FAQs on Guppy Diseases 4 Related Articles: Guppies, Poeciliids: Guppies, Platies, Swordtails, Mollies by Neale Monks, Livebearing Fishes by Bob Fenner, Related FAQs: Guppy Disease 1, Guppy Disease 2, Guppy Disease 3, & Guppies 1, Guppies 2, Guppy Identification, Guppy Behavior, Guppy Compatibility, Guppy Selection, Guppy Systems, Guppy Feeding, Guppy Reproduction, Livebearers, Platies, Swordtails, Mollies,

guppies  11/16/09
the
<The...>
problem is that i
<...I...>
have had two guppies and they didn't gain wait
<...weight...>
and there
<...their...>
backs started to bend and they could not swim as well they ate a lot tho
<...though...>
and one already died i
<...I...>
was wondering what it is and what can i
<...I...>
do to prevent this happening i
<...I...>
have like 15
<Like "15" but not actually "15"...? Don't really understand this...>
guppies and 2 angel fish what should i
<...I... hmm... lower-case "i" for the first-person singular is often taken
to imply chronic lack of self-worth, not a good way to present yourself.>
do??
<Hello Stacey. Please do note that we ask people to run their messages through a spell checker before they send them out to us. It makes my job easier, and since I'm a volunteer, anything you can do to make it easier for me to understand your problem is much appreciated (as well as good manner). Right, as to your problem with Guppies. The first thing is to make sure you're keeping them properly. You need a tank at least 20 gallons in size if you're mixing them with Angelfish, and of course Angelfish will eat small male Guppies, so the mix isn't a particularly wise one. Guppies need fairly warm water, I'd say around 26-28 C, and the water should be hard (10-25 degrees dH) and basic (pH 7.5). Guppies will not survive for long in soft, acidic water. Also, despite their reputation as "beginner's fish", Guppies need to be kept in clean, well-filtered water; 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite are essential. Would suggest you start by reading here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm
Now, if you are very unlucky, you may be dealing with one of the chronic Wasting Diseases caused by Mycobacteria infections. These are rare, but they do exist, and Guppies are one of the species for which Wasting Disease has been observed. There is nothing you can do to treat Mycobacteria infections, and if your local retailer sells Guppies that are so infected, stop buying them, and instead find another source, perhaps through your local fish club. If I was a betting man, I'd say you have about a 90% chance of environmental conditions being the issue, but there's a 10% chance it's Wasting Disease. So rather than using Wasting Disease as an "excuse" (the temptation, I know) I'd be open-minded about how you're keeping them, and only if you're absolutely sure you're doing everything right, put your losses down to Wasting Disease. Cheers, Neale.>

Guppy Deaths   10/7/09
We have a 60 litre fish tank with an Elite Stingray 15 filter for up to 75 litre tanks.
<Not a particularly good filter, unfortunately. And honestly, 60 litres/15 gallons isn't enough for the numbers of fish you seem to be keeping. Male guppies are fairly aggressive, and I don't recommend guppies be kept in tanks less than 90 l/20 gal.>
It was set up 15 weeks ago. We gradually stoked with fish, starting with 2 neon and 2 guppies, followed 2 weeks later with 4 more neon. Then after another week, we added 2 Dwarf Gouramis, another week and we added a male fighter.
<Did you do any research on what these fish need? Guppies need hard, basic water; Neons soft and acidic, or at least, not particularly hard. Neons need fairly cool water, around 22-24 C, whereas Fancy Guppies need warm water, 25-28 C being optimal. Gouramis also need warm water, as do Bettas.
Bettas and Gouramis don't get on, and Neons fin-nip Bettas. It's very important to read up on the needs of fish *prior* to purchase. Keeping fish together that have different water chemistry requirements or temperature requirements means at least some of them will be exposed to suboptimal conditions. Social behaviour issues lead to stress, and stressed fish are prone to sickness. Do buy an aquarium book, or at least, borrow one from the library.>
After a two more weeks, we added 6 glow light tetra. All was well. A month later, the male fighter suddenly died. He showed no obvious sign of disease.
<Could be anything. How did you cycle this aquarium?>
I had been doing a 10% water change every week, so I did a 25% water change, just in case something was amiss. I had the water tested the day the fighter died, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong.
<The thing with having water tested hours after the fish died, is it doesn't tell you *anything* about what might have caused the fatality.
Suppose there's a nitrite or ammonia spike shortly after feeding, perhaps because the tank isn't properly cycled. The fish gets stressed, dies a few hours later. By the time you take some water to the pet shop, the tank has been running with fewer fish (one died!) and the ammonia and nitrite spike following feeding time as faded away.>
However, the Dwarf Gouramis seem a little listless and are not eating as much. Their top fin seems to be down and they look a little thin and perhaps paler in colour than they used to be.
<Dwarf Gouramis are sensitive fish, easily prone to ill-health if environmental conditions are poor. The combination of a small tank and a fairly rubbish filter could easily explain this.>
Four days ago, we added 4 guppies and 2 red nosed tetra.
<Why are you *adding* fish when stuff keeps dying? Slow down.>
The guppies died, one each night. I explained the situation to the guy at the aquatic centre, who said it was likely that the Dwarf Gouramis had internal bacteria which killed the new fish when they were introduced.
<He's talking rubbish.>
He sold me Interpet Anti Internal Bacteria treatment.
<Never yet seen this product cure anything.>
The instructions say to remove any filter containing carbon. But, being a novice, I can't see that you can remove the filter for 4 days without killing all the fish!
<You remove just the carbon. One of the problems with these cheap plastic filters is they rely on filter media cartridges. These limit your flexibility when it comes to adding media. For a standard community tank, all you really need is a bit of mechanical media (to trap silt) and lots of biological media (to process ammonia and nitrite). Carbon and ammonia remover (zeolite) are largely wasted.>
Any ideas on this whole situation would be much appreciated.
<Read. Many bad decisions made here.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwset-up.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_5/volume_5_3/stocking.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestk.htm
Buy, at minimum, a nitrite test kit and test your water daily for the first couple of weeks. Go easy with feeding. Get rid of fish you can't keep in a tank this size (essentially, only Neons and Glowlights are sensible choices, but they don't like hard, basic water, so that may be a factor).
For beginners, the worst possible start is to buy a tank smaller than 20 gallons. No point to smaller tanks at all. Difficult to stock, difficult to run. Any "economy" when buying smaller tanks is completely lost when fish start dying and you end up buying all kinds of medications. Much written about this here at WWM, and we're always happy to offer advice even before you spend any money at all.>
Karen
<Cheers, Neale.>

re: my guppy fish
Help!! 6 of my baby guppies have died!!! :( – 09/19/09
They are in a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater and a sponge filter... I do daily 50% water changes, or 50% water changes once every 2 days...
<This may be too much>
I've tested the water and it shows 0 ppm of ammonia, nitrite and 10ppm of nitrates... the remaining survivors are in a breeding trap in my main tank... My angelfish are constantly trying to eat them
<What they do>
but that is the best thing I can do... What shall I do??? Can I rear this fry in the breeding trap till they are old enough to not be eaten??
thanks
<Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppyreprofaqs.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Re: my guppy fish  9/25/09
hello there,
<Hello,>
My guppy fry are 2 weeks old now, they had grown tremendously over the period of 2 weeks.
<Good.>
My problem is that most of them had died. They seemed to die of one by one.
<Have you fed them enough?>
I tested my water parameters and its shows 0ppm of ammonia, nitrite and 10ppm of nitrate. the ph is 6 because they are in a 47 gallon high-lighted co2 injected tank.
<The pH is far too low! Aim for pH 7.5 to 8. I'm sure we've discussed this before. If the tank only contains Guppies, then the use of MARINE aquarium salt mix (not common aquarium or tonic salt) will work fine, at a dose of about 6 to 9 grammes per litre. If there are other, non-salt-tolerant fish in this aquarium, then use a Rift Valley cichlid salt mix such as the one described here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwh2oquality.htm
For livebearers, use at about 50% the recommended dosage.>
They are currently in a breeder trap. 10 out of 24 died in a separate 2.5 gallon tank a week ago (the water has no ammonia, nitrate with a little bit of nitrate) so I moved them to my main tank. I don't know why they are dying, I feed them baby brine shrimp, microworms, and crushed quality flakes. Their bellies are fat and healthy, they are all active but they just suddenly die of. Before they die, their gills seem to enlarge and their bellies get skinnier. They are listless and can't balance properly.
What is wrong?
<Water chemistry.>
I think that there is a disease in my tank because my harlequins and angelfish have white spots on their fins. I'm 100% sure that its not ich because I had it before and these white spots are not tiny but rather big.
<Incipient Finrot. Check water quality. At pH 6, biological filtration will be working very poorly. Again, use a Rift Valley cichlid salt mix at 25-50% the dosages described in that article to harden the water in a community tank.>
I don't think they are fungus either because its not fluffy. Instead it looks like that the fish's fins suddenly turned white and it spreads over the body. The angelfish have spots on their fins ( not as small as ich but not too big either). The fins of harlequins are strange, the disease seems to effect only one fin. It turns one of their fins white, whether its the dorsal or the other fins. One or two of the harlequins have the white stuff spreading over their body. Any suggestions on what is happening??
<Fix water chemistry, quality. Treat as per Finrot.>
please!! thanks!!
<Cheers, Neale.> 

re: my guppy fish  9/27/09
hello there,
<Hello,>
I had added some baking soda and magnesium sulfate (gH booster) to my tank.
This had increased the ph from 6/below to 6.6... I will aim for 7-7.5 in the next few days.
<Good.>
I'd moved the remaining guppy fry back to the 2.5g tank that is constantly monitored for ammonia and nitrites... About the Finrot outbreak in the main tank, what antibiotics do you recommend for me??
<Anything other than Melafix.>
I have no idea what to use. Should I treat with melafix and Pimafix or Maracyn and Maracyn 2??
<Personally, I prefer medications such as eSHa 2000 or Seachem Paraguard, but people speak well of Maracyn.>
Do you recommend both or something else? should I treat with tonic salt?
<Salt won't help bacterial infections.>
One of the harlequins have the 'Finrot' white fungus or bacteria covering its body from the infected fin. It is struggling to swim, its perfectly healthy but when it stops swimming, its body will flip so it must constantly swim to balance or it will turn upside down!! Will it recover if I give it antibiotics?
<Seachem Paraguard and eSHa 2000 treat Finrot, Fungus and Mouth Fungus (Columnaris) so they should help.>
I tried to euthanize it but its just too fast!! It still eats normally and acts like if nothing happens. The white area is swollen up. Any help please?
thank you so much!
<Cheers, Neale.>

re: my guppy fish... Neale's out 9/30/09
helo there,
<Yellow>
my 47 gallon tank have a ph of 7.5 now. I fear that it will drop back to 6 over time as that's what it always do. In my 2.5 gallon tank, the ph is already 7.5 (ph of tap water) and I added half a piece of cuttlefish bone to gradually maintain that ph.
<Worth trying... but this form of CaCO3 is not very water soluble>
Should I still need to add marine salt? If so, is the brand 'Instant Ocean' recommended?
<I would and yes>
I've currently added 6 teaspoons (6 grams each) of tonic salt to the small guppy fry tank with one fry remaining. I was very disappointed with the stuff that the pet stores in new Zealand has to offer. Even the fish specialist stores doesn't sell antibiotics.
<Likely proscribed there>
So I bought Melafix
<Worthless... Please see WWM before writing us>
and tonic salt. Hopefully they would work... the other solution is to buy antibiotics online but that would take 2 weeks or more to arrive here and it would've been too late. I treated as per instructions with Melafix and
14 teaspoons of tonic salt (1 tablespoon is 3 teaspoons) to my 47 gallon.
The recommended dosage
is 27 teaspoons of tonic salt. Should I do so?
<? What is this "tonic"? Most are of little value, toxicity>
Also I need to treat the tank with Melafix for 7 days before a water change. Will the plants and fish be ok if I leave the salt in full dose for 7 days?
<... depends on what is in this product. "Fix"es have been known to interrupt nitrification/cycling...>
I have Otos and cories which I am worried about as they are both catfishes. Do you have any other methods of curing my fishes??
<...?>
I'd noticed that after the treatment yesterday, all of the severely infected fish (3 in total, harlequins) started producing huge amounts of mucus or slime coat over the infected area. They still clamp their fins. Is the slime coat helping them? the other fishes are infected also but show no reactions at all.
please help me!
<Please learn to/use the search tool on WWM, the indices. Start reading here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppydisfaqs.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Guppy question! Hlth.  09/14/09
Ahoy!
<McCoy! Uh, Michelle>
I have a few questions about guppies, they reside in a 33 gallon tank, with some plants and snails.
I understand that it can be quite normal for the males to harass the females. I was curious if it is normal for the males to particularly harass 1 female and ignore the other girls.
<Does happen>
They are all pregnant (time to get another tank!) This particular female has given birth twice already and has been bloated for a while even when she was not pregnant. Is this normal?
<Not normal to float, no>
Also one thing that bugs me and so far have had no luck finding the answer to this: Recently, while gazing into the tank I noticed a green worm like thing (aprox 1/2 inch) climbing on the glass. I removed it from the tank immediately, which killed it. I am quite curious what this creature was.
Any ideas? It seemed as if it were sucking on the glass.
<There are many such worms... Most all are innocuous>
Also, I have treated 2 guppies (separate tanks from the others) for Ick for quite some time. About 2 weeks now, I have removed the active carbon from the filter as well, changed about 15-30% of the water each time (although I
will not lie, there have been a few times where I have forgotten to do so :( ) They are still rubbing their bodies on the gravel. One of them just sits their at the bottom moving occasionally ( for about a month) I would love it if there's something I could do to help them back to their health.
<Mmm, please read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppydisfaqs.htm
and the linked files above... Need to know more, relate quite a bit...>
I have treated the guppies with Ich-X which says it treats Trichodiniasis, Ich, Velvet and Saprolegniasis.
<Mmm: formaldehyde (<5%), methanol (<2%), malachite green chloride (<0.1%).
Quite toxic... exposure could result in the behavior you list, even death>
Thanks!
Michelle
<Read on! Bob Fenner>

Male Guppy with red/orange spots on tail 7/29/09
I set up an aquarium for the first time about three months ago. Following the instructions from the fish shop I ran the tank for three weeks and had the water tested before introducing any fish.
<With or without adding ammonia, fish food, or something else to start the biological filter? An aquarium without livestock is just a box filled with water. Until you add a source of ammonia for filter bacteria to "eat", the tank won't mature. Normally, when running in a new tank, people add a certain amount of ammonia (from a hardware store) or else a pinch of flake food every day or two. Let's say you do the flake food technique. The flake food gets sucked into the filter, decays, and as it does so, produces ammonia. This "feeds" the filter bacteria, so that after X number of weeks (typically 4-6 weeks) the ammonia and nitrite levels in the tank drop to zero because the filter is fully matured. You can now add some fish.>
I then introduced 6 male guppies and a couple of weeks later once they were settled in two bronze albino catfish. All seem to coexist together quite happily.
<As is often the case... to begin with.>
Yesterday I noticed that once of the navy blue fantailed guppies has a number of orangey red spots on his tail, there is also an orangey red streak running through the centre of the tail. The fish is swimming and feeding normally but I am concerned that the spots are due to some disease or fungus.
<Finrot; almost certainly your tank is inadequately mature for the fish you have. If you grab a nitrite test kit -- which, along with a pH test kit is mandatory for beginners -- you'; almost certainly detect a nitrite level above zero. Until such time as the nitrite level is zero, your tank is not mature, and the fish are at risk.>
Are you able to advise what might be causing these spots and how best to treat the fish?
<Finrot; treat using something such as eSHa 2000, a product widely sold in the UK and very effective. Remember to remove carbon from the filter while treating the tank (if you're using it, and you needn't). Don't waste your time with salt or tea-tree oil products; neither are helpful in this situation. Also, because it's the water quality that is making your fish sick, do regular water changes (25% every 2-4 days, ideally) until the nitrite level drops to zero and stays there. For the fish you have, you will need at least 75 litres, and a filter rated at 4 times that in turnover per hour, i.e., 300 litres/hour. If the tank is smaller than this, or the filter slower, you're unlikely to ever have consistently good water quality, especially once the fish are mature. Corydoras catfish, by the way, need to be in groups of 5 or more specimens; in smaller groups they pine, and often simply die. But don't add any more fish until water quality is optimised!>
The fish provide so much pleasure and enjoyment I want to do all I can to ensure their good health.
<Indeed.>
Thank you.
<Good luck, Neale.>

Fancy guppy... beh.  7/26/2009
Hello crew, love your site i get tons of info from you guys. I have a 29 g tank with all my water levels reading right. Live stock in the tank, 2 Dwarf Gouramis, 2 Chinese algae eaters, 1 black moor,1 male Betta, 5 small Endler's and 8 male guppies.
<You do realise that Endler Guppies and Common Guppies will hybridise?
Provided you pass on any offspring as Common Guppies rather than Endler's, then there's little harm in this. But pleased don't give away such offspring as Endler Guppies! It is a constant struggle to keep the Endler
Guppies in the hobby "pure" because of this problem.>
My question is why is one of my guppy's getting chased around by one other male and two Endler's? Thank you very much for any response and help you offer.
<It is in the nature if Guppies to chase. They are *not* peaceful, schooling fish. In the wild males will chase one another away, hoping to monopolise access to females. Males will also chase females, trying to mate with them. The only 100% reliable way to keep Guppies without aggression is to [a] make sure the tank is big enough, 20 gallons upwards; [b] keep two or more females per male; and [c] to stock the tank with lots of floating plants. Floating plants, such as Indian Fern (Ceratopteris spp.) are important because Guppies are surface fish, so they use hiding places at the top of the tank, not at the bottom.>
I hope this grammar is appropriate i don't want to bump heads with Neale.
<Not a question of "bumping heads" really. More about making your question, and my reply, easier for other people to read. Not all our site visitors have English as their first language. For such people, as well as those with learning difficulties, careful grammar and spelling makes reading much easier. Anyway, hope this helps! Cheers, Neale.>

Ill Guppy? 7/26/2009
Hi,
<Hello,>
I have had 2 male guppies for about 5 months. Both Happy & healthy and water is perfect.
<By which you mean the water is hard and basic (10+ degrees dH, pH 7-8) and with zero ammonia and nitrite? I mention this because not everyone's idea of "perfect" matches mine...>
But all of a sudden one of the guppies has something pinky/red protruding from it's anus.
<Ah, yes, usually Camallanus worms; see article linked below for descriptions and medications.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/nematodesfwf.htm
Not uncommon among livebearers, and potentially treatable, though how easy it will be to get appropriate drugs varies from country to country. In the UK, you may need to approach a vet. Left untreated, it will eventually cause the death of the sick fish, and potentially, all the others exposed to that sick fish as well.>
I was just interested to know what it was or why it's happened and if there's anything i can do for the fish?
<The "why" is largely poor husbandry. Guppies are bred to a price rather than quality, and while "cheap" fish might seem like bargains, the flip side is that to cheaply produce profitable fish, less care will be taken in terms of health.>
Would really appreciate an answer from you.
Many Thanks, Zoe
<Good luck, Neale.>

Sick fancy guppy 7/19/09
Hi there,
<Hello,>
I have a couple of questions for you.
<Fire away.>
First is about a male fancy guppy I have. I've just noticed he has a rather large round swelling on his upper abdomen. I'm worried that it's likely a tumor of some sort.
<Not uncommon with inbred "fancy" fish. If the lump is asymmetrical, i.e., bigger on one side of the body than the other, then a tumour is a good explanation. If the fish is swollen evenly on both sides, then constipation could be an issue, and if the swelling is such that the scales are raised and the fish looks like a pine-cone when viewed from above, it's dropsy (oedema).>
I hadn't noticed it a few days ago. He is in a 20 gallon tank with 6 other male guppies. I haven't had any water quality issues (that I'm aware of) and all the other fish seem to be fine. Interestingly enough he is an odd shape for a male guppy, kinda crooked, not slim and streamlined like the other guppies, and he's always been this way. I guess I'm just wondering if this sounds like it could possibly be something treatable that I should look into more or if it really just sounds bad and I should watch for quality of life?
<Sounds like it's simply deformed, which again, is very common with inbred fancy Guppies.>
Once I discovered his new deformity I separated him from the other fish (some of the other boys have a tendency to chase him around relentlessly).
<Good move. If things are bad for the fish and it can't enjoy it's life, then euthanasia is an option.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/euthanasia.htm
Otherwise, just keep him happy but preferably away from females so any possible bad genes aren't passed on.>
Other question, in my other tank I have 15 female fancy guppies in a 55 gallon tank. On of these fish has been getting "droopy" slowly over the last couple of months, her tail sags far below the rest of her body and she swims funny. Over the last couple of weeks I noticed that she seems skinnier than normal, like she doesn't have the round belly that they typically have, and I haven't decided if she is actually skinny or if it's due to her malformation. She seems to be eating ok and acting normal. Could this just be a (semi) normal aging process for guppies, or do you think I need to be concerned?
<Depends. If you have good water quality and water chemistry, then a single sick-looking fish is not too much of a deal. For Guppies, you're aiming for pH 7.5 to 8, and hard water around 10-25 degrees dH. If Guppies are the only fish in the tank, adding marine salt mix (rather than generic aquarium salt) will stabilise the pH and hardness while adding a little salinity, something that seems to ensure better all-around health. You don't need much salt; 3-5 grammes per litre is ample.>
I should mention that I've had both of these fish since I first got guppies, about 1 year ago.
My last question, should be an easy one I hope. What is acceptable life expectancy for fancy guppies? Are my 1-1.5 year old guppies becoming old?
<They should get to about three years in captivity, perhaps a little longer.>
Or are they just getting sick?
Thanks,
Lisamarie
<Cheers, Neale.>

