Male Guppy behaving out of sorts

[tintin]

I have a community tank with amongst others, 2 male guppies who are always together.

However, for the past couple of days I've noticed that one of the guppies is spending a lot of time hidden in the corner behind the pump (which is where both guppies usually go at night at lights out.)

He has been out swimming in the mornings and I've seen him eat a little at feeding time but it isn't like him to hide for most of the day. Also, I think his belly might be a bit swollen. I'm worried because I lost another male guppy in a similar way. I'm not sure but I assume it was constipation (?)

All the other fish are fine as are the parmeters. Any ideas?

TT.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I don't know what it is, but I think two of my guppies might have had it and they both died....

 

[Alurny]

Well if they look bloted they mightbe contapated. Feed a shelled pea see if that helps

 

[WILDER]

It could be constipation what do you feed your fish, also it could be dropsy which is hard to cure if you don't notice the desease fast, you will need anti internal bacteria med and some salt if you have no scaless fish.

 

[tintin]

Its odd because he does keep popping out from time to time. Then going back to his hiding place after a while whilst his mate swims around looking a bit lost (they're usually inseperable.)

The belly doesn't look as swollen as before. Its certainly not following the same pattern as the last guppy which was quite a rapid.

Also, I tried the pea thing the last time and the sick guppy ignored it - but it might have been too late. Can't use salt as I have a pyjama catfish.

TT.

 

[tintin]

Sorry, I should add that most of the time they eat Nutrafin Max flake odd. One feed once a day. I decided not to give a feed tonight.

TT

 

[WILDER]

You need a varied diet to keep them healthy as to many dry foods can cause dropsy and constipation, trying getting some frozen foods in bloodworms,daphnia,and brimestrimp, and introduce some veg into there diet like peas,broc,cucumba,savoy cabbage, you can also buy algae wafer or tablets my guppys love them.

 

[Dred]

Hi
I'm new to this but I will tell you of my guppy experience in case it is of any help. My tank had be cycled and up a running for several months, all parameters were spot on, ammonia 0; Nitrite 0; nitate 16.5mg; pH 8.5. So I wanted to add some colour to my tank and purchased one beautiful male guppies and five females for his pleasure!

Well for about a week they were fine, then the male started to act strangely. He segregated himself from the rest of the fish and was lethargic and slow. He then spent a lot of his time at the top of the tank not doing much, by this time his belly had started to swell so I tried the pea trick, he ate greadily but did not improve. Then all the females started to swell too. We lost one female, then the male, then two more females. I tried medicating with Myxazin as some of them had white poo (internal parasites/bacterial infection) and white fungus on the tips of their tail fins. By the end of the ordeal we had lost all but one female. Then shock horror one of our black widows developed pop eye and the typical pine cone scales of dropsy!!

We treated the tank with aquarium salt and Myxazin and removed the diseased black widow. Since then all has been OK including our last remaining female guppie although someone has been having a go at her tail fin. We used the aquarium salt as directed and we have two peppered corries; two leopard corries and a spotted raphael catfish in the tank too.

Hope that this is some help.

 

[WILDER]

I find guppys very fragile fish, you don't always buy them in the best of health, they don't seem to last long, maybe try a different fish store as some are better than others, try not to add any of the lfs water to the tank, you can issolate them in a tank or put them in a container and just keep adding abit of your own tank water, then net and add them to your tank, and throw the water away.

 

[tintin]

Well he seems to be out and swimming around more this morning.

I've got some frozen daphina. Will feed them on that tonight.

TT.

 

[tintin]

Well I thought he was better but this evening I've noticed the dreaded pine-cone symptoms of dropsy (hard to see on such a small fish.)

I don't have a hospital tank so I have placed him in a bag within the tank to separate him from the other fish in the tank (thats all I can do for now.)

Incidentally, I had a Panda cory that died out of the blue on Friday without showing any symptoms. Could he have caught drospy? Is it too late for my other fish do you think?

TT.