Guppy Not Happy, At Top Of Water, Not Moving Much

[wilchil64]

One of my guppys doesn't seem very happy, he's spent most of the day at the top of the water above the filter, not moving much in the water. He did come for food when I fed them, although I didn't actually see him get any, but that doesn't mean he didn't, but returned to his spot above the filter again fairly soon.

Usually he's fairly active, messing around with the other guppys and swimming up and down. He's not listing or anything, doesn't seem to be gasping for air, doesn't seem to have problems swimming. The only other thing I've noticed is that he is paler than the others, his tail colour (orange) isn't as vibrant as theirs, but not sure if his was the same colour before, tbh. He's also smaller than them.

I've taken him out of the main tank and quarantined him for now. I don't have any meds in the house, but could get some tomorrow morning if necessary.

By the way, all the other fish seem fine, water readings are fine (0 for ammonia and nitrite, about 0.5 for nitrates, but since removing him and taking some tank water for him, we've done a 15% water change in the main tank anyway.) The fish were moved into the new main tank last Saturday, but with the same filter and 50% same water and seemed fine so far.

I added one new fish on Sunday, a leopard frog plec, which came from the same shop as all my other fish. The only other thing that has changed is that I bought new food, Tetra Pro colour, but have fed a mixture of that with flakes, live food and frozen brine shrimps and peas and cucumber anyway.

Any advice welcome.
Thanks.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Yea!!... Just sitting still as he does is no true indication of what may truly be wrong, but it does indicate that something is wrong.

Think you did the right thing by isolation, but just keep a lookout for symptoms resembling Shimmies which normally follows a "still" spell as it is...

Good thing not to add anything untill you've identified the problem..... A general tonic will be no harm however.

 

[WILDER]

Did you match ph and temp.
So he looks paler in colour.
Does he act listless and lethagic.
Are his fins in tip top condition, no frayed fins.
His body weight does he look thin or bloated.
Any excess mucas on the gills or body of the fish.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Does his gills look red inflamed, or pale or with excess mucas.
What does it look like when he goes to the toilet.
How old is the guppy.

 

[wilchil64]

Did you match ph and temp.
So he looks paler in colour.
Does he act listless and lethagic.
Are his fins in tip top condition, no frayed fins.
His body weight does he look thin or bloated.
Any excess mucas on the gills or body of the fish.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Does his gills look red inflamed, or pale or with excess mucas.
What does it look like when he goes to the toilet.
How old is the guppy.

Matched PH and temp of water.
He doesn't seem listless and lethargic at the moment, now he's in isolation! swimming around busily. But in the main tank he wasn't swimming at all, just staying at the top of water above the filter.
I wasn't sure if his dorsal fin was a little limp before (difficult to tell with guppys!) but at the mo it looks fine.
He certainly doesn't look bloated, not sure about thin, again I'll keep an eye on him.
Can't see any mucus on gills or body.
No signs of flicking or rubbing so far that I have seen.
I don't think his gills look red or pale, just normal. He hasn't been to the toilet since I've been watching him that I've seen but will keep an eye on it.

Not sure how old he is, but I've had him about 6 weeks now.

Thanks for help.

 

[WILDER]

There is something wrong if he was playful and now he just spends his time near the top of the filter.
Are any fish stressing him out.
Any fins clamped to his body,.

 

[wilchil64]

There is something wrong if he was playful and now he just spends his time near the top of the filter.
Are any fish stressing him out.
Any fins clamped to his body,.

Yes, I thought so too. I don't think any of the fish have been stressing him out, they've all been together for the past month or so now without problems. Not sure re fins clamped to body, his dorsal fin looked a little limp, but then he's a guppy!

He's still swimming around fine at the moment, looking a lot happier than he did before.

 

[WILDER]

Not really much to go on apart from being pale.
Being pale can be many things from stress, bacterial infection, parasites, bad water quality.
Soak his flakes in garlic juice its boosts the fish immune system.
Keep a look out for when he goes to the toilet to see if its long white and stringy.
Make sure he dosn't look on the thin side.

 

[wilchil64]

Not really much to go on apart from being pale.
Being pale can be many things from stress, bacterial infection, parasites, bad water quality.
Soak his flakes in garlic juice its boosts the fish immune system.
Keep a look out for when he goes to the toilet to see if its long white and stringy.
Make sure he dosn't look on the thin side.

Actually I noticed one of the barb's (which was sharing a tank with the guppys) had a long stringy poo earlier, it was different thicknesses, if you know what I mean, thick then thin then thick again - sorry tmi I know! I just put it down to the daphnia yesterday ...

What would that mean? I'll keep an eye on the other fish and update the thread if I see anymore like that.

Thanks.

 

[WILDER]

Long white stringy poo can be constipation, bacterial infection, internal parasites.
Peas are good for constipation.
Daphnia good for digesting a fish food.
What do you feed your fish?

Signs of internal parasites are.
Long stringy white poo or clear mucas poo.
Being thin or bloated.
Enlarged anus to red inflamed anus.
Sunken in belly.
Sometimes swimming on there sides.
Worms prutruding from the anus.
Sometimes bent spines.

 

[wilchil64]

Long white stringy poo can be constipation, bacterial infection, internal parasites.
Peas are good for constipation.
Daphnia good for digesting a fish food.
What do you feed your fish?

Signs of internal parasites are.
Long stringy white poo or clear mucas poo.
Being thin or bloated.
Enlarged anus to red inflamed anus.
Sunken in belly.
Sometimes swimming on there sides.
Worms prutruding from the anus.
Sometimes bent spines.

Ok thanks, I'll keep an eye open. Can't see any of those things at the moment.

I feed them a mixture of flake food, Tetra Pro colour, live brine shrimps, occasionally live daphnia and once blood worms, the odd piece of cucumber, peas for the first time 3 days ago, pellet food, and algae wafers for the plecs, obviously not all at once, some one day, another the next day ...

 

[WILDER]

The diet looks fine.
Don't feed bloodworms to often or overfeed them they can cause alot of problems with fish bloating up.
I had guppys and had no luck with them.
Also they had internal parasites camallanous worms.
I worm all new fish now.
http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936

 

[wilchil64]

The diet looks fine.
Don't feed bloodworms to often or overfeed them they can cause alot of problems with fish bloating up.
I had guppys and had no luck with them.
Also they had internal parasites camallanous worms.
I worm all new fish now.
[URL="http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936"]http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936[/URL]

Thanks for the link and info, I'll keep an eye on them, I've just had another really good look at him and tbh he looks absolutely fine now, of course I can't compare his colour to the other guppys because he's on his own so he looks fine, and he's swimming around and doesn't look fat or thin.

I'm still keeping him in isolation for a few days to see what happens, I'll post if anything changes.

Thanks again.

 

[WILDER]

If his colour has returned he could be stressed in the main tank if some fish are stressing him out.
Just keep a close eye on him.
Good luck.

 

[cezz]

I know this is a new thread but I am having similar issue, my problem is that she is actually one of the female guppies and is sitting about 3-4mm away from the water surface, she seems to have lost all of her color and is very pale and no matter what keeps returning to the same spot at the front of the tank just away from the surface.

I would love to separate her like the OP did but don't have an additional tank but I am worried that if she does have some form of bacteria/parasite that she may infect the others who are fine.

Anyone got any idea?

 

[WILDER]

Best to start your own thread.

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Start your own thread, and the add the above information to the thread.