Female Guppy - Believed to be pregnant, interesting "poop" 7/19/09 Hello, <Hi,> Thank you for all the useful information available on your site. I am new to having fish and am looking for a few answers. I have a 26 gallon bow front aquarium with the following fish: 1 Cory Catfish <Really should be kept in a group; they're schooling fish! Singletons are pretty miserable. Get four more.> 3 Pearl Danios <Likewise, a schooling species.> 2 Rasboras (I think that's their name; they have a black triangle on their side) <Again, a schooling fish.> 4 Guppies (2 Male, 2 Female at the suggestion of our local Pet Store) <A bad suggestion, mostly made because they want to sell them as "pairs"! Male Guppies are notorious with regard to "sexual harassment" and persecute the females when kept in small tanks. We always recommend at least twice as many females as males, and personally, I keep three females per male livebearer. Reduces stress, and the females are much happier.> **We had two guppies (both male) when we first set up the tank and one of them started getting really big on the underside. I took it to the shop before it died and they said it was "a genetic issue seen in fish from chain establishments ie PetSmart". About a week later he expired. We didn't think anything more was wrong.** <Never come across this.> We have had the tank set up for about two months. All of the fish except the 3 Guppies and the 3 Danios have been in the tank since we first set it up (well within 2 weeks of set-up). The water was tested by the shop prior to adding these last six fish. The results were as follows: pH 7.4 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0 ppm Nitrate <10ppm GH 8 dGH KH 4 dKH We did not do a partial water change before adding the new fish, at the recommendation of the store. <Strange recommendation! A 25% weekly water change is always a good idea, whatever else you're doing.> Now, five days later, we have noticed that both females look pregnant. I talked with the shop and they said they probably are. I am concerned that the female guppy may be going down the same road as the guppy we did have that expired. However, this one is female and that one was male. Today I went back to the shop and had the water retested. The results were pH 7.6 Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite trace (? - said nothing to worry about, siphon the gravel and do a 25% water change; probably due to overfeeding getting used to the number of fish) <Any nitrite is worth worrying about. Can't say I'm terribly impressed with this pet store so far. Siphoning gravel made sense in this situation when people used undergravel filters; as the gravel got clogged, turnover dropped, and filtration efficiency declined. If you don't have an undergravel filter it is still a good idea to keep the gravel clean, but that won't make much difference either way with regard to ammonia and nitrite, since most of the filtration is going on in the filter.> Nitrate 20 ppm GH 8 dGH KH 3 dKH <A bit on the soft side for Guppies, but if they're happy so far, no big deal.> They recommended doing a partial water change and siphon of the gravel. <Sure.> Since we thought the female guppy was pregnant and possibly about to give birth, we placed her in a 3-Way Breeder inside the main tank to protect the fry. <Do understand females *hate* being in these things, and they can cause miscarriages. Much better to stock the tank with Indian Fern and other floating plants. The fry will hide among these plants, and you can then net them out each day and pop them into the breeding trap. After about 3-4 weeks they should be big enough to work with most smallish community fish.> Shortly after doing this we noticed she started "pushing out" reddish, light brown round stuff. Sorry for the lack of explanation but it's hard to describe. Whatever it is, it does not appear to be moving at all and has fallen to the bottom of the breeder. <Think these are merely faeces, and not stillborn embryos, which tend to be silvery.> The other fish in the tank have come up to try and eat it (which they obviously can't do through the plastic). At first we assumed it was poop, but she has excreted about four more of these things. Kinda like little sausages? I know I may be over thinking things, but I would rather ask a stupid question and fix something if need be than to let fish die. Anyway. while taking pictures to send, some of the "stuff" fell out and another fish ate it. Do you have any idea what this might be? Also, how often should I feed the fish in my tank? <"A little but often" is a good rule; a portion of food the size of a fish's eye is about right for one meal, if offered 2-3 times a day. In any case, add food such that it all vanishes within 30 seconds or so. Feed catfish at night, in the case of a school of 5 Corydoras, one or two Hikari Algae Wafers or similar 5-6 times per week should be ample. Regardless, the aim is that your fish are gently rounded but not bloated. Overfeeding doesn't kill, it's the water quality problems that occur if uneaten food gets sucked into the filter that causes sickness. So if your fish look healthy, and you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, you're fine. For what it's worth, your female Guppy looks healthily fed. With Corydoras, look at their bellies, and check that the belly is slightly convex rather than concave.> I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for your help. Jamie <Cheers, Neale.>

Nematodes? RMF

Guppy Help... env. dis./Ammonia, reading   6/20/09
Hi, I am a new fish owner. I recently purchased a 10 gallon tank, and put 6 guppies in it in hopes of breeding them.
<Mmm, a small volume for this enterprise>
I currently have 2 males and 4 females. I'm convinced some are pregnant.
<A pretty much constant state in healthy Lebistes...>
Not long after having the tank, several fish died. I believe they died of injured swim bladders
<... not likely>
but I am not sure. I don't think I had the tank set up long enough before adding them.
<Oh? What of water quality tests, measures?>
But I have had them replaced, and now have the 2 males and 4 females.
Tonight I realized their gills were slightly red, and I am worried about ammonia poisoning. The ammonia level is slightly higher than it should be.
<... must be zero, nada, zip>
I am having troubles lowering it.
<Let's stop here... and have you do what you should have done: read:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
and the linked files above, esp. ammonia. Bob Fenner>
I then added too much aquarium salt
<... not a good idea>
by mistake, but over time, not all at once. My friend suggested doing a 50% water change to help the ammonia reduce and the salt reduce. Are my fish going to die like the ones before them? What can I do to keep them alive? I am going to try feeding them less, as I think I may have fed them too much also. I have a small filter in one corner, a heater that is set around 80, usually less then that though, and I have a homemade filter in another corner using an air lift effect, and another homemade filter intaking water from the tank and pumping it through a filter cartridge and rocks and back into aquarium. How can I save my fish

Guppy problems..  6/14/09
Hello crew,
<Hello again,>
Several months ago I had a wonderful correspondence with you regarding my guppy tank. It's a brackish system. A 29G fish only tank, with an in tank sponge filter, fake plants, cave etc. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20, SG 1.0025.
<Do you mean somewhere between 1.002 and 1.003, or seawater salinity, 1.025? I've not come across a hobbyist hydrometer that measures to four decimal places!>
Inhabitants: Fancy Tail Guppies; 2 males, 10 females and their fry. The fry are regularly removed and fed to my frogs.
<One way to control numbers!>
Anyway, I do 30% water change and gravel vac weekly. I set this system up in Nov 2008 and have had problems since then. Most recently in Feb/March I was in touch regarding red spots on one male's tail fin, and fading of two female's tails. After much back and forth and testing and observation and even treatment with Furanace, I was advised to let them be. It seemed it was likely just aggression. Since then everything's been fine, until yesterday. One of my females died suddenly. I didn't notice any strange behavior. She was VERY large with fry, so I assumed she was resting at the surface a bit more often due to her girth.
<As certainly happens.>
When I removed her I looked her over carefully and could not see any evidence of fungus, parasites, or the like. I also tested my water, all parameters were as stated above BUT the pH was 6.2!
<Ah, that's very stressful for Guppies, and indeed livebearers generally.>
KH was very low as well, less than 40 (GH over 300).
<Are you using marine salt mix or tonic salt (sometimes called aquarium salt)? Marine salt mix contains carbonate hardness, and used liberally should add the required alkalinity. If you're using marine salt mix, consider upping the amount you add such that the specific gravity is 1.005 at 25 degrees C; this is about 9 grammes per litre. While this isn't good for live plants, Guppies will thrive under such conditions.>
So I assume this had something to do with the death and began a slow process of raising the pH with baking soda. I also added a bubble wand because I read that the increased gas exchange can help with increasing pH.
<Aeration does indeed drive off CO2, but the effect is negligible unless the tank is heavily stocked.>
I have no idea what caused the pH to crash, but today I was looking a bit more closely at the fish to see if anyone else looked distressed.
<The pH crash is related to the lack of alkalinity, i.e., carbonate hardness.>
There are only 4 with anything "interesting". The female who's tail fin faded at the first of the year has not recovered her color. I honestly can't tell if it's just faded or if there's a "white patch". The male who's had red spots on his tail, has acquired a few more. One female seems to be having trouble maintaining a horizontal position, especially at night. Another female cannot close her mouth. I've checked and can see no obstruction or "cottony" fungi or anything. She can and does continue to eat. Her mouth is just agape. All of the fish, including these four are behaving normally in all other ways. Everyone is reproducing.
<I'd be aggressive about deciding which fish to keep; if you have fish that simply linger rather than thrive, there's sometimes mileage in euthanising the dodgy specimens and adding new specimens of the best possible quality you can find. In some instances, the weak fish are suffering from genetic or viral issues you can't do anything about; limiting infection of other fish, and preventing their genes getting into the babies, will all help in the long term.>
The faded female and the "vertical" female just had litters last week, and the gaping female is due in a few days. They're all eating, and swimming normally. No one's flashing or swimming backward or resting on the bottom or at the surface. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. It's very distressing really. I've read that the "swimming vertically" thing can be damage to the swim bladder caused by mating or poor water conditions.
<Not sure how mating would cause damage to the swim bladder, but yes, if the swim bladder is damaged or infected, yes, fish will swim oddly.>
I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done about that. It seems the faded tail, tail spots and gaping mouth might be consistent with Columnaris, but can fish survive with Columnaris for MONTHS?
<Not usually no.>
<<All the "certified" cases/incidences of Columnaris I am familiar with are/were very "fast onset" with Poeciliids et al. perishing within hours to a day or two. RMF>>
Because that's how long the tail fin has been faded, and Mr. Fenner suggested Columnaris as a possible source of the tail spots and fading back in Feb. As usual, I apologize for the length of this question, but I'm trying to give as much information as I can. Can you help?
<Have you used an antibiotic? If you have, e.g., Maracyn (Erythromycin), consider switching to another, such as Maracyn II (Minocycline) or Seachem PolyGuard (Sulfathiazole, Nitrofurantoin).>
Any ideas on what I should do at this point?
Thanks in advance,
Laura
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Guppy problems.. – 6/14/09
Thanks, as always for the prompt response. Let's see, yes, I meant SG somewhere between 1.002 and 1.003.
<I see.>
Yes, I'm using Marine Salt Mix and can certainly increase the salinity.
<Would do so.>
Is it inappropriate to also use the baking soda?
<By all means, but I'd actually add some Epsom salt as well, as per Rift Valley salt mix: 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt, one teaspoon Baking Soda per 5 gallons, alongside however much marine salt mix you're using. This will round out the mineral content of the water a bit. Guppies enjoy "liquid rock" rather than salinity, though they can be adapted to marine conditions, at least in the case of wild/feral guppies.>
I've found in my Betta tank that baking soda has kept the pH alkaline and (above all) stable. Not sure why it hasn't occurred to me to use it in my other tanks as well. Are you suggesting I euthanize all four of the
questionable guppies?
<I would if they're not getting better and haven't done so for months.
There's no real point to keeping fish that could compromise any healthy fish you add, either disease-wise or genetically. Do see WWM re: humane modes of euthanasia.>
I'm not averse to the idea, just wanting to verify what you're thinking. I was considering starting a treatment of Maracyn again.
<Would switch between antibiotics if one doesn't work; each targets a particular subset of bacteria: gram-positive or gram-negative for example.
Do read the article on Mycobacteria in the current Conscientious Aquarist elsewhere on this site.>
I did so several months ago to no avail, but it has been several months.
Thanks again.
Laura
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Guppy problems.. – 6/14/09
Dr. Monks,
<I'm a PhD of rocks, so that doesn't really matter much here. Call me Neale!>
Just one more question. Can low pH and KH in the absence of other poor water conditions trigger parasitic infections like Velvet and Ich?
<Not directly, no. Both Velvet and Ick are contagious diseases, so for a healthy fish to "catch" them, it has to be exposed to an infected fish, either directly (e.g., by placing an infected fish in the aquarium) or
indirectly (e.g., by swapping nets or buckets between healthy and infected aquaria). That said, poor water conditions will reduce the immune system of a fish, making it more susceptible to a variety of complaints, of which Finrot and Fungus are by far the most common.>
Laura
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Guppy problems.. – 6/14/09
Call you Neale...Yes sir! I'm just of the opinion that if someone takes the time an effort to earn a PhD, they've also earned the right to be addressed by their proper title.
<Having "Dr" before your name is mostly of use when you want your bank or some other faceless bureaucrat to not treat you like a moron.>
So...Neale :-) If I don't have Velvet or Ich in the house and haven't introduced any new fish etc.. they're not going to get/have it now, right?
<Correct. It has sometimes been said that Ick can lie dormant in tanks, just waiting to spring into life, but there's no evidence this is the case, and the vets who's work I've read don't believe that happens.>
I'm freaking out because I'm leaving town for two weeks. It's the first time my fish will be w/o me for so long and I'm nervous I'm going to come home to a bunch of dead guppies.
<Well, that may or may not happen, but it won't be because of Ick! Here's my tips: Do a 50% water change the afternoon before you leave. That way, you can see if something went amiss that day, for example the heater not being switched back on, and put things right. Next up, decide either to leave them no food at all, or carefully measured portions. Since Guppies are herbivores, I'd by preference just throw in something like a few slices of cucumber to graze on most of the time, but regardless, if you want them fed, put 3-4 meals in paper envelopes. Leave these for the babysitter to use, and hide everything else! Before you leave, just check the fish are healthy, and that's it! Nothing more need be done.>
Thanks again.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Guppy problems.. – 6/14/09
You know, one question seems to lead to another! Your instructions are interesting. I was going to leave them with automatic feeders, scheduled to feed them twice a day.
<Eek... no, no! The whole point to fish as pets is they don't need food every day, and for up to two weeks, most species will go without food without the least trouble. I routinely have my fish "baby sat" with single
meals every 3-4 days. This has a variety of advantages. Firstly, there's less nitrate build up while you're gone. Secondly, the fish are less likely to be overfed by a well-meaning baby sitter. Thirdly, there's no risk of the feeding device jamming or otherwise adding all the food at once, gumming up with stale flake, or whatever. Fourthly, if the filter fails, there's less ammonia being added to the system, so less chance of dead fish on your return.>
Mostly, because 2 weeks seems like a really long time.
<It's nothing. Seriously.>
I do have a sitter coming for my land critters, and it sounds like you recommend just having him feed them once every 3 days or so?
<Perfect.>
Would the same rules apply for my Betta and African Clawed Frogs (is it xenopi or xenopusses?)
<Would be fine for these too, and indeed any cold-blooded animal.
Warm-blooded animals have to eat constantly because they expend vast amounts of energy on homeostasis, including warming themselves; hence a cat will need to eat daily, whilst a predatory snake of similar mass will only need to eat once a week, if that.>
Guppies are herbivores? I always thought they were omnivores.
<Yes, you're right; what I meant was that they can easily get by on plant foods for long periods of time. But in the wild they'd be eating algae, zooplankton and insect larvae. Mollies by contrast are almost entirely
algae-eaters in the wild and have specially modified mouthparts that let them scrape away at algae.>
That's SO interesting because the livebearer food I've used includes dried blood worms. And, I've even given them bloodworms as an occasional treat.
<Domesticated Guppies will eat just about anything, but I recommend all livebearers be given predominantly plant-based foods (such as Spirulina flake) as a staple, with animal foods such as bloodworms as a treat. That said, unless your Guppies show consistent signs of ill-health or constipation, I wouldn't be too worried about this aspect of their care.>
And why do they eat their fry?
<Because evolution has programmed them to do otherwise. In the wild Guppy fry will immediately seek shallow water or hiding places around floating plants. This keeps them away from the adults which are in different parts of the pond or whatever. So there's no selection pressure on Guppies in favour of adults that can tell the difference between a baby Guppy and a mosquito larva. Hence, adult Guppies view anything small and wriggly as dinner, whether it's a baby fish or a baby insect. Biology is replete with stuff that makes no sense at all until it's viewed in terms of evolution rather than practical usefulness. Cheers, Neale.>
Thanks, Neale. You rock!
<Indeed I do.>
Laura
<Cheers, Neale.>  

My guppy, hlth., reading...  - 05/03/09
Dear WWM Crew
Unfortunately, my guppy has died before I could find out what is wrong with him.
<Oh dear.>
But still I would like to know for future references.
Here are the symptoms:
He would swim with his head pointing up and swim in circles, then jolt around and fall to the bottom. Then he would get like a hyper rush and swim really fast around my tank and then fall to the bottom and he would
continue to do that. To me he seemed like he was drunk or has gone insane from being in a tank.
<Sounds like a water quality or water chemistry issue. Just to recap, Guppies need an aquarium at least 15-20 gallons in size, with 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Fancy Guppies cannot be used in immature aquaria: they are too delicate. Water chemistry should be hard and alkaline; pH 7.5-8, 10-25 degrees dH. The addition of marine salt mix to the water at around 3-5 grammes per litre dramatically improves their health, and makes it much easier to ensure the hard, alkaline conditions they enjoy. But note that while Guppies don't mind salty water, lots of other fish do.>
I got him a couple days ago with a female guppy and she is doing fine.
<For the moment, at least...>
My tank is a 5 gallon tank and it has 1 sucker fish, 1 frog (previously 2), 1 crab and now one guppy. It is a fairly new tank, I have had it for about a month and a half.
<Your tank is far too small for Guppies, let alone all these animals.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm
I have no idea what a "sucker fish" is, but if either Pterygoplichthys or Gyrinocheilus, you are going to regret buying this animal!
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/loricariids.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/algaeeatersart.htm
As for Frogs, they're best kept in their own aquaria; see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/FrogsArtNeale.htm
Crabs are mostly terrestrial, and don't belong in aquaria at all.>
Please help.
Thank you in advance,
Nicole
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Please help my female guppies  04/23/09
Hi
I've just discovered this site and cant find any faq that refer to my guppies.
<Sure you can. Start here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/livebearers.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/poeciliids.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/guppies.htm>
We did have 7 female guppies and 4 males. When we bought our females we soon realized every one of them were pregnant so quickly invested in a breeding net for the heavily pregnant ones. So far 2 of our females have given birth to over 100 fry who have been placed in a different tank. The problem we
are having is that every couple of days our females seem to be just dying for no apparent or visible reasons!
<When fish "randomly" die, it's almost always an environmental issue.
Review what it is that Guppies need: a tank 20 gallons or larger in size; a reasonably good filtration system; hard, basic water (pH 7.5-8, 10+ degrees dH), and a temperature around 25 C. Water quality has to be good: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite.>
in the last week alone we have lost 5 of our females including the two that have given birth. We had our water checked with our local pet store and the water was fine, we have a good filter, heater and air going through the tank.
<"Good" and "fine" mean nothing to me. I need the numbers!>
We also have 9 Neons and a Plec cat fish.
<Well, a Plec is a big fish, and if it's an adult, that means a 55 gallon or larger aquarium. Even a youngster around 10 cm/4 inches or smaller is a very messy fish. So my guess here is your tank is overstocked and
under filtered. That's the usual thing when people have "mystery deaths".>
Our males are swimming around absolutely fine as are the Neons and the Plec.
But our last 2 remaining females seem sluggish. admittedly both are pregnant so they have been put in separate breeding nets. All our females ate well, swam well and were generally healthy there colours were lovely and still were when they died. We bought our females all together so im worried our last two might be going the same way as our previous 5. Can you offer us any help please.
Thank you for taking the time to read this
Deanne x
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: My female guppy   4/26/09
Just an update both our females did die in the end. Our tank is a 25 gallon. ammon 0.6
<Right here is why the fish are not well. Ammonia, even at very small amounts, is dangerous. Usually, if you detect ammonia, there are three things going on: [a] overfeeding; [b] under-filtration; [c] overstocking.
Review, and act accordingly. Do also check your tap water; some supplies may have traces of ammonia, in which case you'll need to treat with an ammonia-remover before use.>
night 0 ph 7.4 temp 26 degrees c. But thanks for your info on our fish.
Deanne
<Cheers, Neale.>

