Poorly Guppy

[Doug62]

Hi all,
Over the past week one of my guppies has become very pale and skinny and has been hanging around on his own a lot. A thought perhaps he hadnt been eating properly as the other fish (including mollies) where much more agressive at eating and he didnt seem to be getting much. So yesterday i put him in my breeding trap to isolate him and feed him seperatly, but when i have got up this morning he has took a dramatic turn for the worse, lying on the bottom on his side a lot and swimming on his side and sometimes pirouetting round and round as tho' he has no balance. I think he is on his last legs . Anyway ive done an ammonia check and that is fine but i havnt done nitrates as ive run out of tests (i'm off to get some shortly) so could this be the problem? Even more worrying is that since this morning i have noticed that the other guppies seem to be swimming with a slight lope! I cant work out if this is my imagination running away with me but they definatly look slightly off centre. I have now done a 20% water change so i'll see if this helps but i am very worried so if anyone could advise me i'd be very grateful.
Thanks
Doug

 

[Doug62]

Ok, so i just read an earlier post where someone had similar symptoms and was advised that the problem was fish TB!!!!! I am now totally stressed about it now and my girlfriend is insisting that i get rid of the whole thing. Ive only had it eight weeks. Thing is, ive done everything that is advised in setting up, running and introducing fish etc so where has the problem come from? If it is the case that its TB then must this have come from the local fish shop? Totally confused. Any help?
Doug

 

[karlp]

Hi Doug

You really need to test for nitrite, it should be 0 too.

Did you do a fishless cycle or cycle the tank with the fish in ?

If the fish were in the tank during the cycling, it's normal to lose a few because of the toxins during the cycling process unfortunately. Keep up with your 25% water changes twice a week and keep an eye on the fish for the next couple of weeks. If you don't lose any more, then you can start adding a couple at a time.

It's unlikely that the Guppy has something that will take out the other fish, if they are healthy.

 

[Doug62]

Thanks for the reply Fishy,
Well i cycled it for about a fortnight without fish then added 7 guppies on the advice of my lfs (this proved to be bad advice as apparently guppies are not good starter fish). I had actually tested all my parameters before adding them and they were fine and i have kept testing them up until about a week ago when i ran out of test strips. To update the situation, all other guppies seem ok but the poorly one is now laying on the bottom of the breeding trap with its body arched in almost a complete circle and it keeps swimming around for a short time then laying on the bottom again. The thing that worrying me is that the more I look at what various sites say about Fish TB the more i'm thinking it is that. Most (incl. this one) state that if 2 or more of the symptoms are displayed to be very wary and have 2 for definate, being emaciation and loss of colour. The problem is i dont have a second tank ( i have been looking for on actually but even if i bought one today it would need to cycle etc) and am worried that i need to remove it or suffer losing them all!!
Doug

 

[Sp3nc3r]

guppies are the easiest starter fish

is this a brand new tank/used/old??