platies and guppies

[newbie hob]

about a week ago i got my self 2 new fancy tail guppies, i had them quarantined for 48 hours, however a couple of hours after i put them in the growout tank with the platies the female guppy started showing nipped tail and loosing the tail until it was just strings, i pulled it out to a hospital tank and was dead a couple of hours after that, today (three days after) the male had bits of his tail nipped and loosing the red color, i moved him to the hospital tank with some salt and methylene blue.

The water reading where zero for ammonia, zero for nitrite, .15 nitrate. i use JBL conditioner and i use a little salt in all of my tanks.

My question is, could it be that the platies decided to pick on these poor guppies, or did i get them sick from the lsf (and the quarantee was not enough)??? the platies dont seem bothered by anything, so i dont think anything happened to the tank.

 

[sylvia]

That's strange. I've never had platies that nipped but that's the only explanation. I simply can't think of anything else that would cause tail deterioration so rapidly. Except maybe current but that's not realy an issue with guppies.

 

[BobK]

Have you actually seen the fin nipping? If not, I suspect you got a bad batch of fish with fin & tail rot. Actually I doubt it is the fin nipping. You could take them back to the lfs or try to treat them yourself.

 

[sylvia]

"a couple of hours after i put them in the growout tank with the platies the female guppy started showing nipped tail and loosing the tail until it was just strings"

Tail rot does not cause fin deterioration so rapidly - 2 hours is a VERY short time for the fins to become 'just strings' from looking normal... But I agree the platies nipping is unlikely.

There could be something in your water though.

In future, keep in mind that you should quarantine for a MINNIMUM of 2 weeks. A month is much better. Some problems take a while to show up.

 

[newbie hob]

the water parameters are all fine, it was a new batch at the lsf, so maybe the fish was going through a double stress ie(new tank at the store, and then a new tank at my end with different fishies, water, temp etc...).

however upon further investigation and closer look, i have a one ornament which has a rough surface, so maybe that could have caused it for the male, but im still confused concerning the female.

The male is still in the hospital tank, i have not seen any deterioration in his health yet, i have not seen him eating either, so i will keep my fingures crossed, or else my daughter will blame me

Thanks for the advice though, i will keep it in mind to QT for a longer period next time.

 

[mwm]

I have a platy that harrased my male guppy to death by chasing, nipping and just plain being annoying