My female guppy 4/24/09
Hi
One of my female guppies appears to be swimming very fast but not actually moving anywhere,
<"The Shimmies" it's called; some sort of disease, usually associated with water chemistry and quality problems. Review the basic needs for Guppies and act accordingly.>
She is visibly okay from what I can see. Any idea why she is doing this?  My second female guppy is heavily pregnant and one of her fins on the right hand side just started sticking out. I've been keeping a close eye on her all day and so far I have not actually seen her move that fin. Can you please tell me what I can do to help both these guppies ?
<Keep them properly.>
Thanks in advance
Deanne
<Most issues with fancy Guppies come down to people keeping them in tanks that are too small, with water that is not sufficient hard and acidic, and with filters inadequate to their needs. Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/guppies.htm
Cheers, Neale.>

Guppy Grave? 4/11/2009
Dear WWM Crew,
a few weeks ago, I had purchased 7 guppies from my LFS. Over the weeks, I noticed that many of my guppies were dying.
<Are these fancy Guppies? Fancy Guppies are much less hardy than the wild type of the "mongrel" guppies we call Feeder Guppies. Fancy Guppies are less adaptable in terms of water chemistry, and much more fussy about temperature and especially water quality. To keep Fancy Guppies you need a fairly large tank (I'd recommend 15-20 gallons, minimum) equipped with a filter and a heater. Water chemistry *must* be hard (10+ degrees dH, and the harder the better) and the water must be basic (pH 7.5-8). There needs
to be zero ammonia and zero nitrite. The addition of marine salt mix, while not essential, is extremely helpful; generic aquarium salt by contrast won't raise the pH and hardness, so does remarkably little in terms of
optimising their living conditions. If you aren't doing ALL the things listed above, then your Guppies are almost certainly dying not because of some mystery disease, but rather environmental issues.>
After a few days, one male guppy showed signs of SBD, but then I noticed a white cotton looking thing on his eye.
<SBD is "swim bladder disease"? If so, this is almost never what is actually going on! When aquarists use this term, it's rather like telling your doctor you're "under the weather" -- completely meaningless. When fish
get sick, constipated, exposed to chilling, or any one of a variety of other problems, they can act as if their swim bladder isn't working properly; in other words, they become lethargic or lose balance. This doesn't point to any one disease any more than a heartburn in humans, and to extend that metaphor a bit, just as heartburn can mean anything from eating too fast through to a heart attack, so can "swim bladder disease"
mean a variety of different things, from a lack of fibre in the diet through to systemic bacterial infection.>
I removed him from the tank and placed him in a separate bowl.
<Why? Was this bowl heated and filtered? Do always remember that the idea of treatment is to improve, not worsen, conditions. If someone had the 'flu in your house, would you dump them in a forest? No. To get better, they need optimal living conditions. Just so with fish; when they get sick, and you decide to treat them, then treat them in a tank *at least* as good as their home aquarium.>
I treated him and came back a few hours later to find him barely moving.
The next day, I found one of my snails trying to eat him, and I knew he was dead.
<No surprise here; you moved the sick fish into an unfiltered, unheated bowl where it was exposed to worse conditions. If it was sick before, your actions here simply accelerated (and perhaps caused) its death. If I'm labouring this point a bit, understand I'm writing this not just for you but for other readers. It is extremely common for people to try and "help" sick animals without actually realising they're making things worse.>
The next guppy that died was a female, who, some how, was sucked up to the filter, and suffocated.
<No; healthy fish don't get sucked into filters. Even baby fish can swim strongly enough to avoid this grisly fate. When a dead fish is found in a filter or stuck to the inflow nozzle, it's almost always because the fish
was dead or at least moribund first.>
Then, a few days later, a bright orange male guppy completely disappeared, with no trace of body or fight. Some time later, two guppies mysteriously died, one F, one M, which I found lying dead at the bottom of my tank. The last remaining guppies were carefully monitored.
<When you say "monitored" what do you mean? Looking at fish is fine, but that's no more useful than your doctor simply glancing at you. As a doctor would take your pulse, listen to your heartbeat, have you say "ahhh" and so on, you, the fishkeeper, need to do diagnostic tests. In this case, there are two: pH and nitrite. Without those key bits of data, separating out environmental issues (too low a pH/hardness; poor water quality) from genuine disease is impossible.>
When I got my other tank set up in my room, I moved the male guppy into the tank, leaving the female with my other fish. So far, nothing else has happened, and both tanks were 40 gals. Is there something wrong with the way I took care of them?
<Impossible for me to say without knowing [a] water chemistry; and [b] water quality.>
There wasn't much temperature change in those days, as I've read guppies can die from a rapid change.
<Fancy Guppies certainly don't tolerate rapid changes. They're "delicate" fish, and need to be treated as such.>
I hope there's a reply soon! I want to protect my last two guppies! Bebe
<Hope this helps, and happy Easter. Cheers, Neale.>

I'm baaaack...Guppies Fin Rot/Fish TB – 03/07/09
Crew,
<Laura>
I know by now I'm becoming something of a pain in the neck. I tried consulting with a couple of exotic pet vets and one of the better local fish stores before contacting you again, but no one knows what to tell me.
This is about my guppies again. For a quick review, I've been treating for what appeared to be fin rot. Dr. Monks and Mr. Fenner, after I told them it spread to my Betta tank somehow, figured I was dealing with something more like Fish TB and recommend I use a Furan Compound. Three treatments over the course of nine days. Well, I'm half way through the second treatment and I'm not noticing a substantial improvement in any of the fish. One of the guppies may be improving, but that could also be just wishful thinking on my part. Should I see evidence of tail re-growth, or diminishing of red spots or streaks at some point during the 9 day treatment?
<Not necessarily... these "things take time">
All the fish seem fine in all other respects, eating, swimming and behaving normally.
Though, they don't particularly like the Q Tank. I don't want to give up on them, I have quite a large emotional and time investment in them, but, goodness, what's going on?
Thanks for the input.
Laura
<Patience. BobF>

Fin Rot still... guppies, Columnaris?  04/03/09
Hello again,
<Laura>
Several weeks ago I wrote regarding some mysterious "fin rot" looking illness effecting my guppy and Betta tanks. It didn't respond to Maracyn or Maracyn II treatment so Mr. Fenner recommended I use a furan compound. I used Furanace, and it didn't seem to be working after about 9 days.
<Dang!>
Mr. Fenner advised patience. I waited a bit ,and decided to try one more round of treatment with Furanace to see if there would be any improvement. I'm sad to report, there has been no improvement in either tank. I lost one guppy, but I think this might have been due to complications during the birthing process. The remaining guppies show no improvement. They're not getting worse as far as I can tell, however. The Betta, on the other hand, is getting worse. I don't know what to do at this point. The systems are as follows:
Ammonia, Nitrite, 0 in both tanks. Nitrate in both tanks is less than 20ppm. Both tanks have live plants, that seem to be thriving. The guppy system is Brackish with a SG of 1.003. It's 29 gallons with 10 guppies and their fry. Water temp is 79 F. The Betta system is fresh with a Malawi Salt mix added in hopes of stabilizing a very low KH and slightly acidic pH.
It's 10 gallons.
Water temp is around 79 F. The Betta is the only inhabitant. Both systems have sponge filters running on air pumps that turn the full tank 4 times an hour.
Thanks for any help.
Laura
<Next in line of a possible fix here: Neomycin Sulfate... Please do read re this antibiotic's use... and the symptoms of Columnaris... Bob Fenner>

Re: Fin Rot still... 4/3/09
Thank you for your response. I looked up Columnaris, and it doesn't lookalike a match. What I read said that the acute kind of Columnaris kills in hours, and the chronic kind kills in days.
<Yes... this is usually the case/etiology... However... it can be "forestalled" by salt, the use of other antimicrobials... Do allow me a small comment here... this process (a blitzkrieg) of testing by treating is entirely unsatisfying... likely to you, definitely to me... But is the too-patterned method employed by home-hobbyists. Do you have access to a 400 or higher power microscope? Some basal micro- tools, dyes...? If so...  we could have a much more directed conversation>
The fish have had this now for months, literally. Also, there aren't any white patches, spots, or cottony areas.
<Oh... then we're very likely, make that VERY... talking environmental roots of your troubles here>
In the Betta, the only symptom is the tail splitting.
<Environmental>
In the guppy tank, the symptoms are even more elusive. One male has two red spots on his tail. The other male's tail looks uneven, but not splitting like the Betta, and no red spots. All of the females have what appear to be perfectly healthy finnage.
<Could be just chasing each other...>
The only exceptions are two females who have some very faint reddening of the tail edges and one female whose tail seems to be fading at the edges. Other than that, everything is perfectly normal.
The eating, swimming, and behavior of all fish, (affected and unaffected alike) seem to be perfectly normal. Should I still try the Neomycin Sulfate?
Laura
<Mmm, no... let's move back to square one... and you please give me all detail you have on the system/s, water quality, any decor that is in the tanks... What you do with what water you employ... There is "something" amiss here... metal, shells, an agate... in the tank/s that is causing your fishes to be too stressed. You have read on WWM re Guppy systems, diseases?
B>

Re: Fin Rot still... 4/3/09
Mr. Fenner,
First, thanks for taking the time to help me with this. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support. Now for the information you requested.
Guppy Tank:
* 12 Fancy Guppies (10 females, 2 males) in a 29 G tank.
<Fine>
* 2 sponge filters stacked and running on an air pump that's circulating 200 GPH
<Fine>
* Water temp is 79.4 F
<A bit high, but not intolerable>
* Water chemistry is brackish with SG of 1.003
* Water Parameters are: NH3 = 0, NO2 = 0, NO3 = 20 (these were the weekly
parameters since the establishment of the bio-filter 5 months ago)
<NO3 at about the maximum I'd allow. This may indicate, be an indicator of  the real source of trouble here>
I use Prime as the de-chlorinator and water conditioner. This is a relatively new practice. Until about one month ago I used just a tap water de-chlorinator. I was told that Prime helped fish that were stressed or ill, so I thought I'd try it.
<Is fine>
For lighting I have a full spectrum florescent 18W bulb in the standard hood fixture.
There is one live Anubias plant. I dose twice weekly with Seachem Flourish. As for the ornamentation, there is black gravel, about 15 river rocks,
<?! Where did these originate? Did you collect them? Do you have an Alkalinity test kit... Please see below>
5 fake "planted" plants, and some fake floating plants for fry to hide in. There is a small "treasure chest", a small fake rock made to look like there's coral on it, a larger fake rock/coral thing all with holes and spaces for the fish to swim in and out of. Not sure what they're made of but they were purchased at the local pet store, and made by TopFin. I don't know if that helps or not. I faithfully test the water in the tank every Thursday. The parameters are always perfect with ammonia and nitrite at 0.
I also faithfully gravel vac, and change 10 gallons of water every Friday.
<Good amount, interval>
Yes, being guppies I get a litter or two of fry every couple of weeks.
<A good sign>
The fry are removed from the tank during the Friday water change and (forgive the harsh reality here) fed to my frogs. (Xenopus) I feed them once a day, dry flakes that say they're for livebearers. They also get an occasional treat of frozen bloodworms, but that's only about once per month. Also, when there are fry present, I feed Hikari Fry Food. Again, just once per day. They clear the food in about 3 minutes or less. I should point out that, since treating with Furanace the KH has dropped substantially to about 40ppm, ph has come down some from 7.2 to about 6.8,
<Yes... to be expected>
and I had a partial loss of the bio filter, so the parameters are no longer "ideal". I'm doing more frequent small water changes to help re-cycle the tank.
Now on to the Betta tank:
1 male Betta in 10G tank
1 sponge filter running on an air pump that's circulating 40GPH
Water temp is about 80 F
Water Parameters are: NH3=0, NO2=0, and NO3<10. (these were the weekly parameters since the establishment of the bio-filter 6 months ago)
I began using Prime in this tank at the same time I started using it in the guppy tank.
For lighting I have full spectrum 8W Compact Florescent bulbs in the standard hood fixture.
There is one live banana plant. I dose twice weekly with Seachem Flourish.
There is a "Sphinx" ornament(also made by TopFin), multi-colored gravel, five river rocks,
<Again...>
and fake plants floating at the surface. Water level is about 1.5 inches from the top. My maintenance regime is the same as for the guppy tank. I faithfully test the water in the tank every Thursday. The parameters are always perfect with ammonia and nitrite at 0. Of course, I only change about 3 or 4 gallons of the water during the weekly gravel vac.
I feed him once a day. Almost always frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp, though I occasionally switch it up to frozen bloodworms. As with the guppy tank, since treating with Furanace KH dropped to about 40ppm and ph has dropped to 6.8. In this tank, I've had a complete loss of the bio-filter and am in the process of a complete "fish in" re-cycle. For this tank, because of the drop in KH and the worsening of the fish's tail, I decided to try a 50% dose of a Malawi Salt Mix recipe given to me by Dr. Monks. It's 1/2 teaspoon each of freshwater aquarium salt and baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of Epsom salts. I've only started this in the last week, again hoping to stabilize KH and pH. I was also hoping the salt might aid in healing.
<Could>
To answer your question, yes, I've read the WWM articles and FAQs about both the guppy and Betta systems. But I've also gone one better, the system I have set up for the guppies was recommended by Dr. Monks in another correspondence. My original email on this was way back on Jan. 29th of this year. So you see I've been dealing with this for some time. Dr. Monks also more or less blessed my maintenance regime during that correspondence. In the interest of full disclosure, I also have a 55g tank set up with 4 Xenopus laevis, and 6 Otocinclus. None of the inhabitants are exhibiting any signs of stress or disease. The bio-filter is intact, and everything is wonderful. If only that were the case in all my tanks. Thanks again for your help.
Laura
<Of all that you mention Laura... the rock is most suspect. If it were me, mine, I'd buy and place a pad of PolyFilter in your circulation, filter flow path... and see what colour/s develop... I suspect something is present here, presenting a low-grade toxicity. The color on the pad will tell us a bit re what this might be. Bob Fenner>

Help! Female guppy with red line protruding from her anus, and thin guppy.  03/04/09
Hello,
I'm no newbie at keeping fish, but my female guppy has developed a really strange problem, which I think is caused by my male guppy harassing her trying to mate.
<This certainly will stress females. Do remember the three golden rules of mixing male and female livebearers: [A] Lots of space; for Guppies, that's 20 gallons (90 litres) minimum. Smaller tanks just don't give the females any space to find some peace and quiet. [B] Lots of floating plants; these give the females hiding places as well as places for the newborn fry to hide. [C] Lots of females; always always always have at least twice as many females as males. Anything less means the females get constantly harassed.
It's cruel to keep them in "pairs", despite them often being sold as such.
Me? I keep a single male livebearer with 5-6 females. Works much better.>
basically there is a red line, not dangling, but protruding from her anus.
<Most probably Camallanus worms, which will need treating with a suitable anti-helminth medication (Levamisole, Piperazine or Praziquantel often recommended, but Fenbendazole or Flubendazole seem to be much more reliable.).>
(by the way, for a guppy do they have separate birthing canal and digestive canal?) It looks sharp and pointy?
<Good question! In the case of Poeciliid livebearers, the birth canal and the digestive system share a common opening called a 'cloaca'. This is similar to most vertebrates except for placental mammals.>
And its very thin--like a line on a page.
<Sounds very like a nematode.>
She is eating well, is pregnant (but not heavily pregnant), and is able to poop with no problems. Prior to this, her anus hole looked big, and I thought she might have been ready to give birth.
<Hmm...>
Have you heard of this before? Do you think this could end up being a fatal problem?
<Unfortunately it is rather common among farmed livebearers, and usually when I hear about it via WWM, it seems to be livebearers and cichlids, both farmed under intensive conditions and consequently exposed to parasites
more readily. It's fatal if not treated, but can be treated successfully.>
Then the second part of my question,
Have you ever come across guppies that are just thin?
I have this other female guppy that has a thin abdomen, no matter how much I try to fatten her up to a normal looking size. Meaning that her abdomen has a slight curve rather than a straight line.
<Could be a parasitic infection, or a "wasting disease", or simply skinny genes... Would treat all your Guppies with Fenbendazole or Flubendazole in the same tank, on the assumption all may be infected to some degree, even if only the one is obviously infected.>
When she was pregnant, she became "normal" sized, then after giving birth (and having all her fry eaten by the other guppies), she went back to being thin again. She has a good appetite, and if I put her in a large net and feed her, she eats all the food and puts on weight, then the next day she is skinny again. Is it possible for guppies to have worms...?
<Yes.>
Could you advise me on this please?
Thanks for your time....!
Regards,
--
Wanda
<Cheers, Neale.>
PS: I now think my other male guppy has caught the "thinness problem". None of the other fish have it, so I don't think it is contagious but I am not sure!! =[
and that male has been swimming as though its tail is dragging it down, and not been eating much. sadness.
<Treat them all together! NM.>

Re: Help! Female guppy with red line protruding from her anus, and thin guppy.  03/04/09
Thanks for your help! the male guppy died half an hour after I sent the email...[?]
<Oh dear!>
One last question: would it be a problem if the guppy fry get dosed by the medication too? I am keeping them in a breeder tank within the main tank for now.
<They should be fine. Generally fish medications don't harm baby fish.>
And would the mediation affect the snails I have living in my tank?
<I'd remove them to another tank if possible, especially if they're big/messy things like Apple snails.>
Cheers,
<Cheers, Neale.>

Guppies - male swimming funny – 03/03/09
Good morning, I have a 10-gallon tank, and I'm a very conscientious new aquarist (about 6 months) with some success. We have some Corys, male guppies and lampeye tetras in our tank. I've been testing the water, cleaning the tank & filter, feeding not too much/too little, feeding high-quality pellets and changing 30% of the water every week since we started our tank.
All except for this past month. I went on vacation and bought an automatic feeder. I set it for once in the morning and once at night, and I used cheaper flakes because the pellets seemed to fall out too fast. I went a bit over 2 weeks before changing the water prior to vacation, changed it right before I left, and then the poor guys went another 2 weeks while we were gone. When we came back, they still had lots of food floating in the tank, so I immediately changed the water.
We lost one guppy, and now another is swimming head up/tail down, a bit jittery, and a majority of the time in one place. He's still eating, and he does swim around sometimes. But, he's not swimming like his normal self, though I will mention he doesn't look as bad as the first one we lost.
Since then (about a week ago), I've cleaned the filter, changed the water (30%) every day, and tested it:
Nitrates: 0-5
PH 7.0
These numbers seem fine, are they not? I don't have an ammonium tester - could that be the problem? Could the cheap food flakes have caused this?
How often do you think i should change the water now? It did seem to help when I changed it last night, but I'm certain this guppy is still a bit unhappy. I've read about constipation (and feeding peas) and about using salt treatments, but I'm not quite sure what the little guy has. He's eating and pooping. There are no white spots, red spots, scratching along the gravel...just looks jittery and is swimming tail down. All the other fish seem quite fine.
I think I might be pushing the overstocked limits, but these fish seem(ed) fairly well conditioned to the environment, except when I went 4 weeks with only 2 water changes.
Well, I've been obsessing over your site and over my fish. Any advice you have would be most welcome!!
Thanks,
Lynne in San Francisco
<Lynne, part of your problem is that the tank is far too small. A 10-gallon tank isn't useful for Guppies, and certainly not in conjunction with Corydoras and tetras. In very small tanks you have an uphill struggle to maintain a steady pH, adequate oxygenation, and above all reliably good water quality. For the fish you have, a tank not less than 20 gallons would be essential. Period. End of discussion. Trying to recommend "fixes" for this tank are akin to rearranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic. In terms of specifics, your Guppy likely has something called the "Shimmies", a neurological complaint apparently related to water quality and water chemistry problems. When livebearers are stressed, they often react this way. Behaviours including rocking from side to side, treading water, and other odd swimming movements. Improving water conditions will help, though there's no treatment as such that can be guaranteed to cure it. Just as a reminder, Guppies are classic hard water fish, and you're aiming for a pH
of between 7.5 and 8, and the hardness should be upwards of 10 degrees dH.
Adding 3-5 grammes of marine salt mix (not tonic salt, not aquarium salt) per litre will dramatically improve their health, though tetras and catfish should not be kept in a tank with brackish water. If you cannot move the tetras and cats, then don't use marine salt mix at all, and instead concentrate on raising the carbonate hardness by incorporating some calcareous media (e.g., crushed coral) in the filter, but use small amounts at first so you don't raise the carbonate hardness, and thus the pH, too far or too quickly. Just a reminder: adjusting the pH isn't the aim here, so don't go pouring pH potions into the tank; livebearers care about carbonate hardness, which would seem to be low in your tank if you have a pH of 7. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Guppies - male swimming funny – 03/03/09
Thank you for this response. I really appreciate getting your advice.
<You're welcome.>
I'll try the coral to see if that helps.
<Don't confuse a media bag filled with crushed coral with just sticking a dead coral into the aquarium! A dead coral will not have the desired effect. Water has to be flowing past the crushed coral under pressure to absorb the calcium carbonate fast enough. For a 10-gallon tank, I'd be trying maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of crushed coral in a media bag (the foot of an old pair of nylons works fine). Stick this into the filter, and off you go. If you have an undergravel filter, mix the crushed coral into the gravel. But again, just dumping crushed coral in a regular gravel substrate won't work either; there needs to be water flow!>
I've been feeling like the tank is too small too, but was advised as such by the fish store.
<Oh.>
I'll be considering getting a new tank then.
<Make sense. Saving a couple bucks getting a 10-gallon tank is invariably wasted by the dead fish, medications you end up having to buy. It's a fool's economy. A 20-gallon tank will absorb a lot more punishment before things go wrong, and is easily the best recommendation for casual aquarists. Who don't want to be fiddling with dead fish all the time.>
Thanks a ton.
Lynne
<Cheers, Neale.>

