Pregnant guppy scales sticking out pls help

Can anyone please help me, I set a new tank up for my fish using water from previous aquarium and some aqua balls, tested water all good, decided before putting all fish in I would just put my pregnant guppy in to give her space to have her fry, only thing I did different in this tank was add sand instead of gravel, so I know there is nothing wrong with the water, and all other fish fine, but I think she may be stressed because all her scales are sticking out but only on her belly, not her tail, I also noticed a small like red scratch on her, shall I just put her back in tank with others or is this normal for a pregnant guppy? She seems to stay at the bottom, hasn’t been eating, and sometime she looks like she is standing in her nose with tail in the air, I am at fisheries this afternoon if there is anything I can get to help her? Thanks

She looks like she has dropsy which normally doesn’t have a good outcome. She may have ingested too much sand too. You can put her in an epsom salt bath and see if that helps. One teaspoon per gallon of dechlorinated water. Leave her in for 10 minutes. You can do this 3 times a day. The epsom salt also serves as a mild laxative if she’s constipated. Be sure to dissolve the salt before adding fish. Fast her for the next 24 hours. See how she does. A combination of Kanaplex and Furan-2 sometimes helps dropsy but not sure how it would affect the fry. Keep us posted!

Al1ce said:

Can anyone please help me, I set a new tank up for my fish using water from previous aquarium and some aqua balls, tested water all good, decided before putting all fish in I would just put my pregnant guppy in to give her space to have her fry, only thing I did different in this tank was add sand instead of gravel, so I know there is nothing wrong with the water, and all other fish fine, but I think she may be stressed because all her scales are sticking out, shall I just put her back in tank with others or is this normal for a pregnant guppy? She seems to stay at the bottom, hasn’t been eating, and sometime she looks like she is standing in her nose with tail in the air, I am at fisheries this afternoon if there is anything I can get to help her? Thanks

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Deanasue said:

She looks like she has dropsy which normally doesn’t have a good outcome. She may have ingested too much sand too. You can put her in an epsom salt bath and see if that helps. One teaspoon per gallon of dechlorinated water. Leave her in for 10 minutes. You can do this 3 times a day. The epsom salt also serves as a mild laxative if she’s constipated. Be sure to dissolve the salt before adding fish. Fast her for the next 24 hours. See how she does. A combination of Kanaplex and Furan-2 sometimes helps dropsy but not sure how it would affect the fry. Keep us posted!

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Aww no I have just looked this up, it doesn’t sound good at all, I have aquarium salt which I have added to the water as per instructions, but that’s just a normal dose, I didn’t rly want to disturb her, incase I stress her out more, she has 2 red spots on her now, is there anyway I can save the fry if she doesn’t recover, has anyone been successful with this? Seriously she looks like she is going to pop, can fish get constipated I feel so sorry for her, she keeps head butting the sand and can barely swim. Is drops contagious as I was planning on adding other fish to this tank eventually. Really hope she pulls through, please see image apart from the fact she looks like a rabbit with no ears, what is the mark on her belly like a dimple spot

Wow, I don’t know. Try feeding her a deshelled blanched pea. It may help her poop. Go ahead and put the epsom salt in her tank. She needs something fast. Later, do a water change.

Oh, yes, fish do get constipated. The pea and epsom saltt may help her poop. Do it quickly as she could actually pop. Dropsy is not contagious.

Shes not pregnant, shes got dropsy. She won't survive, best thing to do is to put her to sleep

@WinterSoldier. according to OP she was pregnant already before she got sick.

Deanasue said:

@WinterSoldier. according to OP she was pregnant already before she got sick.

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Yes she was pregnant it’s why I put her in a seperate tank for her fry to survive, I think moving her so late an new tank has caused the dropsy, she is still going I treated her with esha 2000 which is for dropsy, it’s a 3 day dose, so hopefully it not to late an she may pull through, no way am I going to kill her, let nature take its course, il let you know how she goes. Thanks

Al1ce said:

Yes she was pregnant it’s why I put her in a seperate tank for her fry to survive, I think moving her so late an new tank has caused the dropsy, she is still going I treated her with esha 2000 which is for dropsy, it’s a 3 day dose, so hopefully it not to late an she may pull through, no way am I going to kill her, let nature take its course, il let you know how she goes. Thanks

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Sadly my guppy died, I will know now what to look out for with signs, to prevent this and treat my fish in future, thanks everyone for all the advice.

Sorry for your loss

I was afraid of that. You did all you could and I’m so sorry.