Is my baby guppy hurt?

[SusieJG]

This may be better suited for the livebearer forum but since the poor thing may be suffering hopefully someone here can help.

I have a baby guppy approximately 10 wks old. He is in a 40g tank with the fish listed below and a handful of his siblings. The tanks temp and chem parameters are all perfectly normal, and no other fish is showing any problems at all.

This morning I found the poor thing almost crushed between a piece of gravel and the side. I'm not sure how he got himself wedged in there, but I had to go in and rescue him. He was so eager to get free though that he squeezed his body out before the piece of gravel was totally removed. As he squeezed I saw what looked like a very thick and short very white poop sort of "slide" out (sorry for the grossness!). I watched him for about 10 minutes and he was behaving normally and eating so I let him be.

Its almost 10 hours later and the "white thing" is still there and appears to be exactly the same size and shape as earlier. He wont hold still long enough for me to get a really solid look, but its not moving the way I would expect it to do when he swims around...instead it almost looks like the end of a tiny white plastic tube sticking out of him. He is still acting completely normal and playing with his siblings. The other fish are not chasing him or harassing him at all, he's eating and he appears to be happy. No color changes or anything different other than this little tube thing. I'm still really paranoid because he is so so little and I'm afraid that maybe he pushed the end of one of his organs out or something when his belly got pinched. I'm hoping its nothing more than normal poop, but since its comparatively large and I've never seen anything like this please tell me if I should be worried, and if there is a name/treatment for this if it is an injury.

Thanks.
-Susie

 

[Guppylover]

I've nver heard of this before but if your baby guppy eating and playing around, I guess it's fine. Just keep an eye out on him for a while.

 

[appleblossom]

It sounds to me like the pressure when he got squeezed has forced his anus to invert. When livebearers are pregnant, and sometimes before they poo, you can see their anus prodrude slightly and it does look like a white tube, wider than a normal poo, although in normal circumstances you never see more than a fraction of a millimeter.

If the fish seems healthy then he may live a long happy life, but keep a close eye on him, as the stress may make it susceptible to disease.

I cant think of anything that you could do to remedy the situation, although it may right itself as he grows and his body gets bigger.

It is normal for fry to try and bury themselves in the gravel and if you think one may be stuck, try tapping the glass or adding some of their favorite food to entice them out before attempting to move the gravel.

Hope your little guy turns out ok, best of luck!

 

[SusieJG]

Thanks Nutmeg . Thats actually what I suspected but didn't know if it was a possibility and if so how bad it was and if it could be treated. 3 days have passed and he's still swimming around happy as ever. Other than the white "tube" he looks and is acting completely normal. I haven't seen him poop yet, but he is definitely eating so I'm much less worried. I added some stress coat and salt and raised the temp a bit just to play it safe, but right now I'm a lot less worried. I just felt so terribly because I thought *I* had really injured him. I generally try not to use the net, but he was wedged in pretty badly and was struggling. I don't think he could have gotten out any other way.

Thanks so much!

 

[appleblossom]

Glad to hear he's still doing ok

Hopefully he will right himself as he grows older, and if not, then you will just have a special little guppy

 

[SusieJG]

Update:

I'm happy to report that my baby guppy is still doing well and you would never know anything out of the ordinary had happened. The little white tube has disappeared into a small bump and its hardly noticeable unless you look for it. Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Angry_Platy]

I am glad....poor little fish though!!

You have to name him now!!

 

[SusieJG]

hehehhe. He has a name. I give names at the 3 month mark. His name is Fonzie because he has these cute markings that look like he's wearing a leather jacket.