Guppies, babies, Ich trtmt.  3/2/09
hi
i have found ick in my tank on a neon tetra ,i have treated before with ick guard and it worked. I would like to use it again but i have found some baby fish in my tank if i lower the dose will it harm the babies? and will it work?
<Ick medication used correctly should do no harm to livebearer fry. Do not reduce the dosage or it won't work! Remember to remove carbon from the filter while treating the fish. Cheers, Neale.>

HELP!!!! Guppies with the shimmy shimmy shakes... and worse    2/17/09
Hello everyone. I have a major problem!
<Oh?>
My guppies had the shakes, they were closed fin and kinda shaky I did a half tank water change on my 55 gallon and noticed they were still sick two days later.
<Hmm... with Poeciliids generally, the "shakes" is often a sign of severe stress, typically induces by water chemistry issues. Guppies need at-least moderately hard water with a pH above 7.5 to do well. Arguably, the addition of a small quantity of marine salt mix helps by raising pH and carbonate hardness as well as salinity. In any event, if exposed to a sudden pH drop, as can happen in old tanks with limited carbonate hardness, they are among the first fish to show signs of stress. This is doubly true with Fancy Guppies, which are an order of magnitude less robust than
wild-type Guppies (be they feeders or genuine wild Guppies).>
I noticed one of my 30 Cory cats had a white fungus spot on her fin so I put some Melafix in along with Prime for the new water change. These fish had been doing wonderful for the last 10 years. My cats breed like crazy.
<Well, Melafix is completely unreliable, and in terms of fixing a Fungus problem is only marginally better than praying to the Fish Gods. I would certainly be using some appropriate (and scientifically tested) anti-fungal, e.g., one based on Acriflavine or malachite green. Here in England, I recommend eSHa 2000; in other parts of the world you will
doubtless have other brands available.>
Since then all my guppies (60 or more) have passed on. They were dead on the bottom every morning 6-10 each day. I did another water change thinking it was the Melafix. Maybe quarter tank.
<Hmm... if there's a massive fish loss, there are two steps. Firstly, check the water chemistry and temperature. Write them down. Next up, change as much of the water as is practical, 75% or more. If the water chemistry is the same as it usually is, then replace the old water with new, dechlorinated water that has similar water chemistry and temperature.
(Note: big water changes only cause problems *if* the water chemistry and temperature changes are severe.) This will flush out any problems such as ammonia, nitrite, or toxins like bug spray or detergent. If the old water chemistry was way off, e.g., instead of being the normal pH 7.5, it was down at pH 6.2, you'll have to gradually acclimate the fish to the "correct" conditions. Do this by adding new water with the right water chemistry a bucket at a time, or such that it takes 60 minutes to fill the whole aquarium up, with 10 minutes between each bucket (or fraction/multiple buckets) of water. This way, you're acclimating the fish to new water conditions, just as if you were introducing new fish you'd just bought from the pet store. By the way, take care to leave the filter running through all this, even if that means lowering the inlet/outlet pipes. If you absolutely cannot leave the filter running, then disconnect but then put the biological media in a nice shallow basin of aquarium water so the oxygen can get in and keep the bacteria happy. Switch off and left closed up, some filters (e.g., canister filters) can die back after 20 minutes or so. The last thing you want to deal with is an ammonia crisis. You can safely disconnect the heater though; for the sake of an hour or so,
the lack of a heater won't make any difference.>
Still my guppies were dropping like flies. Now it has moved on to my beloved Cory catfish. Fish the pandas started dying two three at a time.
Their fins and bodies started deteriorating. Now my albinos and greens are dying 4 or 5 at a time. It looks like their bodies are turning to stone, then they start going nuts, swimming erratically and are belly up.
<Do review water chemistry and water quality, quickly! Whenever you get lots of fish across different species, it's almost never a "disease" as such, but an environment. Think of it this way: if you came across a bunch of sick people, you'd assume an epidemic of some sort, but if you say sick people, sick dogs, sick cattle, sick birds, you'd assume pollution. Just so in a fish tank; if lots of fish are all getting ill at the same time, it's time to review environmental conditions.
The death is moving faster and faster through the tank. My mollies (3 of them) and banjo cats are unaffected.
<So far...>
I have 2 whiptail and Farlowellas they are fine too.
<So far... Farlowella spp. catfish are notoriously sensitive to poor conditions.>
My plants are green and healthy. What is going on here???? I have done another water change and major filter cleaning in case it was the meds but still the cats are dying, the guppies have seemed to stabilize just one or
two look bad. I only have maybe 10 left. Help me......
<As I say, the "triage" element is a big water change, but first do the "investigation" element to test for ammonia and/or nitrite (i.e., water quality) and also the pH and ideally hardness (to test for water chemistry stability). To me, this sounds like either a pH crash, accidental poisoning of the aquarium (e.g., by bug spray or paint fumes), or an ammonia/nitrite spike (e.g., by overfeeding or a blocked filter).>
Jamie
<Good luck, Neale.>
<<RMF also suspects Columnaris here>>

Fin Rot... (Poecilia; health, behaviour?)  1/30/09
Hi there,
I'm not sure where to start exactly, so I'll give you the set up and situation, then hopefully my question will be clearer. And please forgive the length of this question. The set up is:
* 10 Fancy Guppies (8 females, 2 males) in a 29 G tank.
* 2 sponge filters stacked and running on and air pump that's circulating 200 GPH
* Water temp is 79.4
* Water chemistry is brackish with SG of 1.003
* Water Parameters are: NH3 = 0, NO2 = 0, NO3 = 20 (!!!This is part of my question)
This is a fish only tank. By that I mean there have never been, nor are there now, live plants in the tank. Before you say anything, yes, I know that live plants keep nitrates down, but I've had trouble getting plants to live in this tank for some reason, so I gave up on it. But, more to the point, is up until about 3 or 4 weeks ago Nitrates were never more than 5.
So part of my question is what may have caused the change? I faithfully test the water in the tank every Thursday. The parameters are always perfect with ammonia and nitrite at 0. I also faithfully gravel vac, and change 10 gallons of water every Friday. That's about a 30% change, which I would think to be sufficient to keep parameters in check. Yes, being guppies I get a litter or two of fry every couple of weeks. The fry are removed from the tank during the Friday water change and (forgive the harsh reality here) fed to my frogs. (Xenopus) So the first part of my question is do you have any guesses as to why Nitrates started rising? Which leads me the second part of my question/situation. Can Nitrates AT or BELOW 20 ppm cause Finrot? Because I can't figure out how this happened. One of the males has a clear case of Finrot. Two red spots on a frayed tail. I've removed him to a 10 gallon Q Tank, and have been treating him with a concurrent course of Maracyn and Maracyn II for the last four days.
I'm not really seeing a lot of progress yet, but I'm hopeful. In the meantime, I've treated the 29 gallon tank with a course of API's Fungal Cure which says it cures tail and fin rot. The problem is I can't quite tell if the other 9 guppies need a more aggressive treatment. Some of the females have started to have a mild fading at the ends of their tails, but not all. No one has any noticeable red streaks/spots, or fraying. In addition, I'm not convinced there's a fungus present. There aren't any white spots or patches or whatever the fungus is supposed to look like.
Obviously I'm trying to avoid having to treat the 29 gallon tank with antibiotics. But I don't have ten 10 -gallon tanks laying around to individually treat all the fish. But I'm also not interested in having my little friends suffer and die. So I'm at something of a loss as to how to proceed with treatment of this problem. Also, guppies are schooling fish, so does the stress of being alone in the Q Tank for 5 plus days sort of cause more problems than it solves for the poor little guy?
Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Laura
<Laura, the short answer is than 20 mg/l nitrate shouldn't cause any health problems at all. That's a very safe level of nitrate for a freshwater aquarium. So let's move on from there. Your maintenance regime seems fine.
Finrot is often caused by water quality issues, but not always. The other common reason is physical damage. Now, I mention this because Guppies are not peaceful fish; indeed, the males are apt to be aggressive. They are not schooling fish as such, but rather the females congregate in groups while the males fight over access to the females. A dominant male will try and bully any other males that get close. Because Fancy Guppies have particularly long fins, they're less able to swim away from danger, but their front ends (their teeth and jaws) aren't any different. So it's still possible for them to bite one another, and quite possibly any damage caused will be more severe. In other words, my gut feeling is that this is a social behaviour issue. Livebearers generally do best in groups where the females outnumber the males by three to one, or more! For example, at the moment I'm keeping a single male Limia nigrofasciata in a tank alongside eight mature females and their fry. Although this species isn't especially aggressive, when kept in groups the males certainly do chase one another and try to assert their dominance. Put another way, removing some males and adding more females could fix the problem. In any event, treat Finrot in the main tank. Since it's not a contagious diseases as such (all tanks have the bacteria that cause Finrot present all the time) there's no need to isolate suffering fish, unless of course that fish can't feed or swim normally. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Fin Rot... (Poecilia; health, behaviour?)  1/30/09
Thanks so much Dr. Monks. Once again, you've helped a lot. Just one follow up. When you say, "treat the main tank", do you mean with Maracyn?
And, if so, won't that crash the system?
Laura
<Hello Laura. Yes, treat the main aquarium with Maracyn (or Maracyn 2). No need for a quarantine tank. Maracyn (or Maracyn 2) used correctly should not harm the biological filter, bit do read the instructions CAREFULLY. I
mention both drugs because they each treat one of two different subsets of bacteria, the so-called gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Both can cause Finrot and Finrot-like symptoms. Usually Maracyn works, which is why
it's the drug of choice, but if after the completed course there's no improvement, do a big water change (25-50%) and then start with Maracyn 2.
Cheers, Neale.>

Losing Guppies one after another.   12/15/08
Hello there,
I have kept tropical fish on and off for most of my life and have normally considered myself pretty knowledgeable. But much to my poor guppies dismay, I am at a loss with this one. I returned to fish keeping about a year ago and have made the usual hobby progression from, oh lets just get a small 5 gallon all the way to my current 20 gallon tank and plans for a 55.
In my current 20 gallon tank before the crisis, I had 5 guppies 1 male and 4 females (all second generations from my first pair) 2 neon tetras (want more but cant find good ones and afraid to overload tank), and a snail problem.
Ammonia and nitrite 0 nitrate barely detectable. ph 7.0 and hardness 150ppm I do have pretty hard tap water but all my fish have always done fine.
Use Prime for a dechlorinator. Everything has been stable but then i added a few more fish. I'm not only regretting that choice but also that i didn't quarantine.
I went to my LFS and bought a pair of guppies to provide some genetic diversity, since all my current ones were related, and a small 1 1/2 to 2 inch clown loach for the snails. (I know they get large and do plan on moving him to a 55 gallon as he outgrows the 20 gallon. Also disappointed i didn't get more and cant really fit more in the tank. I acclimated them to the temp. and the water and introduced them. Then i saw it, the small white spot on my clown loach. Knowing their weakness to Ich I immediately took notice. I didn't want to make any drastic changes as they were just getting acclimated to their new home conditions, so over the next few days i raised temp. from the usual 78 to 82 and added aquarium salt gradually, keeping the dosage low because of the loach's sensitivity. My biggest neon showed specks after a few days but none of my other fish. All of my water parameters stayed in check and i thought I was going to make it through. Then something went terribly wrong.
Day 1 of the catastrophe I found that one of my females had given birth, and she looked horrible. She was pale and hovering near the surface in a corner but not gasping for air. 12 hours later she was laying on her side on the gravel, occasionally dashing up towards the surface and falling back down. Removed and euthanized her. All of my other fish seemed fine. Then later in the evening another female started the hovering at surface behavior. Following morning she also was on the bottom. None of them showed signs of ich just the weird behavior then crash.
I now have only 1 female guppy left, my newly purchased one. My new male went down this morning, and quick. From looking fine to bottom flopping in 2 hours. My clown loach is doing great no more Ich, my neon cleared up too. Only issue with him is he likes to sit in a spot and gasp a lot but then goes about just fine after a bit, but he's always done that, the other one doesn't. I did get a baby in my bag of guppies and its doing just fine. The newly born fry are doing just fine, but there was a mass adult guppy genocide and I don't understand why.
I'm watching my female. I think she looks fine but I'm paying so much attention to her behavior that every now and then she does something that makes me nervous, and then quickly returns to normal. I'm sure it's just me, being overly alert, but I desperately want at least one of my guppies to survive. Especially since she mated with my pretty 2nd generation male before he withered away.
I don't want to go throwing medications at the problem. For one I have no clue what's going on and 2 I know loaches do not tolerate a lot of meds.
For the most part I have always had good luck with raising temp and adding salt for ich, none of my fish ever reacted badly from the change. And I would have thought that the babies or the loach would have fallen victim first. So now I am completely at a loss. I have gone through the forums and tons of websites but can't find anything that seems to match. Any help would be appreciated, and thank you ahead of time.
Desperate and confused,
Brandon
P.S. In case low Oxygen was considered since i raised temp. I do have a large airstone in the tank and surface agitation from filters.
<Hello Brandon. Wild and "feeder" Guppies are generally very easy to keep and tolerant of a broad range of conditions, but the Guppies sold in pet stores are typically "fancy" varieties and these have become increasingly delicate and disease-prone. The use of salt can help, and is likely ubiquitous on fish farms. At low doses (1 g per litre) you aren't likely to stress tetras or loaches in the short term, but generally speaking I'd always recommend keeping livebearers with salt-tolerant species so that you can add more salt as required. Sodium chloride does have a useful nitrite/nitrate detoxification function, and the carbonate/bicarbonate salts in marine salt mix (my recommendation) steadies pH and raises the carbonate hardness. With Mollies, the use of marine salt mix is the difference between easy maintenance (with marine salt mix) or persistent health problems (without). Guppies are not usually so delicate, but over the generations it may well be that fancy Guppies are drifting in that direction. So if possible, I'd recommend adding marine salt mix at a dose of, say, 3-6 grammes per litre. This won't harm Guppies or any other livebearers, but would not be compatible with tetras or Clown loaches. The benefit though is you could cross off water chemistry and water quality issues from the list of possible causes. If adding marine salt mix isn't an option, then I'd certainly be monitoring nitrite and pH stability very closely. All this said, I'm not convinced that either water quality or water chemistry are the key issues here. Whitespot/ick can be dangerous, but it's usually something that becomes an obvious killer: at levels likely to cause death, the fish would be covered in white parasites. But whitespot can transmit viruses, and I wonder if that's what's going on here. That would explain why the Guppies dies but the other fish recovered. Viruses are essentially untreatable so far as aquarium fish are concerned, so beyond waiting for the cycle to break, there isn't much you can do. Those fish that survive are presumably immune or otherwise able to deal with the virus. Good genes, hybrid vigour in the case of cross-breed babies, overall health and youth may be factors. In any event, I'd wait a few weeks and see what happens. If the other species work out fine, I'd leave the Guppy population to settle down, and as/when you buy some more, get some wild-caught or perhaps feeder Guppies to get some good genes into the system. I'd avoid buying any Guppies from your last supplier, at least until they've sold out whatever variety you bought last time. Do also review diet, water chemistry, etc; most anything that improves overall health will be useful here. Cheers, Neale.>

My fancy female guppy... beh./hlth., need for data, reading    12/10/08
My fancy female guppy all of a sudden in the past week has started swimming and staying on her side I just discovered 10 baby fish no clue which guppy they came from but my question is what can cause her to stay like this, she still moves around and tries to eat is it possible that the babies could be stuck inside her?
<Mmm, yes...>
She appeared to be very pregnant when this first started. PLEASE HELP!!!
thank you
dawn
<Dawn... need to know what your system consists of, its maintenance, feeding... water quality, history of the set-up... Please read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm
and the linked files above... Bob Fenner>

Re: My fancy female guppy  12/11/08
What can I do to help her? Anything at all?
<...? Read please... provide useful data... as per others recorded input.
B>

New to website and to fish... Guppies, et al. FW fish hlth., stkg.   - 12/06/08
Hi, I was given 7 breeder guppy, 1adult male, 1adult female and the rest were different ages.(1is a maturing male, 3 are smaller and 1 is a fry baby)
<Guppies cannot be easily or safely kept in a 10 gallon tank; the males will pester the females, and will likely fight with one another too.>
Well the 2 males started chasing the 1 female and wouldn't let her rest so I moved the males to a different tank.
<What happens...>
I guess I didn't move them fast enough she died. Her chest started turning dark after I moved them. It look like someone's chest x-ray that has cancer.
Did she get some kind of disease or fungus?
<Could be a variety of things, likely stress- or environment-induced. What is the water quality like? Guppies need zero ammonia and zero nitrite, and in a small, new aquarium this can be difficult to ensure. Moreover, Guppies also need hard, basic water. Some aquarists make the mistake of imagining the pH is the critical factor -- it is not. What Guppies need is water that has a high carbonate hardness. Adding small amounts of marine salt mix (not "aquarium salt" or "tonic salt") at a dose of 5-6 grammes per litre is probably the easiest way to do this. Although marine salt mix contains mostly salt, it also contains calcium carbonate and other water hardening chemicals. This automatically raises the carbonate hardness, making sure the pH is stable and offsetting any problems with soft water you might have. Always remember never to use water from a domestic water softener.
Salt by itself has zero impact on hardness and pH.>
I now have all my fish together. I have a 10 gal tank and my filter quit working for that tank so I'm using the one for my 20 gal. Will that hurt anything?
<Shouldn't do.>
I have the 6 small guppy, 4 blue Neons (3 female and 1 male) and 2 African dwarf frogs in that tank. Is that too many fish for that size tank and will they all get along?
<Neon tetras and Dwarf Frogs are fine in 10 gallon tanks, though Neons should be kept in groups of at least 6 specimens. In small groups like yours they will be permanently stressed and scared.>
Later I would like to get 2 dwarf flame gouramis, will they fit in this community?
<No chance. Moreover, Colisa lalia is extremely prone to a disease called Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus that claims the lives of a ridiculous number of specimens. While the trade and experts like me know all about this, inexperienced fishkeepers don't know, and keep buying the wretched things, causing the breeders in Asia to keep pumping out these disease-infected fish. Until folks like you stop buying them, the problem will continue.
Just say no to Colisa lalia!>
Thank You, Gina
<You still have some reading to do. Check out this article in Conscientious Aquarist this month:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_5/volume_5_3/stocking.htm
Cheers, Neale.>

my guppy  12/4/08 I had 11 guppIes In a 5 gallon tank that had a aIr pump. <Tank too small, too many fish. Why on Earth did you think this would work? Fish are animals, not ornaments. They have needs. Cater to those needs and you won't go wrong!> I feed my fIsh flakes two tImes a day. my guppy can not swIm. she floats at the top and she flaps her fIns. she hasn't been eatIng and she has red gIlls. <Likely very ill, stressed by poor environment, suffering from a secondary infection perhaps. Have you by chance done a water quality test of any kind? What is the water chemistry? The water temperature?> Her spIne has been dramatIcly crooked for four days. what do I do? <Sick... dying... What to do? Read a book about keeping fish, and then keep fish the proper way.> -DanIelle <Why are we doing this silly thing with the letter "i"; traditionally letters in the middle of words aren't capitalised. Is this some new pre-teen fad I missed the memo on? Anyway, your tank is too small (should be 20 gallons, minimum, for Guppies) and water quality is likely abysmally poor. Filtration, not an air pump, is what you need. Fix the environment and your fish have a fighting chance of getting better, particularly if you treat proactively for Finrot. Cheers, Neale.>

