Tips of guppies tails turning clear?

[biofish]

Just as the title says. I was looking at my guppies the last couple days, and one of my new fish in quarantine’s tail started to get clear in the middle rather than the beautiful blue when I bought her. At first I didn’t think anything of it, figured it was just stress but the whiteness kept spreading. It took over her entire tail and then started going up her spine. There was a clear white line separating the front of her body and the back. And her tail started ripping. I thought maybe she had fin rot or got injured during transport so when she died two days after bringing her home, I was bummed but not overly sad.

I cleaned the water out, of course, but I have 4 other female guppies, one male guppy, 3 Cory cats, and 4 nitrate snails in the quarantine tank. The quarantine tank is 10 gallons. I’m not sure what the water parameters are, but I’ve quarantined fish in there before several times, 2 weeks each before transferring them to their permanent tank. And I change the water 20% weekly with a gravel vacuum.

and I wasn’t too worried, until today, a day after the first female died, the rest of the guppies in the quarantine tank have transparent fin edges. They’re swimming and eating perfectly fine, no red gills or any noticeable damage. The edges of their fins are a little nibbled, but I thought that was just from general nibbles rather than something more serious. The one that died, her tail started getting transparent in the middle, so it’s a little different but I’m a bit freaked out rn. Im planning on going first thing tomorrow to get my water tested at my local fish store and pick up some fin rot medication…. Or whatever medication depending on what you guys think it is.
am I just panicking over nothing? I read that it could be new tail growth but I’m still nervous. Especially because no one seemed to know what else it could be.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Can you get some photos of the fish please? Could really help!

Remember that when you change 20% of the water, you're leaving 80% of the bad stuff in there. Over time, that can build up to pretty bad levels, and make the tank water parameters drift away from the parameters of the source water. Given enough time, that can lead to a tank crash and old tank syndrome.

If it is fin rot, then fresh clean water is the best medicine, and aquarium salt is the the second best. But with cories especially, you need to be careful about throwing salt or medications in there. Being medicated is hard on fish, so don't add meds until you know what you're treating. A lot of medications are also toxic to snails.

For now, daily water changes are in order. Gradually increase the percentage you change, so do around 30-35% total volume today or tomorrow, build up to 40%, 50%, 60%, right up to 70-80%. Clean the glass and gravel vac the substrate to remove as many disease organisms as possible, and rinse the filter media in the water you've removed from the tank (not under the tap - that would kill your good bacteria and crash your cycle).

When you go to the LFS tomorrow, it would be best to get your water tested - ask them to test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH and KH, and write down the numbers of the results they get. Don't let them just tell you they're fine, or "perfect", we'll need to know the exact numbers!

Buy a liquid testing kit. You always want to be able to test your own water, especially if there's a problem. Most of us use the API Freshwater Master test kit (not sponsored!), but any liquid testing kit is fine. Liquid tests are more accurate, and better value. Dip strips seem cheaper, but along with being less accurate, which is a problem when you need precise results -you get more tests out of a liquid kit, so it's better value for money in the long term.

You don't need to buy a testing kit for GH and KH though. That shouldn't vary much as long as you're using the same source water for your tanks, so just get that number from the store's test results

Pick up some aquarium salt at the same time, that's not too expensive, and could help in this situation. Salt has antifungal, antibacterial and anti parasitic properties, so is a useful first line treatment with a lot of issues, especially with livebearers.


It sounds like it could be fin rot, but it could just as easily be some bacterial infection, protazoan, something else entirely... especially since your new guppy looked fine when you bought her, then died two days later. Fin rot can kill, but it doesn't usually move that fast! So best to treat with fresh water only until you have a clearer idea of what's happening.

 

[biofish]

Here’s some pictures! The little buggers wouldn’t stop moving so they aren’t the clearest. I just removed all the decorations to clean them, I did a 50% water change and thoroughly cleaned the gravel and added about 75% of the recommended aquarium salt to err on the side of caution for the corys and snails.

and then I just read your post!

 

[biofish]

Here was the female guppy that died when I brought her home vs when she died.

