caused by water quality. this is a bacterial infection that comes in on guppies and is highly contagious. The shop probably got the infected fish from a supplier who sent them out when they shouldn't have.
I think so too!
 
this problem is not caused by water quality. this is a bacterial infection that comes in on guppies and is highly contagious. The shop probably got the infected fish from a supplier who sent them out when they shouldn't have.
"If I remember correctly, they told me everything is within range with low ammonia."

Ammonia in the tank certainly doesn't help things.....
 

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