Need immediate help with guppy  11/19/08
I have a "tequila sunrise" (orange and yellow) guppy that has recently become ill.
<What's the water chemistry? Water quality? Fancy guppies are extremely sensitive to poor water quality. If you can detect ammonia or nitrite, then that's the likely problem right there. Guppies also need hard, basic water; hardness 10-25 degrees dH, pH 7.5-8.0.>
I have a 25 gallon tank with only three small neon tetras, one guppy, and one Pleco that has been established for about a year.
<Please buy at least as many more Neons; they're sociable animals and very unhappy in such small numbers. The Plec will obviously get way to big for this tank. The average Plec gets to about 45 cm (18 inches) within 2-3 years.>
I do water changes weekly and the water quality is fine.
<"Fine", unfortunately, covers a lot of ground! Some aquarists imagine all sorts of things as being "fine", when in fact they're idea of "fine" is actually "Hell" from the perspective of the fish. So please, give me the numbers. At minimum, you should have a pH and a nitrite test kit. Use them.>
Only the guppy has become ill but he is eating and swimming normally. On one side of his head, which has become bright orange, his scales are sticking out around his gills and his fin on that side also has some orange color while the other fin is still clear. He has an ulcer that has become larger over the past couple of days and some of his scales are falling off. He doesn't stay near the water surface or scratch on anything. I tried treating with tetracycline for several days with water changes but it did not help. I couldn't get a good picture so I attached a short movie.
<Let's talk about the ulcer. That's a secondary bacterial infection, almost always related to poor water quality. The redness of the head is also likely a bacterial infection, and the orange spots on the fin surely Finrot. While there may be situations where these things happen outside of water quality problems, ninety-nine times out of a hundred they're related to water quality or physical damage. Given the tankmates here, I don't believe physical damage is the issue.>
Please Help!
<Review water quality and water chemistry. Give me the numbers if you're not sure what they mean. Treat with a suitable anti-Finrot medication (such as Maracyn or eSHa 2000), remembering to remove carbon from the filter (if you use it) any time you add medications to an aquarium.>
Thanks,
Jessica
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: need immediate help with guppy  11/19/08
Neale,
Here are the numbers after testing the water:
nitrate - 40 ppm, nitrite - 0, hardness - 150 ppm, chlorine - 0, pH - 7.8.
I am getting ready to move the Pleco to a larger tank since he is already 8 inches long and I was going to get a few more tetras but I wanted to help the guppy first before risking the spread of a disease. I will try the Maracyn treatment and remove the carbon from the filter. Would you suggest another water change before adding the medication? Thanks for your help.
Jessica
<Hello Jessica. Zero nitrite is obviously a good thing, so from that angle at least things seem fine. As for water chemistry, your water is only moderately hard, and while excellent for Neons and catfish, it's a little softer than I'd recommend for Guppies. That said, I doubt that's the problem here. So there's nothing obviously "wrong" with the environment. Bottom line, I'm now mystified about precisely what the cause of the disease is. My advice for treating with Maracyn holds, and if it doesn't work, do a big (50%) water change and switch to Maracyn 2. Between them,
these two antibiotics should cover most of the common causes of ulcers and Finrot. As for doing water changes prior to medication, that's never a bad idea. Just remember, don't do water changes between the first and final
doses of any course of medication. Good luck, Neale.>  

Guppy disease 11/15/08
Hey!
I haven't talk to you guys like in forever! Well....My mom went out and bought me two guppies, one is a girl and one is a boy. When she got home, I did my usual routine and put the bag in the water for 45 min. and then I let them out into my adult guppy tank. (I did this yesterday) Now, this morning when I checked on them, the boy was completely fine, but the girl had developed a abscess or pimple right next to her head.
<...sound like she was nipped. How many other fish are in the tank? ...what size tank? etc.>
Ten I noticed some ich so I treated the ich. I just now checked on her and the ich got worse. I put her in a separate fish bowl to isolate her. What should I do?
<You should start reading...
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwich.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwichremedyyes.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/ichfaqs.htm >
Thanks!
-Sarah
<De nada,
Sara M.>

Re: Guppy disease 11/16/08
OK,
Including all fish in the tank, (even the sick one) I have 2 adult females, 1 adult male. 1 older baby male, and 1 older baby female. All of theses are guppies. They are in a ten gallon aquarium with 6 semi-big plants.
<Ok, that sounds fine. Sometimes fish just get ich from the stress of moving to a new system. Please read the links I sent you regarding how to treat ich. Isolating the fish that is sick is also a good idea.>
_Sarah
<Best,
Sara M.>

Re: Guppies? 11/20/2008
Ok..I now have the bad news that the yellow female guppy has died.
<When fish die for no particular reason, it's usually a water quality or water chemistry issue.>
But now, the other male has gotten into a fight or accident and now, behind his head there is a circle of flesh missing.
<Treat for Finrot. Identify the problem. If the tank is less than 20 gallons in size, you can't have more than one male Guppy. They fight. If the tank has sharp decorations, remove them. If there are any "nippy" fish in the tank (tetras, barbs, etc.) then remove them. Fish do not randomly lose bits of skin, and if they do, it's a clue something is wrong with the tank. As ever, check water quality: zero ammonia, zero nitrite are what you need. Water chemistry should be appropriate too: "high" hardness (10-25 degrees dH) and a pH above 7.5.>
Should I add aquarium salt to the tank? If not, what can I do?
<"Aquarium salt" is mostly useless, and sold to beginners as a way of making them pay money for nothing in particular. Certainly, Guppies do extremely well in brackish water, and if you have soft water in your area, keeping them in brackish water helps. For this, buy some marine salt mix (the stuff used in marine tanks, like Instant Ocean) and use this to raise the salinity, pH and carbonate hardness simultaneously. For Guppies, a dose of 3-6 grammes per litre is appropriate.>
I have just introduced my younger sister into the joy of having guppies.
This boy is one of her four guppies. I'd hate to see her lose him.
-Sarah
(just a heads up, my younger sister Anna, will be asking you a lot of questions!)
<Before anything else, I suggest the two of you walk, no, run, to the nearest bookstore or library and get hold of a book on Guppies (or livebearers generally). There are many.>

Mysterious Guppy deaths...
Hi there,
So, as the subject line suggests, I'm losing guppies and can't figure out why. Here's the system:
10g tank
Inhabitants:
6 Fancy Guppies (2 males, 4 females)
3 Feeder Guppy Fry (maybe 1 week or two old)(I started with
6 Feeder Guppies, 1 pg female, 1 male, and 4 fry)
8 Fancy Guppy Fry (just two days old)
2 ghost shrimp
(the fry will be moved in about a week)
Sponge filter running with an airstone on a Rena 300 air pump (approx 40GPH)
50% dose of Malawi Salt Mix (this was started when there were apple snails in the tank, I just kept doing it because I was told livebearers would like it too)
Plastic plants and decorations (hiding spaces etc), standard gravel
American Frogbit (Limnobium Spongia) Floating
Daily dose of Seachem Flourish Excel for the plants
Water temp: 78F
NH3/4 = 0
No2 = 0
No3 <20
pH=7.8 ( could be more like 8)
KH = 180
GH = 300
No chlorine or anything like that.
I feed the guppies high quality mix (flakes, freeze dried) a couple times a day. Only what they can clear in 3 min.s. They occasionally get a treat of Frozen Bloodworms.
I drop an Algae Wafer in every few days for the ghost shrimp. (I don't know if that's necessary, but wouldn't want to starve them unwittingly)
Now for the problem. The wild/feeder guppies seem to be dying for no reason. The first death was the pregnant female on Monday. She hung around the top of the tank for about 24 hours, I thought she was getting ready to give birth. Later that night, she was floating at the surface. I just thought there had been a complication during the birth. The next day, I went to test the water parameters and found another feeder guppy dead on the bottom. I never noticed any odd behavior, but I had moved him from another tank, and assumed it was stress or shock of some kind. Then today, I was just watching them, and making sure everyone was doing ok, and found another dead feeder on the bottom. Yesterday, I did notice that this one had been hanging out at the bottom. Not really swimming around like the others, and not making much of an effort to find food or eat. None of the corpses showed any signs of infection or disease, no spots, or tears, or anything. So what's happening? My concern is that whatever it is that's killing the feeders will get to the fancies as well. They're (of course) different stock, they're also from different stores. Of interest, however, is that there are 10 more feeders from the same stock living in a 55g tank that's only 71F. They're supposed to be getting eaten, but my frogs haven't figured it out yet! Anyway, they're all swimming and living seemingly normal lives in the 55g. Could it be the Malawi Salt mix? Tomorrow's water change day, so I was thinking about doing a 10-15% change with just freshwater, no salt mix. But if the guppies really prefer the water a little harder and alkaline, I'll still need it. The "natural" state of the water in this tank is VERY soft and somewhat acidic for some reason. None of the other tanks have this problem. I suppose I could half the dose again. What do y'all think? I can't figure out what could be killing the guppies. Everyone seems happy and healthy. One of the fancies had her fry last night, and she and the fry seem to be doing great so far. The boys are chasing the girls like they should. Everyone's swimming around, picking at whatever microscopic organisms and algae are living on the surfaces. The colors are good and aren't changing. I just can't figure it out.
Thanks for all your help and for taking the time to read all of this.
Laura
<Hi Laura. It's a mystery to me too! There's no obvious reason why your Guppies should be failing. Your water chemistry is ideal for the species, and the water quality is excellent. Feeder Guppies are essentially "wild" Guppies in terms of genetics, and are usually much hardier than Fancy Guppies. There's good experimental evidence in the scientific press that this is the case. For example, feeder guppies can be acclimated to seawater, whereas fancy guppies cannot. So I'm dubious about water chemistry being the issue here, though I will make this point: any water chemistry changes must be done slowly. If you're adding hard water to a tank filled with soft water, you'd do weekly 20-25% water changes, replacing the old water with hard water. Over the weeks, this would allow the fish to adapt. What you don't do is take out all the water and replace it with hard water, or worse, add the Malawi salt mix straight to the aquarium, instantly making it hard. That would be lethal! Anyway, assuming you changed the water chemistry slowly, then I'm curious why the Feeder Guppies have died but not the Fancy Guppies. I wonder if they were either old or infected with something? For what it's worth, I'd sit back and do nothing right now. Leave the aquarium as it is, and certainly don't alter the water chemistry again. If you have the tank 100% filled with hard water, then any new water you put in should be hard water as well. Do make sure you're using the right concentration and types of minerals if you're making your own Malawi salt mix. Right now you perfect conditions for Guppies (feel free to compare your pH and hardness values with any aquarium book) so in and of itself I doubt water chemistry is the issue. In any case, leave things be and see what happens, Without understanding the problem, changing things again could make things worse. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Mysterious Guppy deaths...  11/14/08
Thanks! You've set my mind at ease. I will make no alterations. Just to double check though, the GH of 300 isn't too high?
<Hi there. I assume your test kit is measuring in mg/l calcium carbonate (CaCO3). One degree of general hardness (degrees dH) is equivalent to 17.86 mg CaCO3. Therefore 300 mg/l CaCO3 divided by 17.86 is 16.8 degrees dH,
which is somewhere in between "moderately hard" and "hard". In other words, comfortably within what Guppies (and indeed most other livebearers) require
for good health. Cheers, Neale.>

Dropsy Treatment 11/07/08
Hello,
I emailed you about three days ago and asked what could cause a female guppy to become very large without having a dark gravid spot. She has seems to be in perpetual pregnancy for the past month. She seems very happy, I just upgraded to a 50 gallon tank and hope to get many more guppies, but I realized that she had not been getting any darker in the anal area. All I could find online was the disease "dropsy," I was wondering what I can do to treat it. And, could this be what has kept her form having the babies? Otherwise she seems absolutely perfect and acts very normal.
Thanks Much,
Nate
<Nate, you can't "cure" Dropsy. It isn't a disease. It's a symptom. It's like a rash or a runny nose on a human. While a clue to a problem, in itself it isn't a disease or parasite. So when fish have Dropsy, you have to review the environment and other possible factors. Very occasionally fish get Dropsy because of things you have no control over: bad genes, viruses, etc. If only one fish gets Dropsy, and all the others seem fine, then there's not much you can do beyond trying to alleviate the symptoms.  Adding Epsom salt (one teaspoon per 5 gallons) can help by altering the osmotic pressure between the fish and the water. Keep adding this to each
new bucket of water added to the tank for as long as it takes to reduce the swelling. Otherwise review diet, water quality, water chemistry, etc: all these things can cause problems ranging from constipation through to organ failure, any of which can cause the body to swell unnaturally.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/dropsyfaqs.htm
Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Dropsy Treatment (Poecilia) 11/08/08
Thank you for the advice, but now I have a new question. One of my other females gave birth about three hours ago to eleven fry. She stopped having the babies, and has no "white string" that people sometimes refer to if their guppy is not done giving birth, but she is still very big and has a dark gravid spot. Could she just be tired, or is she done? Is there anything that I can do to help the situation?
Thanks again,
Nate
<The baby Guppies will come out when they're ready. I shouldn't worry too much about white strings or gravid spots. As I say repeatedly on this site, the "gravid spot" isn't a magical thing that Nature put there like a sort of reproductive alarm clock! It's nothing more than the internal organs being pushed against the muscle wall, resulting in a darker than normal appearance. In big females it can be less obvious than in small ones because the muscle wall is thicker, and on larger livebearer species (such as Mollies and Swordtails) it is a completely unreliable characteristic. Much better to go by the size of the female: if she's suddenly become much
more svelte than she was the day before, then she's given birth. Normally all the fry are released within a few hours, though I'm sure exceptions occur. Provided your female Guppy has some floating plants to rest among, that's about all you can do to genuinely help her. Cheers, Neale.>

Guppy Problem. Help Please!
Hi, I have read all through your site about the guppies and learned several things I didn't know, but still didn't find the answer to my problem I'm having, so I'm hoping that you can help me or lead me in the right direction.
<Will do my best>
Let me start off by giving you a little history on my tank back to about 3-4 weeks ago. Up until 3-4 weeks ago my tank had been up for a long time (about 7 months) and doing pretty good. It's a 10 gallon tank with heater, outside filter pump, light, hood, etc. Well, I got some new fish and had a breakout of a fungus infection so I immediately got a fungus clear medicine by Jungle and it cleared it up immediately. Then 2 days after that ich broke out in my tank so I treated that with a different medicine.
<Mmmm, a comment for you, browsers... know that much of these "medicines" are toxic... hard on needed, beneficial microbial life... you may well have to watch for, adjust for nitrogenous anomalies (ammonia, nitrite)...>
All together, most fish survived this process (I had 6 fish at the time) so I was pretty happy. Suddenly about 3 days after stopping treatment for everything since it was all cleared up, my fish started dying.
<Mmmm>
3 had died in 2 days. I immediately thought it was because of the medicine so I did a 100% water change
<Yikes!>
(not the best idea I know, but when I was changing it I noticed it was blue from all the medicine) but I did keep some of the "muck" from the bottom gravel to help a little bit in the cycle and I also added a bacteria supplement.
<Good moves>
I added the fish back that same day as I do not have a QT tank and they seemed to do pretty good. Well the next day I was able to get 10 free guppies, only 3 adults (2 heavily pregnant females and one male), the rest are babies and juveniles no more than about 3/4" long,
<This is very likely way too new life for such a small/newly re-set-up volume...>
and everything still was going well. On Wednesday a few of my fish started to get listless, most of which were the 2 very heavy pregnant females I just got on Monday, and on Thursday I had babies! I was very excited to say the least. But that didn't last long as all the babies (about 70) were dead along with a male that I had had for almost a month. So I discussed it with my
mom what could be wrong and we began to think it was our water as we have well water and have never had it tested so to be honest I have no idea what minerals and stuff could be in our water. So we went out and bought some water out of a machine at a grocery store.
<Mmm, this source may well not be any more suitable...>
It's like the water you buy in the jugs, just cheaper and you have to have your own jug. So I bought 10 gallons and did another 100% water change
<Oh my friend...>
replaced gravel, ornaments, filter, everything, basically starting from scratch. So there is the background on my tank, now to my fish behavior. Starting after the one female had her babies, all the fish began hanging at the top of the water, not gasping or anything, just hanging out, but they had stopped eating, and still haven't eaten yet as of today and I have put in flake food, Spirulina, and algae chips.
<Do stop offering much of anything till you've tested your water...>
2 fish have nibbled on the food today but that's it. I'm frustrated and don't know what to do because they won't eat and they aren't very
active and I can't figure out what's wrong.
As far as tank parameters: (as of today after 100% water change)
Temp: 78 degrees
I also do not have a freshwater test kit but I do have a saltwater test kit and I have been using it hoping I could at least get a rough idea of my ammonia and nitrite levels.
<Mmm, maybe not... Can you read re what the reagents are here?>
However the nitrate test is a fresh/salt water test, so I can trust that one.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrates: 0
Before the 100% water switch my nitrates were 25, which I didn't think were good. Sorry for such a long email I am just hoping that you can help me and tell me what is wrong with my guppies.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I have 10 fish as of right now, 5 adults (1 pregnant female) and 5 juveniles, and a few of them have been flashing (I think that's what it's called when they are scratching up against objects) for the past 2-3 days. Thanks for any help you can give me!
Lexie
<I do think most of the issues you and your guppies have suffered are due to simple "stress"... being moved about, so much water changes, medicine exposure... rather then infectious or parasitic disease... And that the best route for you to go at this point is to be very patient, offer VERY little food, making sure it's being consumed or offering no further at that time... And to keep monitoring your water quality, avoid large/wholesale/complete water changes... I do encourage you to have your well water tested (there may well be a free county service for doing so)... and to at least mix some (maybe half) of this water with any "purified" commercial drinking water, to provide needed mineral, alkalinity/buffering capacity. I am hopeful that your system will stabilize, that your remaining guppies will live from here on out. BTW, the present number is about all this small volume can sustain population wise. Perhaps a few small catfish for the bottom (when the system is stable) would be all I would add here. Bob Fenner>

Poecilia reticulata (health; repro)  11/05/08
Hi
I have two pregnant female guppies, one of which perplexes me, the other of which I need some advice. As to the confusing one, she is about 2 cm thick in her pregnancy- I hope this paints a picture, I just don't know how else to describe it, but her gravid spot is still pinkish. I have the temperature around 75 degrees, so I wonder is this has anything to do with her slow development? Then the other female has a very dark gravid spot, and she looks like she wants to be left alone, but the males keep bugging her (I have 5 females and 3 males). Should I put her in the breeder net to see how she does there? Also, if I should put her in the breeder net, should I be worried about her bullying the fry that are already in there? They are already about a cm long, so I know she can't eat them anymore.
Thanks,
Nate
<Nate, not every swollen Guppy is necessarily pregnant, and in some cases internal parasites, bacterial infections, or organ failure can all cause swelling. It's important to note that the gravid spot isn't a "thing" that happens when the fish is pregnant: it happens because the internal organs (which are dark) are pressed against the wall of the abdomen. In other words, both pregnancy and dropsy can cause a gravid spot to appear. So above all else I'd be checking to see if other issues could be at work.  Review water quality and chemistry, for example. Do also review diet; Guppies are mostly herbivores in the wild, and unfortunately in aquaria some hobbyists forget this and give them regular flake food. What Guppies (and most other livebearers) need is an algae-based flake staple augmented with high fiber foods such as live daphnia now and again. Constipation can easily occur otherwise, and needless to say this can cause dropsy-like symptoms. At 1 cm in length the juvenile Guppies should be safe with adult Guppies. I'm not a big fan of breeding nets for most livebearers, but female Guppies at least may be confined in them for short periods without
undue problems. Cheers, Neale.>

Gravid spots, Guppy hlth.    9/19/08
Hi,
<Hello.>
Ummm....my guppy just floats around (except at feeding time) and her gravid spot is kinds cloudy. What's wrong with her???
<No idea.>
About two weeks ago, she gave birth to 30 even babies. Could that be the reason?
<Unlikely.>
-thanks
-Sarah
<Not enough information here to work with. A photo would help, but in the meantime, review the basics: Guppies need warm, hard, basic water: ~25 degrees C, 10+ degrees dH, pH 7.5-8.0. They're intolerant of ammonia and nitrite; both should be zero at all times. Their diet should include a lot of green foods to avoid constipation. Male Guppies tend to harass the females, and so the tank should be big enough the females can rest up after birth. Cheers, Neale.>

