# Sick male guppy! D: Please help



## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

Hi guys, I can't get a picture of him unfortunately my camera is down, He's loosing his colour in his tail and its looking a little frayed. he's swimming a little strangly too. Only got him a few days ago, it was a friends tank and fish but they couldn't look after them anymore, Ive realised the tank is too small for the fish i have but im planning on getting a new tank very soon ( a 28 gal) but unfortunatly i only have a 5 gal at the moment and it has 6 guppies and 4 neon tetra's Ive put a Tea-spoon of aquatic salt in about an hour ago. I cant get to the pet store for a couple of days and im worried about the little tike.


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## sq33qs (Jul 12, 2010)

do you have a filter in the tank? 
Do you know what the waters ph and temp are?

How do the other fish look in comparison?


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## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

The other fish are looking ok, Yesterday they were a little stressed out because of a swordtail was being aggressive, he's now been tranfered with his 2 females to a different tank hat i had set up with nothing else in it. Even those guys are looking fine. its just this little guy who seems to be going down hill fairly fast since this morning (Im in the UK), I dont have a PH tester =/ and im getting a thermostat this weekend for them, I might even be able to get it tomorrow. So at the moment the tank should be at room temp ( I know this is bad but im moving as fast as I can to get everything sorted for them, I took them off a friend who had very little time ot money to look after them. So i stepped in for them)


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## sq33qs (Jul 12, 2010)

I get what your saying. 
Ok, you will need -

A filter
A thermostat
A heater. 
A ph test kit if possible, they're cheapish.

Just to get going so you dont lose your fish, i'd say just keep an eye on them until you get the equipment you need. Dont feed them too much as the tank will become very dirty very fast without a filter. 
Good luck mate.


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## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

Oh yea! I do have a small filter, (lol i missed that part on your post) So filtration is ok, I was just wondering if there was anything else I could do for now to increase his chances? And i was wondering if anyone knew what he has? Is it a threat to my other fish? Should I separate him? The colour loss is starting to spread up his tail now, He only started like this 6 hours ago.

Apparently ( I just got off the phone with the previous owner) she only bought them the other day. I took them off her because she was treating them like a goldfish in a bowl. Took the tank off her and found a small filter for it.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Color loss can mean a couple things, usually. 

a) lack of correct nutrition. Are you feeding them tropical flake? Sometimes a fish's appearance and activity will improve with better food. TetraColor flake can help with color, and a veggie-based food like Spirulina Flake will give them that part of their diet. Occasionally, some live/frozen brine shrimp or blood worms is nice too. 

b) stress/disease. Are his fins all clamped up (scrunched close to his body)? He could just be having trouble adjusting to the new enviroment, or maybe your water isn't healthy enough for them. The frayed tail makes me think he was getting nipped, which probably stressed him out. Fin rot would be a likely next thing to follow. A heater would really improve their chances of doing well. Colder water is not good for keeping disease away when it's a tropical fish.


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## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

I'm using a normal tropical flake, planning on trying to grow a culture of grindle worm or brine shrimp at some point. 

He is still alive (14 hours after this all started) But his mobility is restricted (Tail pretty much paralysed) and his tail is very frayed almost shredded. Noticed on one of my big females ( Possibly heavily Pregnant) some very light pink growths, cant tell very well if its lumps or a fungus, around her mouth. Planning on getting a heater tomorrow if all goes well. fingers crossed he will stick on this plain of existence till then. She's hiding a lot so i cant get a good look at her.


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## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

just gave them a little bit of food and neither of the 2 are eating. The other 4 guppies are being little piranha's but those 2 arn't D: Please help! i don't want to wake up to 2 dead guppies


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## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

Dead male this morning, it spread all up his tail. Poor little thing , i just couldn't do anything to help him =(. I'm going to the lfs today and get some meds and damn the expense, I don't want the female going too. she's perked up a little bit but she could still be better.


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## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

Got to the store this afternoon and got some meds got back and she was gone. =( oh well, I have 3 other females for Gary ( My solid red male) to go at. The other guys are fine. Gave them all a dose of the med's just incase. 

New tank coming soon *Fingers crossed* Once the stress of the deaths and moving has settled down I might transfer them to my aunties tank (well established) its a lot bigger than I can offer them at this time till I can get my hands on my new tank. I feel rotten keeping them in a small 5 gal tank. I'll keep them in her tank till I can get my new tank cycled and sorted.


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## sq33qs (Jul 12, 2010)

Shame, good luck with your fish. 
Thanks for caring, at least you are trying for them. This may sound girlie, but I actually hate having to fish out a dead fishy, breaks my heart.

Your aunts tank sounds like a much better place until you can upgrade your own tank.
Best of luck.


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## Fairy (Jul 20, 2010)

Same here, I got some fin rot and antifungal med's but i got it too late for her. But yea on monday if I can i'll put them in my Aunts 28 gal tank. I'll miss them all though =( only had them a week lol


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