Female birthed deformed and dead babies

[lauraswan26]

One of my daughter's guppies gave birth to a batch of fry (small batch, we watched and she only birthed 11 total). Every one of those babies was deformed or dead at birth, and when she was done, her entire body curved down; her spine seemed to have malformed itself during birth, causing her tail end to curve downwards. She died within 2 days. This was only her second batch of babies. The first batch (last month), all of them died within 3 days, even though there were no deformities or external problems.

Does anybody have any clue what went wrong there? the tank is healthy, all levels where they should be, temp right and everything. Was there something wrong with her that this happened? She appeared to be young, but wasn't too small or anything, and seemed to be healthy except for the birthing thing. I don't think it's anything I did, because all the other females have healthy babies and are all right afterwards. I feel really badly!

 

[pondfreak4365]

hi lauraswan26,
Don't beat yourself up over the loss. She may have been genetically weak, causing the fry deformities and her death. Once you get your guppies established, the fry you raise will be stronger and healthier.

 

[mistrymachine]

Ihave been noticing alot of talk about mothers deforming right after they have there babies,but I havent noticed any specific answers or details about this subject.Could there be something you are supposed to feed them while they are pregnant?Some different nutrients or something? Sounds like a nutrient defficiency to me.Although I Know nothing about breeding But just like in people,maybe they lose alot of there vitamins and nutrients while they are pregnant.I know that if a girl doesnt take her prenatal vits. she can lose her teethand hair and other defficiency problems.Maybe Ill spend some time looking this up today.Any Ideas?

 

[MAM]

i have no answers for you, but i know youre not alone. i've seen similar to posts to this one lately. anyone have an answer? i'm curious too now as i'm looking at getting guppies soon

 

[Tempestuousfury]

My platy died a day after giving birth, but her kids all grew up and she didn't have physical deformities. I'm sorry for your loss, but once you get it to work you'll have a ton of fry! I just wanted to tell you to keep at it, and tell you that she may have been too old or had genetic defects.

 

[lauraswan26]

Thanks for all the answers! I'm not beating myself up about it, really. I just feel bad. I guess maybe there was just something wrong with her that wasn't obvious by looking.

I am totally enjoying our guppy experience, all in all. We have tons of healthy, babies from the other mamas in the tank (who are always pregnant!) already, and they're such pretty, cheerful, funny fish!

 

[BlueAngel]

I have lost my last 3 fems to this, tho never within 2 days of birth.... but they seemed to never have recovered after giving birth. It started out with them giving birth and then looking all slender... REALLY slender like a balloon that that had been over inflated and all stretched out thin while deflated! Anyway I just thought I would add this as I am courious about all this myself.

 

[pondfreak4365]

I did some research at Guppyplace and may have found some clues. The 'show quality guppies' that are sold in the LFS are actually the culls of the true show breeder. These fish may have traveled through customs where they were X-rayed (which would damage the fry) or the stress of moving to your aquarium while gravid increases risk to the female's health.

There is much more info here:
http/guppyplace.tripod.com/Breeding.html

I'm sure there is more info available elsewhere on the web too!

 

[lauraswan26]

It started out with them giving birth and then looking all slender... REALLY slender like a balloon that that had been over inflated and all stretched out thin while deflated!

That was exactly what she did this time! It was really weird looking... She seriously looked like a deflated baloon! And all curved under, to boot.

Pondfreak-Thank you for the research you posted! I will definitely go and check that out in the very near future. Regarding the x-ray use on the guppy... that may have explained the first batch that all died shortly after birth, but this was her second batch here at our house, and we'd had her for almost 2 months, so the stress of the move should have subsided, I would think. But then, who knows. I'm still new at this, (under a year), and while I have a better handle on fish than I did when I started, I'm still learnin' something new every day.

Thank you guys!