Guppy, hlth...    9/16/08
To whom it may concern, Hello WWM, its been awhile since I've sent an e-mail for advice. 4 of my female guppies died in 2 days. The 1st day 2 died and I did a complete water change, the other 2 seemed alright but did not eat. And on the 2nd day, they too perished. Why would they starve themselves?
<Fish don't tend to starve. Most species can go weeks without food and not come to serious harm. It is MUCH more likely they lost their appetite, and this is almost certainly an issue with either water chemistry of water quality, though possibly temperature. Just to recap: Guppies need basic water (pH 7.5-8.2 is ideal) with a high level of hardness (15+ degrees dH). Adding teaspoons of aquarium salt per gallon won't help and is irrelevant, though adding a small amount (~6-9 grammes/litre) of MARINE salt mix per litre is useful, particularly in soft water areas. The ammonia and nitrite levels must be ZERO. I don't recommend keeping Guppies in tanks smaller than 90 litres; doing otherwise is a bad idea, particularly with fancy Guppies (which are delicate) and female Guppies (which are quite large). Water temperature needs to be around 25 degrees C; these aren't coldwater fish.>
Can 5 male guppies that have lived together in a 30 litre tank for about 5 months be transferred to a small tank?
<Define "small". Males are aggressive and will harass the females, and certainly shouldn't be kept with females in tanks smaller than 90 litres. You should only keep one male per two (or more) females otherwise the females are constantly harassed and stressed.>
Thank you for your time, - Gene
<We're happy to help. Do review the requirements listed above, and check with what you're providing. Any differences between what you have and what your fish need is where the problems are coming from. Good luck, Neale.>

Re: Guppy, hlth...   9/16/08
Thanks for the reply.
<You are most welcome.>
You mentioned:-
"Fish don't tend to starve. Most species can go weeks without food and not come to serious harm. It is MUCH more likely they lost their appetite, and this is almost certainly an issue with either water chemistry of water quality, though possibly temperature. Just to recap: Guppies need basic water (pH 7.5-8.2 is ideal) with a high level of hardness (15+ degrees dH). Adding teaspoons of aquarium salt per gallon won't help and is irrelevant, though adding a small amount (~6-9 grammes/litre) of MARINE salt mix per litre is useful, particularly in soft water areas. The ammonia and nitrite levels must be ZERO. I don't recommend keeping Guppies in tanks smaller than 90 litres; doing otherwise is a bad idea, particularly with fancy Guppies (which are delicate) and female Guppies (which are quite large). Water temperature needs to be around 25 degrees C; these aren't coldwater fish."
<Yep, I did indeed mention all this!>
The pH is alright, its around 7.5.
<That's good.>
I do not know how to test hardness, but I did add aquarium salt.
<That's what I fear. Lots of people can persuaded that aquarium salt is somehow good for Guppies without actually having any idea about why. "Aquarium Salt" or "Tonic Salt" is just overpriced cooking salt. Possibly useful as a treatment for certain problems, but no value at all as a regular additive. Guppies don't care about salinity, what they care about is hardness. Hardness can be measured two ways, in terms of General Hardness or Carbonate Hardness. It doesn't matter much which you use. But what you're after is raising the hardness level to upwards of 15 degrees dH (measured with a general hardness test kit) or upwards of 7 degrees KH (measured with the carbonate hardness test kit). General hardness affects osmoregulation, but carbonate hardness affects pH stability; this latter thing isn't at all affected by sodium chloride, hence the uselessness of "tonic salt". Why do I recommend MARINE salt mix then? Simple: marine salt mix isn't just sodium chloride; it contains lots of minerals, including those that raise carbonate hardness. If you add 6-9 grammes of marine salt mix per litre, you'll be creating a brackish water environment that Guppies will THRIVE in. It's cheap, requires no fussing around with test kits, and works very well.>
And yes, temperature is alright as well. I still am puzzled over the fact as to why they suddenly lost their appetite, not to mention when I disposed of the bodies they were in perfect condition, which leaves me even more puzzled.
<When fish randomly die for no obvious reasons, 99% of the time it's down to water chemistry or water quality. While I can't be 100% sure without seeing your tank and/or examining the dead fish, I'm telling you what I'd do under the circumstances. So, go buy a box of Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, or whatever marine salt mix is cheapest in your area. Add the salt to each bucket of water as you do your water changes over the next few weeks. Start at a dose of 6 grammes per litre. Over the weeks, this will gradually raise the salinity of the tank without stressing the biological filter. Remember, keep the box of salt tightly wrapped (air tight!) so the salt stays dry. Also remember to top up evaporation with freshwater, not salty water.>
Also mentioned:-
"Define "small". Males are aggressive and will harass the females, and certainly shouldn't be kept with females in tanks smaller than 90 litres. You should only keep one male per two (or more) females otherwise the females are constantly harassed and stressed."
<Indeed.>
Small as in around 3 litres,
<3 litres is too small for any fish, PERIOD. Certainly not guppies!>
4 males who have lived with each other for about 4 months already in a 30 litre tank. I don't have anymore female guppies, as they have all perished. The reason why I'm considering shifting the 4 males to such a small tank is because partly I don't know what fish can thrive in such a small tank and because the 30 litre tank is to be used for the large 4 inch goldfish/carp that I have.
<Forget about keeping fish in a 3 litre aquarium. That's the size of soda bottle. Complete waste of time even trying to stock it. I have no idea why anyone would sell such a tank. Very cruel to put fish in there, to be honest.>
Once again, thank you for your time.
<Happy to help!>
- Gene
<Cheers, Neale.>

Help! Please! Guppy hlth., no info., or reading    8/23/08
Hey
My new fish tank which I set up about a week and a half ago has developed some sort of mucus on my guppies' bodies. Like if you look down on three of them, you can see mucus coming off and where the mucus was their fin look red. Please help! If I have to I will kill all of the guppies that are in there but it grieves me to do so.
-Sarah
<Mmm, Sarah, am hoping we can help you help your guppies, but really need data to do so... For instance, the actual physical set-up, your maintenance, water quality tests, foods/feeding, the history of your husbandry... Please read here re others similar situations, input, to get an idea of what we're looking for: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gupdisf4.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Re: Help! Please! Guppy hlth., still not reading   8/24/08
Ummm.... Here's what I know:
Low ph: 7.4
High ph: 7.8
Ammonia: 1.0
<Deadly toxic>
Nitrate: 0
My physical setup is: a underground philter, a regular 10 gallon filter,
and a heater.
Maintenance: Just a regular algae scrub
I feed them once a day but usually a bit more than a regular feeding time
What is husbandry??
<...? Use your search tool for definitions...>
thanks!
-Sarah
<And read where you were referred to on WWM, and re ammonia... http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwammfaqs.htm
and the linked files above...
This system is currently poisonous. Bob Fenner>

Re: Help! Please! -08/24/08
ok...Ummm...what product or procedure should I use to lower the ammonia level? Oh and the water look cloudy compared to my other two tanks. Oh...another thing what is aquarium salt and what does it do? If husbandry is asking questions to people them my husbandry is you.
-Sarah
<... keep reading>

Clamped fins, Guppy hlth.  8/19/08
Hello,
<Hello!>
One of my male guppies has clamped fins. Are clamped fins contagious? Is there a cure? Will he die? I have aquarium salt and I don’t know what I should do with it. Should I use that?
<First, clamped fins is not a disease, just a sign of stress from disease or bad water quality. Check your water parameters before medicating.>
Please help!
<Happy fish keeping!>
-Sarah
<Merritt A.>
P.S. My neighbor has two tanks that he is giving away to me. The big one (probably 120) has had saltwater fish in it. Could I clean it out and put freshwater fish in it? Or would they die? Would it be cheaper to just make it a saltwater tank and put saltwater fish in it? Or would it be cheaper to buy freshwater filters and stuff because my dad says that saltwater aquarium equipment is much different than freshwater.
<You could easily clean out the tank and use it as a freshwater tank. But, this depends on if the neighbor is including all the equipment with the tank. If he is, then you could easily keep it a saltwater tank, if not then it would be cheaper to turn it into a freshwater tank. And, saltwater equipment is very different from freshwater equipment, here are some helpful links to give you an idea of the work involved in a saltwater tank vs. freshwater tanks: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/setup/marsetupindex1.htm , http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marsetupindex2.htm , http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/maintenance/maintindex.htm , http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsetupindex.htm.
Just do lots of research before turning the tank into a saltwater tank! >

Male guppy... hlth. cont.?    8/14//08
I have no idea what the problem could be with this little guy.
<If all else fails, check water quality. Nine times out of ten, mystery sickness is down to water quality. Simple as that.>
It is swimming and is upright and straight as far as side to side. However his back is bent in half with extreme tail droop.
<Not good.>
It is as if the back part of his body is paralyzed.
<Quite possible, if the fish has been severely stressed/shocked.>
I did check water and was bad ammonia. got it under control 3 days ago everything is fine now.
<Define "fine". Ammonia and nitrite levels that aren't zero are extremely bad, and Fancy Guppies are not hardy. Far from it in fact. So you must keep perfect water quality at all times for them to remain healthy. It's also important that the water is hard and alkaline. Adding a certain amount of marine salt mix (2-3 grammes per litre) isn't essential, but helps. Tonic salt ("aquarium salt") is less useful.>
The other fish guppies are ok with no signs of a problem. I expected him to die 3 days ago. Well he is eating and still trying to hold on.
<He may well recover, given time. I have seen livebearers and indeed other kinds of fish go "loopy" in response to severe shocks, and then recover over a period of days. But actual damage to the spine or nerves won't recover. If the fish is feeding and shows no other signs of damage (e.g., no Finrot) I'd be tempted to see how things go.>
Any information would be helpful for me to help this guy out. Thanks Joe
<Not much to say with a photo, but please do review the needs of the not-so-humble Guppy and act accordingly.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm
Cheers, Neale.>

Guppy Emergency-8/9/08
Here is the background: 10gal tank, cycling for four weeks now.
<Hello, Merritt here!>
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate levels very low.
<What exactly is "low"?>
The pH is a bit high, but we have been very gentle in trying to lower it. We perform regular dechlorinated water changes with prescribed amounts of aquarium salt and careful addition of Prime to detoxify. Tank is equipped with good filtration, aeration, lighting, and heating. Temperature maintained between 77-80 degrees. No females, no other fish except guppies.
<Sounds great!>
Four guppies of five have died. No signs of tail/fin rot. No salt or sand grain-like things on the bodies. No bulging eyes, no red/swollen gills, no gasping. Two of them had a small grey/white spot on one side of their body in front of their tail.
It did not appear fuzzy and the scales did not appear to stick out. It almost appeared as if it were part of the natural coloring.
<Coloring could be possible but it also could be signs of bacteria, internal parasites and many other fish problems. Tell me more about this if you can, maybe send a picture.>
Before they died, they would listlessly float/swim near the surface or in the top back corners, only to later end up at the bottom corners. Later, the body would almost stiffen, with the side fins continually moving as if trying to continue swimming. This would soon turn into vertical swimming, bobbing, haphazardly floating throughout tank.
<Is this occurring after purchase or when that have been in your tank for a few weeks?>
I am at a loss for what this is and the pet store has been no help at all. We live a bit far from a pet store, so we would need some idea of what this is so that we may purchase all the necessary items. We are careful not to overfeed and do regular water changes to ensure the cycling does not stress the fish, always siphoning from the bottom.
There are NO females or other fish in the tank.
All levels have been checked and are very low and close to clearing completely. Two were relatively young, while the other two were mid-sized (both groups from different batches - same store).
These symptoms would appear for 24 hours before the fish died. Calls to the store have only resulted in them telling us the fish might just have genetic defects, but we are not so sure. We maintained a tank with the same conditions for over a year with three guppies and no losses!
What are we doing wrong? I've researched some of the diseases, but I am afraid to medicate for the wrong thing and I am not even sure all the symptoms fit.
Could this be a result of Columnaris?
<I do not think you have Columnaris, but I do think your guppies have an internal parasite causing these problems. I would feed them medicated fish food to kill the parasites. If that does not work then they could actually have bad genes or not been taken care of correctly at the pet store from which you are obtaining them. I have had these problems before with guppies.>
Please help!
Monica
<You are welcome! Merritt A.>

Guppy question, dis.  8/2/08
Hello,
Last night I noticed that my female guppy had a bunch of orange lumpy stuff protruding from her backside. I assume these are eggs?
<Nope. Guppies are livebearers.>
They aren't coming off though. They're "stuck" on her. I put her in a breeding container in the tank to keep the other fish from picking at her, but what can I do for her? She's not eating, but doesn't seem to be in pain. Please help!
<Without a photo, can't be 100% sure, but I wonder if this is actually a Camallanus worm infection? These look like reddish threads protruding from the anus. Treatment is using a worm-killing medication such as Levamisole, Piperazine or Praziquantel (sold under brands like Prazi Pro).
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwwormdisfaqs.htm
>
THANKS!!
Tara
<Cheers, Neale.>

Female guppy that looks like she is bleeding internally 07/28/2008
Hi there, I am sorry to bother you but I have searched relentlessly on line and haven't found a good answer. First, I need to say that I have no idea what my water levels are or even tank temperature. My 3 year old wanted fish, my husband said "no goldfish" so we found guppies. The pet store wasn't very helpful with how to care for them.
<So I hope you did the sensible thing which was to put your money away and left the shop. Stores that sell fish but don't give information aren't worth patronizing.>
Last Sunday (7 days ago) I purchased 3 female guppies for my daughter from a local pet store.
<Hang on, you bought fish the day you bought the fish tank? Or did you set up the fish tank, cycle the filter using some appropriate method, and then buy the fish?>
I was told that the one was pregnant and they suggested using a breeders net for when she has the babies. I came home and did as much reading as I could about pregnant guppies and the next day noticed that she appeared to be giving birth. I put her in the breeders net and she delivered 15 fry. I was very proud of her since she had been put through so much (being transferred home to a new 5 gallon tank). She only lost a little weight, she was still very big but her gravid spot went from black to orange/red.
<The gravid spot isn't a patch of colour. It's an area of the body wall that is sufficiently thin that during pregnancy the uterus can push against it when the fish is pregnant. The "dark spot" you see is the uterus wall. Post-parturition, the uterus wall relaxes and the colour of this area will change.>
I thought she was either pregnant again or just didn't lose her baby weight.
<Doesn't quite work like this!>
On Tuesday one of the other females began to give birth (she wasn't as big as the 1st fish so I wasn't sure if she was pregnant) so I put her in a separate bowl and she gave birth to 9 fry. She went back to being skinny. I put her back in the tank and the new fry in the net with the others, all appeared to be well but the spot from the 1st mommy appeared to be getting bigger and looked redder. It even looked as though something red was coming out (my thought was a fry that had gotten stuck). She now looks like she is bleeding internally, the red has moved towards the side but isn't a solid red like I had found on another posting.
<Can indeed be internal bleeding. Livebearers usually give birth without problems, but just as with humans there are things that can go wrong.>
I would say it looks like a hicky (I'm sorry it's the only comparison that I can think of). I have moved her to the bowl out of fear for the other fish & fry. She had been swimming and eating fine in the tank but since being moved she only just lays at the bottom.
<I'd first of all review water quality. Use you nitrite or ammonia test kit for this (preferably nitrite, one of the two ESSENTIAL test kits). Guppies are very sensitive to poor water quality, and poor water quality can produce a variety of odd symptoms. I'd also review diet; Guppies are omnivores and need an algae-based flake food as well as the usual foods made for carnivorous fish like tetras. Insufficient fibre can cause problems with the digestive tract, including secondary bacterial and protozoan infections. The symptoms you describe aren't (to me) immediately indicative of any one thing, hence my advice to cross off any potential environmental issues first.>
I would appreciate any help that you can give. Thank you for your time!
Karen

Deformed Guppy 5/29/08
I've had a 30 gallon setup with a BioWheel and undergravel filter for about a year and a half with no fish deaths for about 8 months.
<Sounds great!>
I have an assortment of 13 fish - mostly livebearers.
<Very good. Livebearers are best kept alone so you have the option of adding marine salt mix -- a real lifesaver with Livebearers.>
My question is about one of the guppies I've had for about 5 months. When I bought him, he was a vibrant orange and looked normal, but over time he has begun to turn white - and now he only has a belt of orange around the middle of his body. Also, his dorsal fin appears to be clumped together and not flowy like the other guppies. His body is also becoming deformed (possibly enlarged) and his scales look strange. He does not have a fungus or anything that resembles one - he is actually turning white. His symptoms have been slowly progressing over about 4 months but he doesn't seem to be sick or in any pain. None of the other fish in the tank exhibit these symptoms and all seem perfectly healthy and happy. I'm just wondering what's wrong with him - maybe something genetic?
<Sounds very plausible. If the fish was sick, it'd be dead by now. Guppies, or Fancy Guppies at least, are very inbred, and the quality is variable. Lab work shows that Fancy Guppies are much less hardy and adaptable than their wild-caught or "mongrel" (Feeder Guppy) brethren. The best you can do is remove unsatisfactory fish from your breeding population, and keep adding "fresh blood" by picking up good quality males and females as you see them.>
He just keeps getting weirder looking, and I don't want him to make any of the other fish sick.
<Unlikely do directly cause problems, but if he's genetically at fault, his offspring will likely carry those bad genes too.>
Thanks for the help!
<Good luck, Neale.>

Poorly Guppies  5/29/08
Hi again, thanks for your advice - I hope you can help again!
<Will try.>
We bought 4 guppies (1 male 3 female) a week ago - they are in a Q tank (luckily!) - 35l, internal sponge filter, air stone, some plants, Nitrate 40 (that is our tap reading :o() nitrite 0 ammonia 0 ph 8, temp 25 degrees. The male was ok at first then was very lethargic, laying on the bottom of the tank or sitting on top of a floating leaf at the top, he didn't eat. I put some Interpet Liquisil in and he is now ok - took a good 4 days for him to perk up though - he is now a busy guppy again.
<Good.>
However, since then the females have started down the same way.
<Ah, this suggests an environmental issue may be at fault. What's the hardness? Guppies like "liquid rock", and adding a source of hardness, particularly carbonate hardness, can help.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
In particular, carbonate hardness helps prevent pH changes, which Guppies don't like. If all else fails, marine salt mix can be used. Guppies can be acclimated to brackish water very effectively if done gradually, and the hardness in the marine salt mix helps. The salt also provides other benefits, including inhibiting some disease-causing organisms such as fungus and whitespot.>
1 female seems to have a patch of white almost like a saddle across her back, the other has been really lethargic and not eating - much like the male was. But the one that is causing most concern started off with white edges to one fin. She now has a red pattern under her scales and what looks like a blood blister on her side. She is not puffed up or swollen - but the scales are raised where the blood blister thing is.
<White patches are typically Finrot or Fungus.>
I did a water change at the weekend and put in some ESHA 2000 when I first noticed her fin on Sat, since then she has gotten steadily worse - today the blood blister thing has appeared. I am not sure what to do, the water stats have not changed - I have checked them morning and night. (liquid and dip stick methods).
<eSHa 2000 is good, but *do remember* carbon removes medication from the water. I've made this mistake one too many times, which is why I'm a bit anti-carbon frankly.>
I did a water change again today as the nitrates had risen a little and I added a little salt (about 1 tablespoon to the 35l) and re-medicated with the ESHA 2000.
<Pretty much what I'd do. I'd also be doing saltwater dips to clean the wound. Add 35 grammes of salt to one litre of aquarium water. Dip the fish for 2-20 minutes as you feel suits (pull the fish out when it becomes obviously distressed, e.g., by rolling over). Return to the aquarium. Repeat daily. Saltwater dips are very good at dehydrating the pathogens on the outside of the fish, reducing the infection. The eSHa 2000 should cure anything "curable" such as Finrot and Fungus -- but if the infection is an internal bacterial infection it won't help though.>
Help please, I hope that is enough for you to go on.
<A photo always helps.>
Thanks
Lynn
<Cheers, Neale.>

Question about my tequila sunrise guppy – 4/12/08
Hello,
I tried to ask this question on your website but it asked me for a login which i don't know.
<???>
I recently bought a Tequila Sunrise Guppy from our local PetSmart along with a blue/silver guppy exactly a week from today. I put them in the tank with my Betta fish, and they were doing great. I woke up this morning and my tequila sunrise guppy was at the top of the tank floating on it's side.
<Almost always when people tell me stories like this, it's because of the following issues: tank too small, tank under-filtered, tank not properly matured. So let's review. Guppies MUST have an aquarium at least 10 gallons in size, and in all honesty fancy guppies are so delicate (and the males often so aggressive) than a 20 gallon tank is ESSENTIAL. Water chemistry needs to be hard and alkaline. Adding a little MARINE MIX (not aquarium/tonic) salt, 3-6 grammes per litre, helps, especially if you live in a soft water area. The aquarium needs to be very well filtered, certainly the filter should have at least 4 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour. There should be ZERO ammonia and nitrite at all times. Temperature must be not less than 25 C, 77 F. What you CANNOT do with Guppies is stick them in a small, unfiltered aquarium of the sort (sadly) used for Bettas by some people. They are completely unsuitable for that sort of maintenance.>
I thought it was dead and when i approached the tank it swam, while still being on it's side just a little. In fear that my beta fish had done something to it, i moved it to a different bowl. When i first moved it, it swam like normal then after a bout 30 seconds turned over on it's side and slowly swam that way then just sits at the top of the bowl. I don't know what's wrong with my guppy. I've searched yahoo, and I've looked all over your website typing in key points for my question, but all i found was a plenty on it's side and the rest was about pregnant guppies and nothing about being on it's side. If i could get an answer a.s.ap. i would greatly appreciate it. I don't know if my fish is sick or not, or hurt.
-Lori
<Honestly need more information re: aquarium size, filtration, water chemistry, water quality, etc. So, before going further, I'd suggest you read over this:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm
Once you're done and you've got some information together about your aquarium and how the Guppies are maintained, we can try to move things forward. Cheers, Neale.>

