Pregnant guppy?
- Thread starter FishFry420
- Start date
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- pregnant guppy
She probably has a bad case of intestinal worms (Camallanus).
She also appears to have a minor microsporidian infection (grey muscle tissue in her back.
She has a deformed spine, presumably from inbreeding.
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Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.
There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.
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Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
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DEWORMING FISH
Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.
You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.
Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.
Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.
Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.
The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
---------------------
SALT
Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt (aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres of tank water. Keep the salt in there for at least 2 weeks.
You can use salt and the deworming medications together.
The salt won't affect anything in your tank.
She also appears to have a minor microsporidian infection (grey muscle tissue in her back.
She has a deformed spine, presumably from inbreeding.
---------------------
Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.
There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.
-----------
Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
---------------------
DEWORMING FISH
Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.
Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.
You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.
Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.
Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.
Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.
The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
---------------------
SALT
Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt (aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres of tank water. Keep the salt in there for at least 2 weeks.
You can use salt and the deworming medications together.
The salt won't affect anything in your tank.
OP
OP
FishFry420
New Member
Wow.. Thank you!! Very helpful I will get on that right away.
What does the salt do?
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