Sick or Injured Guppy

[Jessie J.]

Hi everyone. My female guppy, Lemon, is a little pale and even though there's plenty of surface agitation she still spends most of her time at the surface, not moving much. She's pregnant too. What concerns me is that there's some red near the base of her tail (not on the actual fin) and it looks like she might be bleeding. She also has clear, stringy poo with white spots in it. What's wrong? Parameters are fine, the other fish are fine (visually) and show no signs of illness. It's a 10-gallon tank with one betta, five guppies, three danios, Mystery snails, dwarf shrimp, and some other invertebrates. It has plenty of live plants. The tank has been up and running for almost a year and is well-cycled.

 

[Colin_T]

You need to squishy up your signature a bit, it takes up more space than the question

If you can post a clear picture of the fish with the red bit by her tail it might help. Also a short 20 second video of her showing her breathing and sitting under the surface.

Stringy white poop can be caused by the following:
Internal protozoan infections causes the fish to go off its food and lose weight (get skinny) over a week or so and they do a stringy white poop.

This can sometimes be treated with Metronidazole, but I don't think this is the issue.

------------
Internal bacterial infections cause fish to stop eating, bloat up suddenly overnight, do a stringy white poop, sit under the surface or near a filter outlet, and breath heavily. These fish usually die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. There is not normally any cure for fish with internal bacterial infections and fish normally die from organ failure.

This might be the issue if she has stopped eating.

------------
Intestinal worms (tapeworm, thread/ round worms) will cause fish to initially lose weight over time (a month or more) but this is hard to tell in female livebearers due to the babies they might be carrying. Fish will eat normally but do stringy white poop sometimes or all the time. In severe worm infestations, the worms can build up in such numbers the fish actually becomes fat and looks pregnant, however it is full of parasitic worms feeding off the fish's blood.

Intestinal worms can be treated with Praziquantel (for tapeworm and gill flukes), and Levamisole for some types for thread/ round worms. You treat all the fish in all your tanks at the same time. You dose them once a week for 3 weeks to kill the adult worms and any young worms that hatch from eggs in the fish. Both of these medications are safe for all fishes and do not harm the beneficial filter bacteria.

Use one medication at a time (eg: Praziquantel) and then do a 75% water change 24 hours later and again 24 hours after that. Then treat with Levamisole and do a 75% water change 24 and 48 hours after that. A couple of days later (a week after you initially treated the tank with Praziquantel) you treat with Praziquantel again, do more water changes and treat with Levamisole. Repeat process 3 times.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

--------------------------
How often are you doing water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you gravel clean the tank?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

Have you added any new fish in the last 2 weeks?

Wipe the inside of the glass down and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.

 

[CometBetta]

Perhaps your tank is overstocked? Danios are known to be zippy fish that bite at fins. Danios most likely would harass the guppies. Perhaps your Danios are harassing your guppy to the point where she’s pale from being stressed and staying at the water surface to feel “safe”? If you have the room perhaps you can separate the guppies and danios? Also the Betty could probably use its own tank as well... both Danios and Guppies could nip at its fins. I hope Lemon will be fine though!

 

[Jessie J.]

You need to squishy up your signature a bit, it takes up more space than the question

If you can post a clear picture of the fish with the red bit by her tail it might help. Also a short 20 second video of her showing her breathing and sitting under the surface.

Stringy white poop can be caused by the following:
Internal protozoan infections causes the fish to go off its food and lose weight (get skinny) over a week or so and they do a stringy white poop.

This can sometimes be treated with Metronidazole, but I don't think this is the issue.

------------
Internal bacterial infections cause fish to stop eating, bloat up suddenly overnight, do a stringy white poop, sit under the surface or near a filter outlet, and breath heavily. These fish usually die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. There is not normally any cure for fish with internal bacterial infections and fish normally die from organ failure.

This might be the issue if she has stopped eating.

------------
Intestinal worms (tapeworm, thread/ round worms) will cause fish to initially lose weight over time (a month or more) but this is hard to tell in female livebearers due to the babies they might be carrying. Fish will eat normally but do stringy white poop sometimes or all the time. In severe worm infestations, the worms can build up in such numbers the fish actually becomes fat and looks pregnant, however it is full of parasitic worms feeding off the fish's blood.

Intestinal worms can be treated with Praziquantel (for tapeworm and gill flukes), and Levamisole for some types for thread/ round worms. You treat all the fish in all your tanks at the same time. You dose them once a week for 3 weeks to kill the adult worms and any young worms that hatch from eggs in the fish. Both of these medications are safe for all fishes and do not harm the beneficial filter bacteria.