Infusoria, guppy loss of color and Moscow guppy purchase? - 4-11-08
Can you please answer a few questions for me; I did not find any answers to them in my extensive research on various web sites re specific aquarium fish. (1 A) I was told that infusoria for Betta fry should be placed in a warm, D A R K, place and elsewhere in a warm, S U N N Y, place so micro organism could grow.
<The latter is correct>
(1 B) How long does it take before it's ready to feed?
<A few weeks>
I started one with organic lettuce and another with local straw from the river. I am using both now and the fry survived the first ten days,
but I also feed some dry fry food and-after they were one week old-frozen daphnia. (3C) When do I add the box/sponge filter for the fry?
<Mmm... if run gently from the get go... Immediately>
(2) My guppies have lost some of their colors along the back. I was told to add salt to the water but the color is still missing. What do you think?
<Something amiss... Nutritionally, water quality-wise... perhaps an infectious agent at play... Hopefully not the last... Columnaris...>
(3) Do you sell and ship Moscow guppies?
<Nope>
And do you sell micro worms or other live food for Betta fry?
<Nicht!>
Thank you for any help. I am somewhat new at this and have already lost two sets of Betta fry and will try not to lose this one.
Mirjana in Alamosa, Colorado.
<Mmm, do look on the international Betta sites re... there is a wealth of info. and help to be had. Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Dying Guppies   4/4/08
Hi,
I've been having trouble with my female guppies dying off. I have three quarantine tanks set up, each one with a different purchase of fish.
Tank 1
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Temp.-77F
This is a 2 gallon tank that had three females in it. No filter, but daily water changes and all test readings are fine. All were fine but a bit jumpy for the first week. The smallest one usually had her fins clamped but I could see no other symptoms. One week into quarantine, one of the larger females got "sick". I noticed that her mouth was stuck open. I didn't see any fuzz that could be mouth fungus or anything stuck in her mouth. She died sometime that night. I took her back to the store to get a refund and another fish. The other two are fine.
Tank 2
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-5ppm
Temp.-77F
Another 2 gallon tank that was set up when I brought back the replacement female and an extra one. This one has a sponge filter. Both fish looked fine in the store and were okay for the first day. One of them also developed the mouth problem. This time I went ahead and put Jungle Fungus Clear in the tank just in case it was mouth fungus. It only seemed to speed up her death as she died a few hours later. Since putting the medicine in the other female has clamped fins. Once again I took the dead female back for a refund and another fish.
Tank 3
Ammonia-.25ppm
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Temp.-77F
Another two gallon tank setup for the replacement female. Yet again I was unable to walk out of the store with only one fish, so this time there are six guppy fry included. Unfiltered tank with daily water changes. Female guppy was fine the day I got her. The next day she developed the mouth problem but this time it was right after a water change. No medicine was added because I was unsure if it was safe for the fry and it didn't seem to help anyway. She died the next morning. Right before she died, I noticed that her gills seemed to be stuck open as well and she lost her balance. She would be vertical, head up, then slowly fall backwards to the bottom of the tank. She would lay there for a few seconds then dart off and start the whole process over again. All the fry are fine.
This time I'm not going back for another fish until I know what the cause is. I have never seen anything like this before and I can't find anything on the internet. These three fish didn't come in contact in any way, not even the equipment. I would have suspected some illness from the tank at the store except that the first female was fine for a week. All the other fish in quarantine are fine but I'm checking them more often now.
Thanks,
Amber
<Hi Amber. It's difficult to give an absolute answer to this because two things could be going on. Your quarantine tanks are too small anyway, and without filters makes it even worse. Daily water changes aren't enough. That you're detecting any ammonia at all means that your fish are constantly exposed to too much nitrogenous waste. End result will inevitably be sickness. I'd sooner you use one quarantine tank of at least 10 gallons are put them all in there, with a filter. The second problem could be that your retailer just doesn't look after these fish properly, or buys in very substandard stock. This isn't a common state of affairs it has to be said, so before blaming a retailer I'd always check to see if something I was doing could be at fault. But if observing the tanks at the store you see dead fish, dirty tanks, and signs of disease, then this would be a store to steer clear of. Do make sure you read up on the needs of Guppies re: water chemistry, diet, etc.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm
Cheers, Neale.>

Pregnant guppy not swimming, not much needed data...   3/14/08
Hi,
<Betsy>
We have a guppy who is very pregnant. Yesterday she started laying on the side of the breeder tank. She is still breathing and will swim every now and then. Does this mean she is in labor or is she sick?
<Perhaps a bit of both... but... not good behavior>
Hope you can help with our questions! Thanks
Betsy
<I would NOT move this fish (too easy to damage), but would take great care in feeding very little, and would add a bit of "floating grass"... See WWM, search tool, with the term... Myriophyllum, Ceratophyllum, Anacharis/Elodea/Egeria... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppyreprofaqs.htm
and the above linked files for more background. Bob Fenner>

Guppy confused, Hlth.  03/04/2008
Hello,
I have 4 females and 2 males guppies. One of the females has had her second set of fry since we bought her. This time however it has been over 48 hours and I cannot get her to eat. She sits on the bottom of the tank or on parts of the draw bridge we have, I hate to lose her.
<I urge patience here...>
Another thing that is confusing to me is that the yellow male we have is guarding her, he won't leave her side and if one of the other guppies male or female come near her he gets in front of the and gets as close to her (the female that is not doing well) as possible. He has been doing this for about 30 hours or so now. I have tested the water once in the morning and again in the afternoon and all test come out with in specs. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I put liquid fry food in as well as frozen BBS I put flakes in the morning and evening. I don't know. Everyone else is doing great. They are in a 10 gallon tank.
<Mmm, more room would be better>
I have only found 12 fry that I have in my 28 gallon bow front tank in a breeder that floats in the tank.
<Ahh!>
Anyway That is all I found I know there are a couple more in there I have seen them but can't catch them, they like to hide in the rocks. The female in question just shot up off the bottom of the tank to the top she is having obvious control issues. She is floating around and kind of directing herself with her back fin and her body. She is not using her side fins. She is just going with the flow. Her color is normal and her fins are not frayed nothing. What could be causing this?? I don't know whether to just take her out and end it or what?
<I would leave this fish where it is... continue with normal maintenance... have hope. Bob Fenner>

Guppies... hlth., use, dis-use of ammonia removing tap/source water treatment products    02/29/2008
I'm sorry for being a nuisance but I wonder if you could give me a bit of advice, I purchased 2 male guppies and 2 female guppies yesterday to go with the other guppies in my tank but two of the males have since died, I checked the water and found that the PH, Nitrate and Nitrite were smack on the correct level, but the ammonia gave a reading of 8.0.
<Means one of two things. Firstly, the filter could be completely immature (i.e., the fish produce ammonia, but not ammonia gets converted to nitrite, let alone nitrate, so you detect zero nitrite and whatever nitrate level you have in your tap water. Alternatively, you have a source of ammonia above and beyond what the filter can cope with, e.g., ammonia in the tap water, or a lot of decaying organic material. Either way, extremely bad news.>
I added some "Ammo Lock" to the water but when I checked it this morning it was still high so I changed a third of the water and added some "Tap Safe" I have just checked the water again and whereas all the other readings are correct, the ammonia is still between 4.0 and 8.0 so I added some "Interpet Ammonia Remover"
<OK, you're misunderstanding what these Ammo Lock-type products do. They do not remove ammonia produced by the fish or from decay. All they do is neutralise small (typically less than 0.5 mg/l) amounts of ammonia that sometimes are found in tap water. If your tap water has ammonia, then obviously adding it to an aquarium would be bad, so these product render than ammonia harmless. What they CANNOT do is remove masses of ammonia constantly being produced by livestock or decay in the aquarium. If it was that easy we wouldn't bother with filters! So put them away; they are as much help here as a bottle of mineral water would be for putting out a forest fire. You need to establish why your aquarium is generating ammonia (because it is). Review: stocking, feeding, filtration. Do also check you are using the correct dechlorinator: if your local water supplier uses chloramine, but you use a dechlorinator that doesn't treat chloramine, you end up with a measure of ammonia in each bucket of treated water. Stop feeding the fish, for a start. Check the filter is running and mature. Do 50% water changes DAILY until things get down to normal. Ammonia is incredibly toxic to fish, and anything above zero will kill them quickly.>
Do you have any suggestions on why all the readings are fine apart from the ammonia.
<Outlined above.>
The other thing which puzzles me is that although the guppies have died, all the other fish are thriving, including two very small molly fry which are between a third and half the size of my neon tetras. Many thanks for your help.
<Hmm... fish that have been in deteriorating conditions will adapt (to a point) whereas new stuff added from a clean tank to a dirty tank will just keel over and die. But the short answer is if you have ammonia in the water, then chances are all the fish will die.>
Regards, Gaynor
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Clear blisters on guppies head   2/27/08
Hi, I have a question concerning my guppies. I have a 55 gallon tank with to many guppies to and mollies to count. I use a Aqua Tech power filter, which is only for a 40 gallon tank, but also use another power filter with it, that is for a 20 gallon tank. I make sure everyday the water temperature is stable, and have had these fish for many years. However several of my guppies have developed a severe curved spine, which I thought was maybe inherited. It started with one male with a curved spine, and then some of my females babies were born looking just like him. Now one of my male guppies has a big clear blister on top of his head. (looks like a poison ivy blister). He has been like this for months and it appears to be getting bigger and bigger. He still eats and swims around like nothing is wrong. But I was wondering what this is and if my other fish will catch it. I have been using Quick Cure medicine in the tank, but it has not made any change in him. I would greatly appreciate any recommendations you can give me.
<Greetings. The curved spine issue is likely genetic, since Fancy Guppies are very inbred. You need to painlessly destroy any such fry to get rid of these bad genes from the population you have. Obviously it doesn't "get better". As for the blister, it's impossible to be sure, but I'm guessing this is a non-contagious deformity. Again, destroy the fish. Do be careful about randomly adding medications to the tank before diagnosing the problem: many medications contain things like copper that are, at some level, toxic to fish. So used sparingly they can be helpful, but used to excess they may cause problems. Do see our page on Euthanasia re: painless methods of destruction. Cheers, Neale.>

Guppy question, sel. sys., dis.    2/17/08
I've had guppies for years and stopped and restarted a few times, out of frustration of how delicate the females are.
<Of all fish species... this standard used to be rock solid... the touchy stock from the Far East has ruined a good deal of the hobby the last decades>
I also have a 30gallon planted tank with co2 and such, so I'm not quite a beginner.
I have almost enough salt to be considered brackish, think between 1Tbls/5gallon to 1Tbls/10gallon. This is a planted eclipse hex 5 gallon.
<Small... hard to keep stable... and with the salt... easy for nitrification to vacillate>
I have/had 5 females and 4 males. I think I even had another female but she died back 2 months ago. They are all fancy guppies, so delicate it seems. I got them from two different stores, one being PetSmart (sorry). I've had 2 females die now in the past day. I just did a water change 3 days ago, about 20%, as usual for every other to maybe ever week. The two that died were very pregnant and one of them and possibly the other looked like they were about to give birth (both were hanging out down on the gravel or plants being alone).
With that background out of the way, is there anything else I can do to make the females more comfortable and less likely to die?
<Yes... see below>
This is a constant problem and I only got these fish 2 months ago and already have lost almost half my original females. The temp is usually at 76 but can go up to 79 (the eclipse light always has a tendency of heating the tank up if the room is mildly warm). But lately it hasn't been.
Is my tank too crowded maybe too?
<Is a factor, yes>
They seem happy otherwise.
Should I instead be buying more reliable females,
<Yes>
is it possible I've just had bad luck with the ones I bought?
<Mmm, not entirely, no>
I think the ones that died today were both from PetSmart if that matters.
It's just demoralizing.
Thanks for any information.
-Erin
<Too many Poecilia reticulata on the market are infested with Hexamita (perennially) and Columnaris (seasonally, and in more erratic punctuated fashion)... Guarding against the introduction of these diseases can be accomplished only through careful exclusion/quarantining of all incoming livestock... and treatment with antiprotozoal (Metronidazole often) and possibly antimicrobial (most celebratedly Neomycin...). You might have "luck" with buying/selecting better stock from another source... but I would still at least isolate it for a good two weeks (to weaken pathogens) before introduction to your main displays... Having a larger system would be of great benefit here as well as bolstering the fishs' immune systems through improved nutrition... Do see the Net re the disease organisms mentioned... they can be defeated, excluded... Bob Fenner>

FW... Ich, Guppy dis., using WWM    2/13/08
Exactly 2 weeks and a day ago, I bought 4 fish from PetSmart. 2 Fancy Guppies (Male is, I don’t know about female) and 2 Chinese Algae Eaters.
<Do read re this fish, Gyrinocheilus... very mean... don't eat much algae...>
I put all four fish in Wardley Essentials Ick Away in a 3 gallon tank
<Mmm, too small, and why the medication?>
for 3 days. At the end of the 3 days,
<Not long enough to treat an actual case of ich...>
the male guppy and C.A.E.’s were moved to the community tank (10 gallon; four 1 inch swordtails
<Will need more room than this>
and some sort of snail) The female was moved into a 1 gallon hospital tank and treated for Ick
<If one fish has ich... they all, the system does...>
with the medicine I mentioned. For 2 weeks and 1 day now, she doesn’t get better or worse. Her top fin is clamped and her color has faded. She eats A LOT.
<A good sign>
All the fish food and frozen bloodworms and everything. She is also pregnant. She swims like normal, but breathes rapidly. She’s always breathed fast, opening and closing her mouth. The swords don’t breathe with their mouths open, but maybe guppies
do. (These are my first guppies) I’m totally out of ideas.
<I'd be reading on WWM re...>
This doesn’t look like any disease people have ever mentioned. They say that the fish stops eating. Mine doesn’t. (Oh, and the edge of her tail looks like it was traced with something white.
<... reads like a case of Columnaris... Chondrococcus...>
(The edge of her tail is white)) When she swims all fins are erect, but when she drops down her top fin droops. I don’t see any parasites on her body. I’ve also heard something about giving egg yolk to fish. (I can’t find the website again.) Please help. Any help at all will be much appreciated.
<Read, on WWM, the Net re... Bob Fenner>

Please help our guppies, Guppy Death 1/15/07
We have 3 guppy tanks.
#1 is a 55 gal tank. It has our Males and females in it. I bought the tank used, the fish that were in it before died. When we got it I cleaned it with bleach and water, filled it and put in my guppies.
<Did you cycle it? How many guppies did you add?>
I didn't know what I was doing. I lost all of them. Next I tore down the tank and started over. This time I added AquaSafe, let the tank run for 3 days, then added my guppies. I lost all of them.
<Not surprising, still not cycled.>
So the next time I once again tore down the tank, bought all new stones, switched to live plants, and bought all new decor. So everything in the tank was all new. I was told not to use soap or bleach to clean my tank but to use vinegar. So I did that. I added the AquaSafe, and salt. Left my tank running without fish for about a week, then added my guppies. All have died but 4. I will probably be down to 3 by morning.
<Check your water parameters, I bet you have a huge ammonia/nitrite spike happening now, which is killing your fish.>
They start off by going to the top of the tank or laying in the plants. Next they start swimming on there sides only at the top of the tank. By the next day there dead.
<Ammonia poisoning.>
I am getting a new set of 40 guppies from a personal breeder on Wednesday.
<Will die too unless you let the tank cycle.>
Can you tell my anything I can do, or stop doing to keep these ones alive?
<Stop adding more fish and get the tank cycled. Please see here for details http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm .>
My other 2 tanks have fry in them and they are fine.
1 tank is a 10 gal it contains the really little ones,2 frogs, and 2 algae eaters
1 tank is a 5 gal it has the bigger fry,1 frog, and 1 algae eater in it.
<Ok>
We could really use your help. We love having the guppies but are about to give up.
Please help us.
Thank you
The Ladd family
<Right now you need to get your water conditions under control. A large water change will probably be helpful here and learn about the nitrogen cycle and what is happening in your tank right now. As far as adding more fish right now less is more, and adding 40 new guppies to this tank is not going to work well.>
<Chris>

Rash of guppy deaths -12/14/07
Hi,
<Hello>
Recently I've had a rash of mostly unexplained guppy deaths. I had three healthy male guppies for 11 months, along with a golden algae eater who pretty much keeps to himself.
<Mmm... likely Gyrinocheilus aymonieri... a fish eater...>
A couple of weeks ago guppy #1 suddenly died for no apparent reason, and two days later #2 got a lump on his throat/chest area. He died several days later. A couple of days after that I bought two new guppies to keep #3 company. They swam happily together for two days, then #3 died suddenly. So, of the original three, only one had any symptoms at all, I just don't know of what. The other two seemed perfectly fine. Last Saturday I bought one more guppy. Yesterday one of the new ones died. Today, the two remaining were swimming happily at 10:30 AM, then at noon I found the second new one dead. Again, no symptoms at all. Now there is just the one left with the AE, and I am hoping he makes it through the next few days.
I have a 6-gallon Eclipse w/bowel. I do 25% water changes weekly.
Ph is 7.2, 0 chlorine, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, nitrates are below 20.
Temp is 75-78 deg. F.
<The above all reads as fine...>
One live plant weighed down with a rock I boiled before putting in. I feed small amounts. I have another tank, same setup, with a female guppy (sister to #1 and #3), two platies and two Otocinclus, and they are doing fine, so I don't think anything came in through the water changes.
<I agree>
Could the old ones have died of age and the other two are just coincidence or bad stock?
<Mmm, yes>
Could the lump have been something contagious?
<Not likely... it it were... e.g. Chondrococcus/Columnaris... all guppies would be dead>
Everything I read says water quality, water quality, but the water seems fine. Am I missing something? What could be going on? If the last one dies do I need to tear down the tank and start over?
<I would not. Your maintenance and set up are also good... This may be coincidence, senescence as you speculate... I would keep my eye on, read about the CAE/Gyrinocheilus... as this species is notorious for "riding" other fishes... removing their needed/protective slime coating... often leading to such "anomalous" deaths... Otherwise... I'd do nothing here. Bob Fenner>
Thanks so much,
Lauren

Female Guppy, hlth.  – 12/6/07
I have a 10 Gal tank that has 3 guppies(2 male 1 female), 2 Platys, and 1 Danio in it. I went to feed my fish this evening and realized my Female Guppy was Hiding in The skull decor that is in the tank (which isn't normal for her). When she came out I noticed that her fins are bright red?
<Yikes. A bad sign>
I have no idea what has cause this. The rest of my fish seem to be just fine? Im really worried about her. We have had her for about 3 months and she's already had 2 schools of babies. Am I doing something wrong? I really don't want to loose my female.... Please Help!!!
Thanks Kris
<Do you have test kits for water quality? Am mainly concerned with measure for nitrate here... What re your maintenance procedures? When/where in doubt, a partial water change is recommended... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gupdisf3.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>
Female Guppy 2 Fixed Mistake In Email
I wrote this email a min ago to you and then went over to reread ir and realized I said that her fins were red its not her fins its her gills. Sorry for the mistake. Thanks Again Kris
<Mmm, I would still do the same (the water change) and NOT treat the system with a "medicine" at this point. Bob Fenner>

Re: Female Guppy, hlth.  12/7/07
Thanks For You Quick Reply. I do not have test strips I will go and purchase some this weekend.
<Please read on WWM re test kits... the strips are really highly inaccurate>
I did the water change and her gills seem to have lightened in the intensity of redness.
<Ah, good>
My maintenance for the tank is to do about a 25% water change about every 2 weeks. When I do the water change I use tap water and I put water conditioner in it. We have had the tank for about 3 months now and also have a 29 gal, a 5 gal and another 10 gal. Everything seems to be fine in all the other tanks. Guess I will just sit back and see if this works??
<Yes, this is what I'd do>
Hopefully it does.
Thanks Again Kris
<Welcome! BobF>

Color fading odd death... guppy hlth., no reading  – 11/20/07
Please Help! My favorite guppy is starting to fade his spots on his body (usually means his mood) are becoming less and also fading. he isn't chasing females as much and doesn't move much I recently lost a male to dropsy and I don't want to lose my favorite. And today I watched one female guppy become paralyzed. She can't move her fins just her tail fin is the only thing keeping her alive. very odd there ph is at 7.2 ammonia fine nitrate and nitrite fine
<Values...>
hard water everything I don't know what to do. I put some MelaFix
<Not a fan... See WWM re>
salt and quick cure oh and the water is at 86 degrees
<Much too high>
what could be wrong .
<Mmmm, could be nutritional... the temp. here is way off... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm
and the linked files above. RMF>

