Guppy Appears Vertical

[Frazzledazzle]

My guppies are doing exactly this. Over the past week i've lost loads. I'm down to 6 guppy from about 20...i'm annoyed. They swam upside down/spiral before giving up completely and letting the filter current move them. I fished one out tonight with blood round it's mouth and blood down inside it's throat/stomach. I'm thinking internal parasite?

The other guppies i suspected of being ill were taken out to my quarantine tank but i doubt they'll see the morning.

Argh!!

 

[nehpets81]

My guppies are doing exactly this. Over the past week i've lost loads. I'm down to 6 guppy from about 20...i'm annoyed. They swam upside down/spiral before giving up completely and letting the filter current move them. I fished one out tonight with blood round it's mouth and blood down inside it's throat/stomach. I'm thinking internal parasite?

The other guppies i suspected of being ill were taken out to my quarantine tank but i doubt they'll see the morning.

Argh!!

My sick male does that spiral thing when he is spooked by something - I'm wondering if it is the shape of his now twisted body that causes it. He can swim upright in a straight line slowly but it is very laboured. Let me know if you find out what's wrong with you Guppies. It sounds like yours are dropping far quicker than mine. I seem to lose one every month or so...
Anyhow, as I said I'm getting a microscope for xmas so I'm going to be able to check for flukes, NTD and TB in the new year hopefully. I guess any large internal paracites would be quite easy to discount with a quick autopsy too.

I really like how the guppies are quite interactive, seem to be fearless and nibble my fingers. I also like really like the way the fry come up all sorts of colours and patterns but if I had my time over, I'd probably pick a different fish next time - they have caused their fair share of stress.

 

[Frazzledazzle]

Well i think it was/is Ich to be honest. I've turned the heat up, added some salt. No more deaths and no signs of dying since Sunday now. It's totally wiped out all my bred guppies, who i selectively bred from unrelated parents. So annoyed! Hopefully i've got it sorted, water changes will continue all week. Good luck with yours! Let me know how you get on.

 

[Shane Ward]

hows things progressing? if not well you might have a nasty infection in your water, my brothers advice is to NUKE your whole tank. Eg, clean everything out boil in a pan, and microwave. Not anything metal though.

 

[nehpets81]

Well the sick male died over the xmas break. I was away from home over the week and put him in my guppy fry overflow tank. There is no no sign of him and I presume he has been eaten by the fry. This is not a great outcome as if he had anything infectious I guess all those fish will now be infected. I should have euthanised him before I went away but I wanted to be able to perform an autopsy... Ah well, live and learn. At this time, no other fish have any symptoms so I'm going to sit and wait.

It had crossed my mind that there could be something nasty at play here - having attended a talk by a disease specialist from Tetra recently I am fairly confident I can diagnose TB and NTD using a microscope, which are the two I really don't want to be dealing with (but fear that it could indeed be one of these affecting my fish).

I will update this thread with any developments as it may be able to help others with similar problems.

 

[nehpets81]

Well, this is an old thread but I often come accross these threads in google and wish they had a conclusion! No conclusion for me though...

I have lost another female - she became listless, had white poo and clamped fins. Towards the end she had two tiny bloody spots at the base of the pectoral fins.

Another female is on the way out I think. She has a flaky white spot on her head. I've given her a salt bath but otherwise I am at a loss. Could this be Columnaris. I'm getting pretty depressed about this so if anyone can help me save this Guppy I'd be very appreciative!

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Well, this is an old thread but I often come accross these threads in google and wish they had a conclusion! No conclusion for me though...

I have lost another female - she became listless, had white poo and clamped fins. Towards the end she had two tiny bloody spots at the base of the pectoral fins.

Almost certainly septicaemia (bacterial blood poisoning). You treat with a strong internal antbacterial.

Another female is on the way out I think. She has a flaky white spot on her head. I've given her a salt bath but otherwise I am at a loss. Could this be Columnaris. I'm getting pretty depressed about this so if anyone can help me save this Guppy I'd be very appreciative!

Not sure, need a picture.

Both are probably signs of poor water quality though (certainly septicaemia can be). Check you water parameters, particularly ammonia.

 

[nehpets81]

It's too late now but for future reference, can we get hold of strong internal antibacterials in the UK? If so what would you recommend? This was the end of a long illness.

As for the white spot, I will try and get a picture tomorrow. As usual, no nitrite or ammonia

 

[Prime Ordeal]

For the antibacterial: http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maracyn-TWO-Antibiotic-Tropical-Marine-Fish-/250987714328?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item3a70089718

Can you confirm that you have zero ammonia and nitrite as measured with a decent liquid test kit? Also what are the nitrate and pH readings?

 

[nehpets81]

http/i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa424/nehpets1001/fish004.jpg

That's the first time I tried photobucket so let's hope the link worked!

So, last night I did a bit of investigation and gave the guppy a salt bath, and put some Primafix in the water. It may be coincidence but she looks MUCH better today - the white patch is much less raised and is much less bright white. In fact, she has improved so much that it is quite hard too see the patch on the photo - it is on the top of the head, above the left eye btw.

That Maracyn looks pretty hardcore, I presume it will decimate my filter bacteria? Also, I notice that it is illegal to sell that stuff in the UK (not that I particularly care about that).

Yep, API liquid test kits - Nitrate is always rather high and is sitting at around 40ppm at the moment. I have a huge amount of difficulty determining the different shades of red but my tap water turns out to be the same colour. PH is 7.6 but it has been known to be as high as 7.8

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Yes the Maracyn is pretty hard core but you can't mess around with septicaemia. It affects gram-negative bacteria, which our nitrifying bacteria are, so
(without looking it up) I assume it will wipe the filter out. You'd need a quarantine tank for treatment.

Can't really see anything much on the guppy so it can't be that bad, just keep on treating as you are. If it gets worse let us know and we'll go from there.