Guppy's tail dissapearing???

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Hey hey! So, I have a tank of about 16 guppies and 4 tetras. Most of the guppies are young except for the one in question. She's an adult albino red guppy, and pretty much the most social of all of them.

Yesterday morning, she got herself wrapped up inside a moss ball (don't ask me how, I don't even know how she got herself in there). I carefully got her out, and set her free without any injuries, however, overnight her tail fin seems to have just dissapared. Some is still in tact and she's swimming normally, but I'm rather concerned as it is in shreds and I'm unsure how it happened or how to fix it. Does anyone know anything about this? Is it just stress and will she grow it back?
 

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That's going to be hard to heal. Keep the water really clean. I suggest a large water change every day but I don't know what caused this.
What tetras do you have?
 
Was her tail normally red where it is now?

It's probably just physical damage caused by being caught in the plants and panicking.

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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 a 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.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add salt, (see directions below).

If it gets worse, post more pictures.

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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 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.
 
Was her tail normally red where it is now?

It's probably just physical damage caused by being caught in the plants and panicking.

-----------------------
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 a 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.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add salt, (see directions below).

If it gets worse, post more pictures.

-----------------------
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 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.
Thank you! I'll try that! Her tail is normally red at the base, yes. Her tail fin is completely gone now and it seems as if it tires her to swim, but she's acting mostly normal and is swimming completely fine dispite it. She has a full appetite

I'll keep an eye on her though, she's a particularly tough fish
 
That's going to be hard to heal. Keep the water really clean. I suggest a large water change every day but I don't know what caused this.
What tetras do you have?
I have longfin sarpae tetras! They nip at each other but I've never seen them go after the guppies, and they've never ripped a tail clean off before
 
Serape tetras are renowned fin nippers so watch them closely. They also come from soft acid water, whereas guppies come from hard water with a high pH.

The serpaes might have gone after her and she hid in the moss after being attacked, or they might have attacked her while she was in the moss. Either way, I would watch them closely and try to find a second tank so you can have guppies in one tank and serpaes in the other tank.
 
Serape tetras are renowned fin nippers so watch them closely. They also come from soft acid water, whereas guppies come from hard water with a high pH.

The serpaes might have gone after her and she hid in the moss after being attacked, or they might have attacked her while she was in the moss. Either way, I would watch them closely and try to find a second tank so you can have guppies in one tank and serpaes in the other tank.
They've been living in peace for almost a year now so I doubt that's the case. There's a part of the tank separated from the rest that she hangs out and the tetras don't go there so that's a thing too

I'll keep an eye out though just in case c:
I also am unable to keep a second tank or even get a larger tank, otherwise I would have done that already xwx
 
I have longfin sarpae tetras! They nip at each other but I've never seen them go after the guppies, and they've never ripped a tail clean off before
As Colin said, these are nippy tetra. The fact that the guppy has an area of the tank shows that they are not living together peacefully, she is trying to escape their attention.
Perhaps she came out of his area and got attacked? Perhaps she tried to hide from them in the moss and got stuck.
Work on getting a separate tank for the guppies.
 
Hey hey! So, I have a tank of about 16 guppies and 4 tetras. Most of the guppies are young except for the one in question. She's an adult albino red guppy, and pretty much the most social of all of them.

Yesterday morning, she got herself wrapped up inside a moss ball (don't ask me how, I don't even know how she got herself in there). I carefully got her out, and set her free without any injuries, however, overnight her tail fin seems to have just dissapared. Some is still in tact and she's swimming normally, but I'm rather concerned as it is in shreds and I'm unsure how it happened or how to fix it. Does anyone know anything about this? Is it just stress and will she grow it back?
Update! She's doing just fine now and she's had no other injuries. Her tail fin seems to be growing back and she's acting like herself!

In regard to those that ignored my previous statements - I do not have room for another tank. Though I have noticed the tetras getting territorial though, so I redecorated and rearranged the tank to prevent that for the time being. I do need to get more tetras as they're schooling fish and they're acting out since they're in a group of 3 now.

Thank you for all your help. She's okay now c:
 

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what about getting rid of the 3 tetras you have so the guppies can live in peace?
 

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