Whats happened to my guppy?

[cheekeyarab]

One of my beautiful male guppies has lost all his tail, presumably by being attacked? Is it more likely to be the other guppies or the black widows?
Does this mean I am not feeding my fish enough?
Is there anything I can do to stop it? I think he will probably die and I don't want to lose any of the others this way.

Just read some of the other posts and wondered if it would help to have a bigger shoal of black widow tetras (I have four)
Lfs said they were peaceful, non-fin nippers but black angel suggests otherwise?
Have watched them for hours and they haven't gone near the half-eaten guppy.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

hrm... yes, it does sound like the black widows got him, although the other guppies probably started it... both species are actually notorious fin-nippers...

you really shouldn't add any fish until your tank cycles. perhaps you could get a breeder net and separate the victim, but that'd only be a temporary "solution".

i really don't know of a good solution except to separate out the guppy, which isn't really an option for you.

--EDIT--
how do the other guppies look? if just the one was chewed on, then its a fish vs fish problem. if the other boys look rough, it could be finrot--a condition brought on by poor water quality.

 

[cheekeyarab]

The affected guppy has passed to the other side! The other guppies look good so hopefully they will be left alone.