Sick Guppy: nipped fins and jumped out

Hello! I’ve got a sick guppy and from observations I don’t think he’ll make it.

The day before yesterday, I dropped an algae wafer into my tank for the first time for my algae eaters because my algae is FINALLY getting under control, and all of other, non algae eater fish, swarmed it and started eating it. They did so previously with the sinking shrimp pellets I sometimes give my Cory cat, so I’ve been forced to hand feed my Cory, Al, flakes to ensure he gets something to eat and when I put in a pellet I use my hand to try and keep the guppies away. My guppies would nip Al away from the sinking pellet.
And yesterday, I noticed that one of my original guppies, his name is Nards because of his orange fins, has severely tattered fins and was laying on the pebbles. I took him out, he didn’t resist being scooped up, but he was still breathing. I made a salt bath for him, but as I was transferring him he jumped out of the net. He landed on carpet and I immediately picked him up and put him in a cup of my main tank water. He seemed stunned, which I get. But I was super freaking out on whether transferring him to the salt bath would send his stress levels over into deadly territory. But, I also didn’t want his tattered fins getting infected because of the carpet, so in the end I put him in the salt bath for five minutes before putting him in a recovery bowl (full of water from my tank) for a couple hours and then returned him to the main tank. He was swimming around, albeit slowly and only when I nudged the water to check in on him.
And this morning he is refusing to eat (I feed my fish once a day five days a week, skipping Wednesday and Saturday). He is still laying on the pebbles in the corner of the tank, and slowly swam away when I tried to hand feed him like I do Al. Ironically, Al swam up and ate the flake I was holding while I was gently pressing to Nard’s mouth. Nards tail is also shorter this morning; it looks like all the ripped shreds fell off. So it looks like a normal tail now, just kinda short
I’m assuming he was nipped during the algae wafer swarm, which I need to figure out how to get that wafer to my actual algae eaters.

I don’t know my exact water parameters, but I get my water tested at the local fish store regularly and it’s always come back good. I have a 3 or so month old ten gallon (I jump started the cycling process by filling it partially with already cycled water from a smaller beta tank) which is kept at 78°, but sometimes creeps up to 80° in the middle of the day. None of the fish seem to have been affected by this.

I will acknowledge I have an overstocked tank but it has never been an issue, and I’ve spoken to the fish store and they says it’s no big deal because of how good my water is (the ammonia levels, for example, are so low that they hardly color the test). I change my water 20% every week while vacuuming the gravel. I condition my tap water before refilling the tank.

My tank holds the following fish:
10 guppies, all male
3 dwarf algae eaters
1 pleco
3 glo zebra danios
1 Cory cat
1 assassin snail to deal with the small invasion of pest snails that came in on one of my plants

I would like to reiterate that bullying has never been an issue and all my fish get along. I have plenty of hiding spaces. Al especially is a friend to all and can frequently be seen cuddling my pleco.

The photos of Nards on the gravel are him today. And the ones with him swimming was a few days ago.

I would really like to save him. He’s best friends with another one of my guppies, Sauce (the dark grey guppy in the picture), and I often tease them for being lovers because they are constantly following each other around the tank and gently booping (not nipping) each other.

someone should respond to your issue soon.
@Colin_T

Fishmanic said:

someone should respond to your issue soon.
@Colin_T

Click to expand...

what the hell am i meant to do

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What colour is the fish's gonodpodium (anal/ bottom fin)?

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Do the following.

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. 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 to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

Don't do salt baths, it stresses the fish when you try to catch them and moving them into salt then fresh water. You are better off just adding salt to the main tank for a couple of weeks.

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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.

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, 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.

When 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.

Hey guys! I don’t know if anyone is looking at this but it turned out to be a breakout of ich. The morning after I made the og post two of my fish were dead; the one I posted about and a yellow guppy- Lemonjello- that had perfectly healthy. And I noticed the white spots on my dwarf algae eaters the next day.

I got the API super ick cure the same day and started treatment. Last night I just put in the 3rd dose. Since I don’t want to hurt my Cory or Pleco I am doing half doses for twice as long. I’ve changed the water 25% every 48 hours before remedicating. Three more of my fish have died since then; two guppies: Sushi, Tiger Lily, and a dwarf algae eater: Shrapnel. I raised the tank temp to linger about 82° to 84° to help speed up the process.

the rest of my fish look and swim fine and they still have hearty appetites….

After these Ich treatments though I’m fully planning on cleaning the tank out daily to treat for fin rot, which was very prominent on 3 of the guppies that passed. And since the Ich treatment began the white spots have disappeared but I’m aware that there are still parasites in the tank! And one of my guppies; Sunny, looked like he was about to pass (sat on the pebbles to take a breather every once in a while and hid under my aquarium plants. But whenever I he noticed that I looked in the tank he would wiggle out and swim up to greet me with my other guppies) but has since rebounded and is swimming and eating happily, so I hope he makes it! Wish me luck everyone!

Also, thank you @Colin_T ! I will save your advice and follow it after my Ich treatment finishes!