Sore Guppy

[J.Allen]

Hello,
My name is Josh and I'm just posting you regarding some questions with my guppies.

I already had 4 guppies in my large aquarium, all of which were and still are fine, no signs of ripped tails or anything. I bought two guppies from the pet shop the other day, one male, one female. My female is quite fat and I was hoping it was because she was pregnant, but she didn't seem to be able to swim very well and she wouldn't eat. My male is fine, only a few small cuts in his tail. My female, over 2-3 days has a poor looking tail, with several cuts and one strip missing, I do not know if it was the other guppies but she does not look well. She is now in a separate aquarium all by herself, I'm hoping her tail will grow back, but she can't swim at all really, and if she does it is towards the surface vertically.

My question is, do you think that her tail will grow back soon(how many days/weeks?) what should I do with her in terms of keeping her by herself, medication I need to buy or anything else I need to do?

I have attached 2 photos.One of my guppy swimming vertically(it seems she can only do this) and the other of her shredded tail up close.

Thankyou very much for your help,
Josh.

 

[CaraC]

I would do a lot of water changes to help her heal.. As a matter of fact do a lot of water changes for both thanks in the next 2 weeks. About 3-4 a week. This will help greatly in the healing process. Melafixwill help ith the cuts and fins as well and will not harm your bacteria media.
I would also try to find a source of the problem, as in other fish nipping them/water parameters/ other tank mates. Its possible they were purchased like this also. But water changes are a must. It does wonders. You will notice the difference in a week.

 

[J.Allen]

Thanyou for your reply.

Tomorrow I will do a water change and will do so 3-4 in the next fortnight as you suggested.

So Carac,by looking at the photos,you'd say it is simply my guppy's tail shredded which is preventing her from swimming correctly and also it has nothing to do with fin or tail rot?Im hoping its just the shredded part.

I was told that adding salt to my aquarium will help speed up the process.Does that help?

I will keep her in the small aquarium by herself until she is fully healed,so there is no way of any other guppies nibbling on her.Hopefully she will be alright and back swimming with her mates in 2 weeks time

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[*Fishkies*]

What are the water stats in your aquarium?
How long have you had this tank running?

Also try feeding your female some de-shelled peas. She may have swimbladder and this could be causing her to have problems swimming. Take a pea put it in a dish with hot water, wait like 30seconds. then put the pea in cool water. Then pop the pea out of the shell, mush it up a little bit and feed it to your female guppy pictured above.

The way her tail looks it seems like the males adnd other fish may have been biting at her tail. This is a high possiblity especially if she cannot get away from them.

Be sure to keep a close eye on her tail though to see if it disappears more. Also add some melafix and pimafix to her tank. Do the treatment as recommended. This will help her tail grow back. Don't do water changes in her tank as this would take out the melafix and pimafix treatment. Improvement on her tail should start to see in a week if infact it was just fin nipping.


Best of luck!

 

[clinton ><>]

hi it shouldnt take that long for it to heal and i hope it all goes well

 

[J.Allen]

Gday,
Thankyou so much for your replies.

I will definately need to get hold of some of that melafix and pimafix as she is not looking any better PLUS my guppies in my large aquarium are losing their tails now!.So the melafix and pimafix should treat that?(Which is tail rot Im guessing)

For the pea,I will definately do this,somebody on another site said that it could be swim bladder problem and he didn't know how to fix it and later his fish died,so if I can get that pea in there the way you explained,maybe she'll have a chomp on it and according to you she should be fine? Should I do the feeding of the pea once a day btw?

Thanks heaps for the replies!If anyone else knows anything related to my problem,post away! Top work guys.

 

[Spooky76]

Sounds like its some fin nipping. Yeh put a pea in and see what happens, she probably wont eat it straight away as its new to her. I feed my fish 5 peas twice a week and some brocolli. dont put one a day in unless shes eating it all. Remember theres 2 halves in each shell anyway.