Sick fish... Guppies, Columnaris?   11/6/07
Ok I have a 75 gallon fish tank perfect ammonia ph Everything!
<... Punctuation...>
However I have lost many female guppies to this weird disease, it only happens to females and it comes over there belly like over there gravid spot up to their back and its their scales that sort of puff up and lift off their body yet don't fall out.
<Yikes!>
Eventually I separate them and then after a while they die. I have given them a bit of salt everyday and some quick cure
<Toxic>
I lost about 5 to 7 guppies and for a while it went away, they had a billion babies ,and then all of the sudden it came back I don't get it. I thought for a while it was ich because they would flick themselves off rocks and stuff, but why would it only happen to the girls and it isn't how the books describe it. also I have one female that has been with me since the beginning and about 2 to 3 weeks ago she got this round golden thing under her skin on her back. It's so odd and now it's like starting to bulge out of her back. please help I have searched every here nobody can tell what it is. I love my guppies and don't want anymore to die. thank you.
<Your situation sounds very much like "Columnaris" disease... see the Net, WWM re Chondrococcus... likely Neomycin sulfate... Bob Fenner>

Re: sick fish. Guppies, Columnaris? Child?   11/07/07
Thank you I Have kept the most recent sick guppy and the scales have stopped protruding yet they are still white and a bit weird looking. I have not given her any salt for a while and she looks better,
<See WWM re salt use>
I was starting to think it was dropsy but I have never seen a guppy with dropsy or only happening to females?
<No>
but I'll keep searching. As for the fish that had the golden bulge on her back I checked her out today and it was red and it looked like it exploded in her back you can see a blood streak in her back stretching to her belly, what happened! was it a sea tick or something ?
<... no... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppydisfaqs.htm
and the linked files above.
Bob Fenner>

Sick guppies. Columnaris?  10/17/07
Hi,
We have had quite a few guppies over the past few months. We recently introduced some new guppy fish and ever since they have been dying, most have developed a white velvety/mouldy substance on their sides. At first we thought it could have been velvet disease however upon further reading we have come to doubt this as velvet is described to be yellowish in colour and this is pure white, we have also used velvet control treatment, however to no avail. Also one of the females has developed large white rings around her eyes which look like they could be some sort of fungal infection.
<Mmm, much more likely bacterial>
I have searched the internet and cannot find anything relating to this.
<Look for the term "Columnaris"... or the genus Chondrococcus... and "fish disease">
We have a catfish, a spotted Plec and three black harlequins in our tank which we have had sense the tank was first set up which have remained unaffected. We have done tests on our ammonia levels, PH, nitrate which have all been fine. Can you think of anything which this could be and what is causing it?
<Was likely either introduced with some livestock... and/or favored by "stress", some sort of deficiency...>
We are going to completely change the water tonight and clean the tank which we are hoping will get rid of any infection in the water. Any advice would be much appreciated,
Best regards Emily and John
P.S they have also had more babies recently, will they be affected do you know?
<Please see this piece: http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/17/2/333.pdf
re Neomycin, Polymixin use... Needs to be addressed ASAP. Bob Fenner>

Guppy issue 10/14/07
Hi, I noticed a problem with one of my female guppies today (I have 6 guppies in a 10 gallon tank, 2 males and 4 females). I had checked the pH, nitrate, nitrite, chlorine, hardness, and alkalinity yesterday before buying the fish and it was all at healthy levels. The tank has been set up for a while because I wanted it to get through a cycle before putting any fish in (although my roommates thought I was nuts for having a tank with no fish!).
Each of the fish I picked seemed in good condition and they spent the day getting used to the tank and then I fed them a little before I went to sleep. This morning they had all seemed fine although I noticed the eyes on one female (the one with a problem now) were a little dark, but I thought nothing of it since that can happen from the stress of being transported yesterday. When I got back again about 5 or 6 hours later though, I noticed that her right fin was sticking straight out and seemed a little swollen and pinkish white at the base. She hasn't been using it and just swimming around in circles to the left, but she still has a good appetite and will swim to the right if she sees some food she really wants, she just won't use the right fin. I checked and noticed that the ammonia level is a little higher than I'd like it to be (probably from the fact that the tank is adjusting to the fish). I added some salt to the water and used some stress coat to help them adjust, but I was wondering what else I need to do or if its a much more serious problem.
Thanks, Yana
<Hello Yana. There's no "acceptable" level of ammonia -- anything above Zero is dangerous, potentially lethal. With Guppies, while wild fish are hardy, the fancy varieties most people buy are extremely delicate. So it is entirely likely (= probable) that you have a case of finrot or fungus to deal with. A combination medication (such as eSHa 2000) should fix that right away. Do follow the instructions carefully. Do remove carbon from the filter (carbon neutralises medications). Don't waste your time with salt/Melafix/Pimafix. Do make sure the water chemistry is appropriate for what Guppies want: high hardness, high carbonate hardness, and a pH around 7.5-8.0. Do reduce food while ammonia is a problem. While I applaud your patience setting the tank up before putting fish into it, unless you were adding a source of ammonia as well, the filter DIDN'T mature. The usual method is to add inorganic ammonia (from a chemist or hardware store) during the "fishless cycling" phase, but adding a pinch of flake each day and letting it rot works just as well. Anyway, assuming you didn't do this, your tank is cycling now, and it'll take about 6 weeks to complete. During this phase, check the ammonia and nitrite levels every couple of days. Do regular, big water changes: I'd suggest 25% daily. That will keep the fish healthy during this critical phase. Once it's mature, you can leave the tank a week between water changes of 25-50%. Good luck, Neale>

Guppy illness??  10/12/07
Hello.
I have a 55 gallon tank, with two male guppies, six female, around 20 fry (in the breeding net), and 2 speckled Corys. I tested the water yesterday and the pH was about 7.0, hardness 120, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, and ammonia 0 - .25. So the water is not in bad condition, and temp is between 78 - 80 degrees.
However, I came home from school and found one female and one male stuck to the filter, but still breathing. So I turned off the filter and let them come off. They are still alive and breathing but can't swim very well.
They attempt but end up swimming upside down, sideways, normally, or get pushed around by the flowing water. Right now they are both on the bottom of the tank but still breathing and upright. I'm wondering if they got paralyzed in any way or if the Corys did something to them or what.
<Mmm, not the Corydoras>
I was also wondering how they got sucked to the filter, so I'm guessing this was happening before they were stuck on the filter.
<Yes... something weakened them...>
Another question I have is one of my other female guppies has a red spot on her stomach. Her anal area also seems to be a TAD swollen. Not extremely but just to the point where you might say something if you saw it. I have been seeing about one to two baby fry in the tank everyday, so I was wondering if she is the one having the babies and just having a rough time giving birth. Or is she just inflated in that area? I don't know. I am very confused. My fry seem nice and healthy but it's the older fish that keep getting sick and all.
Please help.
-A Confused Guppy Owner
<I would read for now: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gupdisf4.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Guppy outcast    9/28/07
I have had one betta and 4 male guppies
<Mmm, often Bettas will go after fancy guppy males' tails...>
in a 10 gallon tank with a filter, heater, live plants and air bubbles for about 6 months. Everything was going fine until about 3 days ago i noticed one of the guppies hanging around by himself on the other side of the tank and another one with a little tear in his tail.
<Ooops>
At feeding time the other guppies started crashing in to him and not letting him get any food at all.
<Interesting behavior>
I tried to help him out and made sure he got some food but the next day he seemed unable to get to the very top of the water (he was coming up within 2 inches of surface trying to eat). The other fish were still bullying him out of his lunch so i moved him into a separate 2.5 gallon tank and he was able to eat.
<Good>
Now today he seems worse again. He is hanging out near the surface. It looks like he's trying to eat but when I put food in the tank he doesn't even seem to notice. He is swimming around and around the edges if the tank very slowly while touching the sides. He also seemed to be resting his tail on a plastic plant. I don't see any ich on him to explain the rubbing. I just checked on him and now he is laying on the bottom of the tank. There is another guppy that seems to be getting separated now but am not sure yet. Am scared that he might be dying. Please help. Appreciate any help. - Shine
<Only time, good care on your part will see if this fish will recover. No specific treatment is advised. Bob Fenner>

Question about guppies with bloated bellies – 9/24/07
We've had a small 2 gallon aquarium since March with 2 neon tetras and 4 guppies in it.
<Too small... as someone on a forum I frequent wisely said, "two gallons is a vase; get some flowers".>
They did well with no mortality, and even provided us with several babies. Once the babies got bigger (beginning of September) I moved everyone to an established 10 gallon that had housed an angel fish.
<Neons with Angels???? You do realise that neons are part of the natural diet of angelfish...? Or am I right in thinking the angelfish had moved somewhere else at this point?>
Within the week one of the babies got a very large round belly and died.
<Hmm. Could be a variety of things. Possibly the wrong food, poor water quality, or the stress of being moved between tanks with very different water chemistry conditions. Guppies fundamentally want different conditions to angels and neons: the harder and more alkaline, the better. To keep all three species, you're looking for "moderately hard" water (say, 10 degrees dH upwards) and a pH of around 7.5. Soft water fish adapt to hard water better than hardwater fish do to soft water.>
Everyone else seemed to be just fine and have been for the past while until yesterday when I noticed that my female guppy, and the one constantly giving us babies, also had a very large round belly. This morning she was dead.
<Have you checked water chemistry, quality? When fish die -- that's your first step.>
Although I live in a small town, we have 3 aquarium stores all in the same plaza. Great for supplies, but not so great when it comes to asking for advise and I leave there more confused than ever.
<Often the case, even in big cities.>
I'll take a water sample in to one of them today and have that checked but I wonder if this problem might be caused by diet.
<Unlikely, but possible. Guppies need a vegetarian diet, so provided you're giving them algae-based flake food (marketed as "livebearer food" often-times) you should be fine. Giving guppies standard flake is okay once in a while, but not recommended in the long term.>
When I moved the fish to the new tank there was a ceramic ornament in there with artificial plants coming out of it. The baby guppy that died was fond of picking away at the algae that must have been on it, despite my cleaning of it before their addition.
<Nature's way of saying, "Hey, gimme some plant food!". Guppies are herbivores. They eat algae as well as mosquito larvae. So let the algae grow, and supplement with vegetarian flake food plus things like strips of Sushi Nori (cheap and easy to buy from Asian food markets and the better supermarkets).>
The adult female that also died had also been seen nibbling on the ornament.
<See, they're telling you something... not enough greens and fibre in their diet, leads to malnutrition plus constipation.>
We also have a 5 gallon tank where we've lost 3 platies to something that caused them to arch their backs and swim upside down.
<Again, platies are herbivores. In fact, to a greater degree than even guppies. They MUST have plant material to stay healthy.>
That was over 4 months ago and we've experienced no further loss, could an accidental cross contamination with the guppy tank also effect the guppies with a set of completely different symptoms?
<Unlikely.>
Thanks, Hawley
<Check water chemistry, quality, and diet. Then let things settle down and see how you go before adding any more fish. Good luck, Neale.>

Pregnant Guppy Died   9/11/07 
Hi there
I not too sure if you could help me out here, I have had a few pregnant guppies over the last 12 months and we have only managed to save a few of the fry (not been able to get the time right for putting them in the breeding net). But this week the latest pregnant guppy died - she got a lot larger than the others did and started swimming at a funny angle with the head pointing upwards (I have been told that this could be sign she is about to have to her babies) so I put her in the breeding net.
About a hour later I went to check on her and she was still enormous, would not eat her food and just sitting on the bottom of the net. I honestly thought that she was on her way but about another hour later I went to check on her and she was on her side dead and there were loads of red lines on her tummy. We checked out water and it was fine so we ask our local fish store to check it and they said it was fine but could not give us any advice on what had happened with her, if you don't mind I would really like some advice as we still have another pregnant guppy and I DON'T want to lose her as well?
Thanks in advance
Mandy
<Hello Mandy. From your description, it's almost certain that the embryos in her uterus died and began decomposing, and fungal and bacterial infections set in, eventually killing the fish. Why this happens I cannot say, but genetics may be a factor, as are likely diet and water quality. Putting aside genetics, which you can really only fix by selecting stock more carefully, look at diet and water chemistry. Guppies need green foods. Lots of people forget this, and just give 'em plain old flake. That's not good enough. At the very least, they should be given algae-based flake INSTEAD of tropical fish flake. There are lots of brands, sold as Spirulina flake or livebearer flake. Guppies will also take a variety of green foods from the kitchen: squished tinned peas, sliced cucumber, spinach, Sushi Nori, and so on. Next up, water. Fancy guppies are just not hardy, and people are often surprised when they die when kept in "ordinary" aquaria. Wild guppies are practically indestructible, it is true, but not fancies. So you need to keep a close eye on the water quality and chemistry. Zero ammonia and nitrite, obviously, are important. But large, regular water changes are non-negotiable too. 50% a week would be a good starting point. Guppies absolutely must have hard, alkaline water. A pH around 7.5-8 plus hardness of 15 degrees dH upwards are required. Some people like to add a little salt to the water in guppy tanks. This won't do any harm (guppies can live in seawater!) and marine salt mix at least will help raise the hardness and pH if you live in a soft water area. Salt also has a mild therapeutic effect on livebearers particularly, reducing their sensitivity to nitrate. On the plus side, what you describe isn't "a disease" and won't be caught by the other guppies. All I can suggest is you optimise conditions for the remaining fish as far as possible. Avoid using breeding traps -- they stress the females. Instead, use the traps to isolate baby guppies once you've found them. Filling the tank with floating plants (hornwort is ideal) is the best approach. This gives the babies someplace to hide. You can then remove them every day as you find them, and put them in the trap. Don't "trap" baby guppies for more than a couple of weeks, and remove them to their own aquarium as soon as possible. That's the only way to rear substantial numbers of healthy, full-sized fish. Cheers, Neale>

Re: Pregnant Guppy Died   9/11/07 
Thanks very much for the quick reply: the water quality is fine the LFS checked it also for me no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate I checked the hardness using strips I it says GH 120 mg/L and KH40 mg/L but I have no idea what that means though - I feed the fish Tetra Pro colour once daily one day a week they get live blood worm and a couple of times a week I put in a couple of Algae wafers and then about once a fortnight I put in a few fresh peas which they really seem to like. I do have a lot of plants in my tank but I don't what any of them are called so I am going to go to the fish store and see if they have any of that hornwort and whilst I am there I will look for some livebearer food - however would this cause problems for the Rams?
I do only do a 15% water change every week so I guess I will need to do more in future then however I do add salt at every water change as I have been told that fish really do need it
Regards
Mandy
<Greetings. Your water is not ideal for guppies. Assuming that the general hardness is quoted in mg/l of calcium oxide (10 mg/l CaO = 1 degree dH) then your hardness is borderline between slightly soft and moderately hard. One degree of carbonate hardness = ~18 mg/l calcium carbonate so you have about 2.5 degrees on the KH scale, which is a very low level of carbonate hardness. You need to kick these up a bit for long-term success with livebearers. I'd suggest adding crushed coral to a box or canister filter, but any aquarium book will reveal some of the other options available. Moving onto diet. Colour-enhancing food is fine as a treat, but that's not what these fish need. They are algae-eaters and insect-eaters, and you need to respect that. Make NOT LESS than 50% of their meals algae-based flake food. Spirulina flake is ideal. This is really non-negotiable with livebearers. Colour-enhancing food doesn't really have much of an effect on their colours, and frankly a healthy diet will bring out the best colours too. Just as with people, beauty comes from the inside. Your cichlids will happily eat algae-based food, and in fact most cichlids are at least in part herbivorous and the change will do them good. Hornwort (Ceratophyllum spp.) is easy and cheap to obtain. It's sometimes sold as pond plant. Yes, you need more water changes. You are correct about salt, most fish don't need it. But in some (few) cases, salt can be helpful. If you live in a soft water area (as you seem to) adding marine salt mix to the guppy aquarium helps. Never, EVER use domestically softened water in an aquarium, by the way. One last thing: rams and guppies are completely and utterly incompatible. For one fish to stay healthy, the other must be exposed to the wrong conditions. Rams need warm (28-30 degrees C) water with very low hardness (< 6 degrees GH, < 5 degrees KH) water with a high level of acidity (pH 5-6). Guppies want moderate temperatures (24-26 C), hard water (15+ degrees dH, 10+ degrees KH) with an alkaline pH (7.5-8.5). Guppies have a high tolerance of salt (up to seawater salinity) while rams have virtually none at all. There is no way, in the long term, to keep these fish healthy in the same aquarium. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nix. When kept too cold, rams become prone to Hexamita, hole-in-the-head, and other diseases. When kept in acidic water, guppies are prone to finrot and fungus. And I could go on. Please, take some time to read about the requirements of what different fish need to coexist together in the same tank. Just as penguins and elephants have different needs, so too do different species of fish. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Pregnant Guppy Died   9/12/07
Thanks again - I had no idea about this difference and the man at the pet shop knew what fish we had - will really have to make a decision now - thanks again
Regards
Mandy
<Indeed all fish have particular needs. Establish what water chemistry you have "out of the tap", and then choose fish to suit that. Any aquarium book will list hardness and pH requirements. When you choose fish that *like* your water to begin with, everything about the hobby becomes an order of magnitude easier. Cheers, Neale>

Missing Guppy  8/27/08
Good Afternoon,
<AM in my current time, centro-solar arc currently. Howzit?>
I have a 65 litre tank with the following:-
2 Blue Spotted Platies
3 Red Tail Platies
3 Guppies (2 now)
4 Neon Tetras
I added 3 male guppies and 4 Neon Tetras a week ago and only noticed yesterday when I was cleaning the tank that one was missing. I looked around the tank and saw a very thin 1.5 cm long particle floating around. It looked like part of a fish (same colour as the missing guppy) but I could not work out which bit it was so threw it away.
<Good>
I thought it may be hiding somewhere but I still cannot find it. I feel so bad about this. What could have happened to the guppy?
<Likely perished and was quickly being decomposed by bacteria and fungi...>
Is it likely to have been eaten by the other fish?
<Mmm, not very likely from what you list>
Also, if remains of the missing guppy are still in the tank, is it harmful to the other fish?
<Do you detect any appreciable ammonia? In a volume of this size, with good filtration... not likely a problem... or you would have detected changes in your other livestock>
Problem is that I cannot see any remains otherwise I would have cleared it out.
Please help!
Seema
<I encourage you to read on WWM re the water quality the livebearers here appreciate vs. the Tetras... and possibly re quarantine practices for new fish livestock to prevent introduction of disease mainly... Otherwise, I would not worry. Bob Fenner>

Tail/fin rot, guppies    8/26/07
Hello. I just stumbled upon your website and noticed it is very helpful. I have had a fishtank for a while but just got a new one with new fish. It is only a ten gallon. I have a guppy who developed tail/fin rot, and it seems to be spreading to my favorite guppy. I don't know if it is though. I'm just trying to confirm my observations when i ask: is it contagious to my other fish besides the guppies? Thanks a lot. -Adam
<Hello Adam. Thanks for the kind words. There's two ways of looking at your question. If you're asking will finrot jump from one fish to another the way a cold jumps between people, no, not really. The bacteria that cause finrot are (probably) present in all aquaria at all times, and only under certain circumstances do they actually become a problem. However, if your question is "one of my fish is sick, will the others get sick too?" then the answer to that is yes, most likely. Finrot bacteria become problematic when the immune systems of your various fish become compromised in some way. Two factors are usually at work, poor water quality and physical damage. They can work independently or together. With guppies for example finrot can start when they're kept with nippy fishes such as serpae tetras or black widow tetras, both of which view guppy tails as food. Or alternatively (and more usually) water conditions in the aquarium have dropped below a certain threshold, and the guppies no longer have the strength to stave off infection. In the case of guppies, ammonia and nitrite are dangerous, but so too is a low pH (anything below 7.0) and a low hardness (basically you want "moderately hard" to "very hard" water chemistry). So, if you have multiple fish showing signs of finrot, and can rule out fin-nipping, then study the conditions in the aquarium. Do water tests for ammonia, nitrite, pH, and hardness (ideally KH but GH will do). Oh, and if the water conditions are so bad the guppies are getting sick, the other species are likely be stressed to some degree, too. Hope this helps, Neale>

Re: tail/fin rot – 08/26/07
It turns out that my water is too soft. Thanks for the advice. -Adam
<Cool. Bump up the carbonate hardness especially. That's the bit livebearers appreciate. Adding "tonic salt" -- whatever the retailer might say -- won't help. Cheers, Neale>