Help! