pregnant guppy and naughty silvertip

[fishybusiness]

Hi all,

I bought my girlfriend a 57L hexagon tropical tank for her birthday last november, and while we're totally delighted with the tank and enjoy the fish hugely, we've encountered a couple of problems.
1. We lost a female guppy following what seemed a difficult birth. She delivered two healthy babies (one lost, one doing great) over xmas. After the birth, she seemed to have a swim bladder problem- swimming upside down/ sideways, either at the bottom or top of the tank. We put this down to the birthing issue, and she died shortly afterwards (very sad). Now the other female guppy seems to be suffering in the same way, although we have her in a breeding tank (within the main tank). She looks pregnant, and white matter is coming from her in a strand (as with the one that gave birth), although no babies yet. She is mostly upside-down, but seems to be feeding. Anything we can do to help her, and any idea what the problem is?

2. We have 2 slivertip tetras. One chases the other quite alot, and the chased fish seems to be losing colour. Should we isolate the chaser/ chasee? Will this behavior harm either? Not sure what gender they are!

3. Some odd-looking pink snail things have appeared, sticking to the side of the tank or decoration. Are they harmful? We have ignored them so far.

The tank is a community, with 2 guppies (including the sick one), the two silvertips, 5 platies and half a dozen mollies of various sizes. All seem to get on great and are alot of fun. We have some plants and shop-bought decorations.

Many thanks in advance,

Alex.

 

[WILDER]

What are your test results in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph,the strand coming from the guppy does it look clear and beads in it.

 

[fishybusiness]

Hi- thanks for responding. Will check ph, nitrate and ammonia. The strand is white and opaque with beads. Yesterday, one section had a greenish tinge.

Alex.

 

[jesssa]

about the silvertips, i have five and one of them is purely transparent now while the other four are still bright gold. he used to get chased and picked on and thats when he started to lose his colour, but hes fine now. don't worry about it really, i thought about isolating mine for a while but then i noticed they everntually stopped chasing him. sometimes they play and nip a bit still but no more to the colourless one than between gold-ish ones.

 

[WILDER]

If there was beads in the strand it sounds like the fish has aborted, sorry.

 

[fishybusiness]

Thanks Jessica- we won't worry about the silvertip.

Wilder- the strand had beads in, so I guess that's what's happened. Still wondering why she's upside down, though.

Best wishes,

Alex.

 

[WILDER]

That's not good at all, is she still bloated, is she tipping alot.

 

[fishybusiness]

Hi Wilder,

She's still quite bloated, and upside down, although she is moving and rights herself from time to time. She seems to be feeding.

Thanks for your help on this- we really appreciate it. It's a bit worrying, especially as this is how we lost our other female guppy.

Alex.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry it's not sounding good, sounds like swim bladder, last resort if she eating try a shelled pea.