I don’t know what’s going on with my guppy’s tail

[mrk135p]

Hello everyone, so I’ve noticed this red and whit area in my male guppies tail. It’s been there for at least two weeks but the size of it hasn’t changed at all. I have no idea what it could be. He is still super active and eats.
Here’s some background on the tank: I used to have two other male guppies but they have died, I’m assuming to stress from high levels of nitrates? I hadn’t realized that my tap water was consistently giving out at least 40ppm of nitrates so no amount of water changes was helping me control nitrate levels. I have since switched to using ro water that is mineralized and buffered, as was suggested to me. Any who, I have since gotten nitrates under control. So I’m not sure if that could have had anything to do with my guppies mark?

I don’t think it’s fin rot because none of his fins looks frayed. The ammonia and nitrite levels have been consistently at 0ppm and my nitrates are now at 5ppm. The temperature of my aquarium is also at 25 degrees Celsius. The gh and kh are both at 7 dkh. I have also attached a picture of my guppy and his tail. Anyone have any ideas as to what it could be?
I also do about a 25-50% water change once a week
Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I don't know about the red/white patch, although it could be natural colouration depending on how old he is... colours still develop until they're around six months old, but if he had no sign of it until two weeks ago, that's unlikely. How long have you had him and where did you get him from?

He is quite a deformed boy, that's a big spinal kink. Where the others shaped like that? because guppies with deformities like that don't tend to live as long, sadly.

 

[mrk135p]

I don't know about the red/white patch, although it could be natural colouration depending on how old he is... colours still develop until they're around six months old, but if he had no sign of it until two weeks ago, that's unlikely. How long have you had him and where did you get him from?

He is quite a deformed boy, that's a big spinal kink. Where the others shaped like that? because guppies with deformities like that don't tend to live as long, sadly.

I have had him for about six months, and got him from a local fish store. He was a lot smaller when I got him so maybe it is natural colouration? I guess I should have said that it had started showing up before but it has remained like it is in the pictures for two weeks, my bad should have made that clear in the original post.
Yeah, he has had a spinal kink ever since I got him, my boyfriend had picked him out and once I got this little guy was a lot more personable than the other two I had. I just want to give him the best life possible, even if it won't be as long as a normal guppy...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I have had him for about six months, and got him from a local fish store. He was a lot smaller when I got him so maybe it is natural colouration? I guess I should have said that it had started showing up before but it has remained like it is in the pictures for two weeks, my bad should have made that clear in the original post.
Yeah, he has had a spinal kink ever since I got him, my boyfriend had picked him out and once I got this little guy was a lot more personable than the other two I had. I just want to give him the best life possible, even if it won't be as long as a normal guppy...

Probably not natural colouration if you've had him for six months and it has gotten large in the last two weeks. How long ago did it start showing up do you think, roughly?

It doesn't seem natural really, it does concern me - but I haven't seen anything like it before. Poor water quality/high ammonia/nitrites/nitrates can cause blood streaks on fins, but not usually a big blotch like that as far as I know. @NCaquatics, have you seen anything like this?

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest he will definitely not live as long, he might live a long, normal lifespan! Just with guppies generally being weaker and poorly bred now, and deformities can be a sign of inbreeding, plus we can't really tell how the kink has affected them internally, they usually don't live as long. But, they can still live happy, normal lives even with a deformity!
Meet Angel

Not a great photo, sorry, but she has a severely kinked spine, it goes up, down, up and down again... I've been quite lucky in that out of all the guppies I've bred, only two have been deformed and survived to adulthood. Sadly the other deformed one passed at around nine months old. I couldn't send them to the store obviously, and I couldn't bring myself to euthanise either. Ideally, she would be in a tank with no males, but I found it hard to accurately sex guppy fry when this one was born, so she was already gravid by the time I removed the young males. She's never birthed any fry though, fortunately, she seems to re-absorb them I think. I doubt she could birth fry, so I'm glad she doesn't seem to try.
Since she was already gravid and I didn't have another tank that was female only, she lives in my colony tank, and manages just as well as the other guppies, and she's over a year old now.
Enjoy him while he's here

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Just thought, maybe @emeraldking can help, he certainly knows livebearers.

 

[mrk135p]

Probably not natural colouration if you've had him for six months and it has gotten large in the last two weeks. How long ago did it start showing up do you think, roughly?

It doesn't seem natural really, it does concern me - but I haven't seen anything like it before. Poor water quality/high ammonia/nitrites/nitrates can cause blood streaks on fins, but not usually a big blotch like that as far as I know. @NCaquatics, have you seen anything like this?

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest he will definitely not live as long, he might live a long, normal lifespan! Just with guppies generally being weaker and poorly bred now, and deformities can be a sign of inbreeding, plus we can't really tell how the kink has affected them internally, they usually don't live as long. But, they can still live happy, normal lives even with a deformity!
Meet Angel
View attachment 115217
Not a great photo, sorry, but she has a severely kinked spine, it goes up, down, up and down again... I've been quite lucky in that out of all the guppies I've bred, only two have been deformed and survived to adulthood. Sadly the other deformed one passed at around nine months old. I couldn't send them to the store obviously, and I couldn't bring myself to euthanise either. Ideally, she would be in a tank with no males, but I found it hard to accurately sex guppy fry when this one was born, so she was already gravid by the time I removed the young males. She's never birthed any fry though, fortunately, she seems to re-absorb them I think. I doubt she could birth fry, so I'm glad she doesn't seem to try.
Since she was already gravid and I didn't have another tank that was female only, she lives in my colony tank, and manages just as well as the other guppies, and she's over a year old now.
Enjoy him while he's here

Well I think it started about two months ago, when I was having the issues with the high nitrates. It started really small and has very slowly gotten to this point. I thought that it might have been a result of the high nitrates for a while and would go down once it stabilized. But now that they have stabilized and it’s still there I don’t know if that’s what caused it. It hasn’t gotten bigger though so I don’t know what to think. Sorry I’m still really new to all of this.
And no worries! I knew it can be a possibility that he won’t live as long as is to be expected, I will just enjoy the time I have with him I’m so happy that your little girl is doing good and enjoying her life

 

[mrk135p]

Just thought, maybe @emeraldking can help, he certainly knows livebearers.

Okay thank you!