bloated guppy

[vanilla]

Hi, can anyone please help,
one of my guppys has got very bloated and the fins are sticking out a bit, it is still eating and swimming around. i have taken it out the main tank and put it in a mall one.
i have just done a water change.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Can you please post your water stats, including ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH? Also, how long has your tank been setup for?

EDIT: I misread one word in the original post, (changed fins for scales) and gave some bad advice. See the corrections down lower.

 

[vanilla]

o.k. we have got a 70 litre tank, this has been set up since January this year.
we have just changed 10 litres of water and we do this every two weeks.
i have just tested the water and the results are.
Nitrite 0.1
ammonia 0.1
p.h. 7.5
nitrate 75
i have only got a interpet easy test aquarium kit, which is quite easy to use but perhaps isn't exactly accurate enougth.
do we need to change the water more often.

we have got 2 black mollys, 4 yellow tetras, 2 honey dwarf gourami,6 platties,2 spotted catfish, 4 guppies.

hope this helps

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

You need to up your water changes to at least 40% a week with dechlorinator/water conditioner added, in a healthy tank that has been set up as long as yours nitrites and ammonia should be 0 with no exceptions. Do not add salt to the tank as you have quite a few salt intolerant fish.
Does the guppys scales look like they are sticking out kind of like a pine cone?

 

[tttnjfttt]

Yeips! Your water test results are not good. Ammonia and nitrite should always be at 0, and your nitrAte should be below 40 (unless it is higher than this in your tap water). Yes, you do need to do larger, more frequent water changes. Its hard to say exactly how much water to change, especially because your tank looks a little over stocked (I'll go into more details later). Right now, you are doing approx. 15% water change every other week. At a minimum, I would step this up to 25% weekly, because your tank is very over stocked (again, this is down farther).


Even though the nitrate is high, my big concern is the ammonia and nitrite. You need to begin doing daily water changes until both of these values are at zero. Now the question is WHY aren't these values zero? Your tank has been going long enough where it should be cycled (have the good bacteria to break the waste down) by now. Did you recently add more fish, clean out your spounge in tap water (or rinsing it really well in dechlorinated water can also do it), go a little too crazy with vacuming your gravel if you have an under gravel filter (UGF), never vacume your gravel if you have a UGF? If you have a hang on the back filter, does it have a spounge for the bacteria to live on, if not, did you just change your carbon filter?

Ok, onto your tank being over stocked. The general rule is 1 cm of fish for every 2 liters of water.

Here is your current stock --

Mollies = 2 x 10 cm= 20 cm
Yellow Jack Tetras = 4 x 3 cm = 12 cm (estimate, but tetras produce little waste)
Honey Dwarf Gourami = 2 x 6 cm = 12 cm
Platy = 6 x 5 cm = 30 cm
spotted catfish = 2 x 6 cm = 12 cm
Guppies = 4 x 6 cm = 24 cm
=============================
Total = 110 cm

The max you should have is 35 cm in your tank. You really should look into rehoming some of your fish. I know alot of your fish may not be as big as the size listed, but this is their full adult size, which you need to plan for. Having your tank this over stocked will lead to having the poor water conditions you are experiencing right now, your fish will be more stressed, and also your fish will become sick alot easier. Your fish need room to swim around, and when they are packed in there, they don't get that.

I know earlier I told you to use antibiotics and salt. NEVER add salt to your main tank because of the catfish in there. They cannot tollerate salt, and are very sensitive to many medicines. good luck wiht your little guppy!

EDIT: After catching a stupid reading mistake, I don't think antibiotics are needed (mistake explained below)

 

[tttnjfttt]

one of my guppys has got very bloated and the fins are sticking out a bit

My bad, I thought I had read that the SCALES were sticking out a bit, not the fins. ) This means it is not dropsey, like I said before. It is probably just stress over your bad water condition, do everything I said above about water changes and your filter. I don't think you need antibiotics at this point.

EDIT: Changing quote to just show my misread part.

 

[vanilla]

nicole,

now i really am sorry it is the scales and not the fins. so he must have dropsey.

i feel really bad because i thought that we were looking after them o.k.

i will do another water change tomorrow.

the poor guppy is only in a tiny tank with no heater or filter, does he have to stay in here.

most of the fish we have are the dwarf ones ( catfish). they are much smaller than the sizes you have given me.

when i clean the filter i rinse it in tap water and then soak it in water taken from the tank is this o.k.

jackie

 

[tttnjfttt]

Ok, the advice is back to dropsey, do you need the link again that I posted originally? Do you want me to re-post the info on meds and stuff as well? I would leave the fish in isolation, simply because if he dies, the rest of the fish will nip at him until he is removed, and this can spread disease. Also, he is going to need meds, and you want to expose your fish to as little meds as necessary, so isolating for meds is really best. In general, Dropsey is not very contagious, so you are lucky there.

Right now, I would go ahead and do another water change, even though you just did one yesterday or today. You have got to get the ammonia and nitrite down to zero, and really need to get the nitrates lower as well. I'm guessign that you are having a mini-cycle in your tank right now because you rinsed your spounge with tap water. The chlorine will kill the bacteria, so you never want to do this. When you need to clean your spounge (because water can't get through it), you should just shake it out in some water from your tank. Remember, chlorine is the enemy.

The fish sizes are in centimeters not inches (not sure where you are posting from, but i used those because your tank was in Liters). When looking at whether or not your tank is fully stocked, you always want to consider the adult size of the fish, simply because they do need room to grow. If you want to keep all the fish you have, you can begin on planing for a bigger tank. Because they are all young, you should have a little time to do this.

 

[vanilla]

o.k will do a water change now and will never wash my sponge out in tap water again.

 

[sylvia]

No, you should always rinse your filter in old tankw ater from a water change. The chlorine in tap water kills off all the good bacteria which grow in your filter and in your gravel. Soaking it in tankw ater after does nothing as the bacteria are not in the water. Also, hopefuly any water changes you are doing are with DE-CHLORINATED tap water. again, if they aren't, you are killing off your good bacteria with each water change. The above is probably what's causing the re-cycle. Your high nitrAtes, as was said, also suggest you need to up your water changes (though it may just be a sudden spike due to the cycle). Do a water change now and another every day until the tank is fully cycled again. In future, a 25% water change weekly is what you need to keep everything under control. Also, 70 litres is about 17 gallons so you are a little over-stocked but it should be manageable if you keep up with maintainance and, obviously, don't add any more fish.

 

[sylvia]

oops... you beat me to it