I just realized that when I got her her tail was already that much gone. I thought that was just her color at the time. UGH. It was already that advanced when I got her.

I have other guppies that are very healthy (had them for months) that have semi transparent tails so I didn’t think twice about it.

i know I’m newer to fish keeping but I’m just so frustrated with myself for my ignorance

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Here’s some pictures! The little buggers wouldn’t stop moving so they aren’t the clearest. I just removed all the decorations to clean them, I did a 50% water change and thoroughly cleaned the gravel and added about 75% of the recommended aquarium salt to err on the side of caution for the corys and snails.

and then I just read your post!

Great minds think alike!
Stunning colours on those guppies, I'd have bought that male too, he's gorgeous.

Here was the female guppy that died when I brought her home vs when she died.

While I do think that there's some fin rot going on, I also think there's something else going on there too, maybe more than two things. The shape of the female guppies you still have, and the one who passed when you first got her, worries me. They have a thin, lanky look that always makes me think a fish has a heavy worm burden and is on the edge... Healthy female guppies should have a solid, rounded look to 'em.

Have you seen any of of your fish, new or old, do white stringy poops?

But I don't think either fin rot or worms are likely to make that female guppy go downhill that drastically in the space of two days either.

Bear in mind, I am the last thing from an expert in fish, let alone disease! I'm tagging our health expert @Colin_T and out guppy guru @emeraldking to get much better opinions and advice!

In the meantime, clearer photos could help... my tips for photographing guppies are to clean both the inside and outside of the glass so that the camera can focus on the right thing, then find a food you can stick to the front glass. Tetra fun tip tablets, some freeze dried bloodworms, a cory pellet, whatever. Turn off all other lights in the room except the tank light to prevent reflections in the tank glass, then snap away while the fish are eating the food lure. Makes it a lot easier to get guppies to pose where you want 'em.

 

[biofish]

I’ll take better pictures in the morning! The fish are sleeping now and I don’t want to stress them out by turning the light on in the middle of the night. I have Cory pellets and freeze dried bloodworms, but I don’t know how well they’ll fare against the storm of hungry guppies

and no, I have not noticed white stringy poo. I’ll sit down and watch them tomorrow though to make sure. I had an algae outbreak in my main tank and even though I scrubbed it all away pretty quick, those guppies, the females in particular, are pooping thick green turds. I definitely look, but no noticed white stringy poo yet.

 

[emeraldking]

I'm quite positive that this guppy must have had fin rot. But yes, what AdoraBelle Dearheart has already mentioned, the female has emaciated. That could be a worm issue. But with extreme fin rot, most of the time a fish won't be able to swim normal anymore which causes that it's also not able to get to the food properly. That may also cause weight loss.

​

 

[JazzyV]

hi, sorry, i don’t know what that is but I can’t help but wonder …

Have you tried checking your gh? You can check online water municipal listing or contact them if you do not have a means to test.

In general, guppies tends to need high minerals and depends on where they came from and may even relate to what generation etc ..I don’t know if this is your case but it might not hurt to check gh.
Sorry about your fish. Hope you get to figure it out.

 

[biofish]

Clearer pictures! They look largely the same from last night except for the top female in the first photo. Her tail was blue yesterday.

the female Moscow (second picture top lady) is the only one that didn’t go for the food this morning. I don’t think she saw the food though. She was watching a couple of the Cory cats and the food was largely gone by the time she turned around

 

[biofish]

I went out and I just bought api melafix and api em erythromycin just in case

I kept hearing conflicting reports on the internet and I’m frustrated. Do I turn the water temp up or down?

 

[JazzyV]

Hmmm you don’t want to use antibiotics do you?? Cuz if you don’t know what it is ..what if the strand gets resilient???that could be bad for us…i don’t explain it well…maybe you wait for a guru okay

 

[JazzyV]

Did you check your gh yet?? What’s the minerals content? Is it adequate for guppies??

 

[biofish]

Did you check your gh yet?? What’s the minerals content? Is it adequate for guppies??

No >~<

The place I went to get the medication didn’t do water tests. The next place I know that does a strip test opens in and hour and 20 minutes.
Right now I’m changing 50% of the water again