I would hold off on water changes unless your ammonia / Nitrite is high ? Have you checked your water stats ?

 

[J.Allen]

Hey,
Sorry I dont have anything to check my water stats

I put one half of the pea in and as it fell to the bottom she did nothing and 3hours later she hasn't touched it.I will leave it in still and hope she feeds on it through the night.

Have noticed she has what looks like dead skin,its long and real thin and white,and it hanging from her anus.Couldn't be her bladder!?!?Umm I think she's in trouble.

Same signs about not being able to swim and her tail hasn't improved and neither has her appetite.Will get hold of some of that medicine and use as stated.Also other guppies in large aquarium seem to be losing their tails a bit,especially my new male.Im hoping this is just because they are nipping each other and is there anything I can do?(maybe some sort of feed or something,you guys are the experts!)

Thanks.

 

[Spooky76]

OK - not good.

I cant tell you how important it is to find out your water stats. The API Freshwater kit doesnt cost much. You need the main 3 really, which is Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Your local shop will sell them but dont get the strips, get the liquid tests.

If your waters way out that is probably the cause of all this. High ammonia and Nitrite will kill / make fish ill. You could spend alot of money on fish and meds and not get anywhere if your waters out.

Im no expert on things like desease, but if you havent treated the water yet, I would now. What have you put in already ? If you havent put anything in it, I would do a 20-30% water change (Treat water before you put it back in to remove cholrine) and then add some meds.

But please think about getting some test kits

 

[J.Allen]

Today I bought medicine to prevent diseases(such as fin rot) and to speed up the recovery of torn or injured tails/fins.

I saw a kit that tests all of which you mentioned,but at 55 bucks and im not wanting to spend that much as you said you can get a cheap one.Is there any place online I could held hold of one cheap?

Also,my female isn't eating the peas..at all.Anything else I can do??I have put fresh peas in there today and taken out the old ones.Not sure if she has improved yet but fingers crossed..

 

[Spooky76]

Hiya, Im from UK not US

Here is one on Ebay
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-API-Freshw...2QQcmdZViewItem
These go for about £20 in UK.

You can try her on any veg like brocolli or Sprouts. The veggies basically help with wellbeing and can help swin bladder problems if that is the problem.

How is she today ?

 

[J.Allen]

Gday,

Actually after putting in some medicine,her tail seems to be a tad better.Im hoping Im judging this correctly,but it does look a bit better now and she seems to be swimming a bit better.

I am currently still trying peas but I will put some brocolli in or sprouts up the top to see what she does instead of the peas for a few days.Trial and error seems the way to go.

Fingers crossed that her tail was just shredded through other nipping of fish and that is the reason why she has lost her appetite(is that common?)Also no swim bladder problem would be just

Thanks.

 

[J.Allen]

Hello all,

Quick update:

My male has been involved in nipping of fins by the other guppies(who are mosquito fish,not the same breed as the male guppy I bought from the shop) which I was told could be common. The young fella is now seperated into his seperate tank healing with medicine.

To my femalehe is swimming slightly better,but has several more issues.Small red marks which looks to be blood on top of her head,but not on her skin,must be on top of her brain...not good.Also has red ring around her anus and another red spot close to her rectum. Do you guys believe she is performing a miracle and actually recovering or on the other hand should I humainly let her go to sleep or just let nature take its course???

Thanks guys.

P.S. Thankyou for all your help so far,you have been fantastic all of you

 

[Spooky76]

Sounds like bacterial infection ,possibly internal parasites.

I have no idea what meds are available to you in the US, so cant really help. Melafix isnt strong enough though. You need to treat the water with something ASAP though....Maybe Wilder can help you ?

I might be wrong but these things are normally the result of a problem with your water. As I keep saying, if your going to keep fish, and keep them happy in a clean toxin free environment, you need a test kit. Without it you will just keep killing fish, espesially early doors while its still cycling. Its difficult for people to give good advice without something to base it on, without those its hard.