Use one medication at a time (eg: Praziquantel) and then do a 75% water change 24 hours later and again 24 hours after that. Then treat with Levamisole and do a 75% water change 24 and 48 hours after that. A couple of days later (a week after you initially treated the tank with Praziquantel) you treat with Praziquantel again, do more water changes and treat with Levamisole. Repeat process 3 times.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

--------------------------
How often are you doing water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you gravel clean the tank?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

Have you added any new fish in the last 2 weeks?

Wipe the inside of the glass down and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.

I change the water every week, about three or four gallons at a time. And the tank doesn't have gravel, it's mostly a buildup of random stuff to provide media. I clean that once a month. And as for cleaning the filter; I clean it about once a month and add new carbon. I wash the filter pad by taking it outside and rubbing it well with rainwater from the rainbarrel. The Danios, a pair of guppies, and the betta are fairly new. I don't see any fin picking on any of them and they seem to get along. Also, how can I tell for sure if she has tapeworm? The poo is mostly clear with maybe one or two random white spots in it. She has been plump for a month or so, and I have not seen any of her fry- the fry that are in there now (it's so heavily planted I don't remove the newborn fries) are all from the other females and have markings as such. She still eats fine, and this has been going on about three days. Thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

There is no way to be 100% certain the fish has tapeworm or thread worms short of killing it and cutting it open and that is not what we want. However, fish can carry both so it's a good idea to treat all the fish for both types of worms. That way you can rule out worms as a possible issue now and in the future if there's another issue like this.

Most fish, especially livebearers carry intestinal worms and if she is still eating well but doing stringy white poop, then it is most likely worms. And if she has been fat for a month or more and not given birth, that would also suggest intestinal worms.

-----------------------
If you want to treat the fish, use the following info to work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top 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 absorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean. And clean the filter before treating. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

-----------------------
As a general rule you don't normally need carbon in an aquarium filter unless you have chemicals in the water that you are trying to remove. If you want to continue using it that is fine but normally it isn't needed.

-----------------------
Are you using rain water for the fish tank?
If yes, it is probably too soft (lacks minerals) for guppies, which naturally occur in hard water (GH above 200ppm) with a pH above 7.0.

Bacterial and protozoan infections are more common in soft water than hard water.

Due to the danios and Betta you don't want to increase the general hardness (GH) above 250ppm but the guppies should have it at 200ppm or above.

 

[Jessie J.]

No, I use facet water that's been dechlorinated for my tanks. And the carbon in the filter is to help keep the water clear and odor-free. Thanks. Where can I get these medications?

 

[Colin_T]

Most pet shops sell Praziquantel as a tapeworm treatment for dogs and cats but they also sell it in the fish section to treat tapeworm and gill flukes.

Levamisole is available at some pet shops or online. Stock feeders might sell it too but I haven't got the dose rates for it anymore so it's probably best to try and find something packaged for fish.

 

[Jessie J.]

Okay. Is it safe for invertebrates? I have dwarf shrimp and Mystery snails in their tank.
I paid ten bucks each for my cherry shrimp, would hate to lose em'.

 

[Colin_T]

Neither medication affected the snails or glass shrimp in my tanks so should be fine. But glass shrimp are pretty tough and I haven't used it on cherry shrimp. But the 2 medications are generally pretty safe.

Levamisole is specifically designed to affect some types of round/ thread worms so should be safe with shrimp.
Praziquantel has been around for years and only affects tapeworm and gill flukes so should be fine too.

If in doubt, put a cherry shrimp into a container of water and add some medication (don't overdose). Monitor for a few hours and see if it dies.

 

[Jessie J.]

Well I only have three shrimp so I don't want to risk it by using them like guinea pigs. But if the medications are generally safe, they'll be fine for me. Thanks! I'll see if I can get some medication tomorrow or the day after.

 

[NickAu]

And the carbon in the filter is to help keep the water clear and odor-free.

What smell are you removing? If it smells like rotten eggs thats hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas created by bacteria breaking down organic matter

Activated carbon is good for removing medication from the water other than that it has no practical use in an aquarium, If your water " smells " you need to look at the cause of the problem.

 

[Jessie J.]

It's simply the smell of aquarium water and fish that my mom doesn't want all in the house.

 

[Jessie J.]

Okay, so I just dosed the tank and the inverts seem fine. Lemon's doing better too.