Quivering bottom lip

[Pysgodyn]

I'm not having much fun lately, fishwise I've lost 2 of my 3 guppies in tte last 24 hours, and have since, been observing the behaviour of the "last man standing" (woman, actually) - she has a quivering bottom lip! You know fish lips move all the time, well THIS one's opening and closing at a rate of something like "5 per second"...is this normal...or am I being paranoid and looking for problems?!

 

[pcam86]

Shes' crying! Ok sorry i'm being dumb.

To be honest i'm not sure about that being as it's going so fast.
Have you done a water test at all? or have you used any meds?

 

[Pysgodyn]

Yup, and yup... Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 10, pH - 7.4, temp 26C
I ran down to the lfs after work today (just about made it before they closed!) and did a 20% water change and treated the whole tank with some stuff the lfs guy gave me. To be honest I couldn't say whether it was 'quivering' before or not, it's just that I'm being extra-vigilant, I guess...trying to look for clues etc...

 

[Pysgodyn]

Reckon it may be because of the medicine??

 

[WILDER]

It there any signs of illness to go on, even the one's that died.

 

[Pysgodyn]

Not really - it happened quickly(!) The only thing I DID notice (with the second one) was that it had a cloudy eye (which developed very quickly)

 

[WILDER]

Cloudy eye can be a second infection caused by stress, bad water quality, irratation,old age, bad diet, have the fish darkened in colour.

 

[Pysgodyn]

Not that I've noticed

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Im not totally sure about the twitching mouth thing but,
a. have you used any deodrants/room sprays/varnish/cleaning chemicals near the tank recently or had some in contact with your hand and then put your hand in the tank?
the cloudy eye denates the fish probably under some sort of stress right now- it can be caused by bacterial infections/water quality problems but i don't think this is the case in this scenario because the deaths are so quick.

I would find out what med was added to the tank- are you positive you added the correct dose? did you add the med before the fish started dying or after?
Have you been using any other meds/tank treatments recently?

I think a good water change will do your fish some good- it sounds like somthing has contaminated the tank to me.
Are there any other symtoms/strange behavior the fish are showing?

 

[WILDER]

It could be a bacteria infection, with losing a lot of fish, there not been flicking and rubbing on objects have they, what do there poo look like.

 

[Pysgodyn]

a. have you used any deodrants/room sprays/varnish/cleaning chemicals near the tank recently or had some in contact with your hand and then put your hand in the tank?

Hmmm...no. BUT I'm a dentist, and use quite harsh handwashing stuff myself...which I suppose could have been a factor?

I added some medication after the first death (immediately before the second!)...and working out the dosage was quite straight forward...and as far as I can tell, correct. I did a water change first though...so it went like this -->

Fish died
Water change
Medication
2nd Fish died
3rd Fish has a quivering lip!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

its a posibility; i would put the twitching fish mouths down to some chemical thats got in the water as i have heard similar storys about this kind of thing.
You could also have a internal bacterial infection in your fish although i don't think this is related to the mouth thing- when you say their mouths are moving fast are their gills breathing rapidly too?

What color are your fish's poo? white/stringy fish poo is a big symptom of internal bacteria problems in the fish.

 

[Pysgodyn]

Gills look ok.

I watched a female guppy poo earlier (how pleasant!...) - it started off white, but by the time it became 'detached' it was a normal colour. So, when it was a "free swimming poo", it was half white, and half brown

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would do a series of 30% water changes over the next couple of days and then treat the tank with "Anti internal bacteria" med by Interpet and see if that helps clear things up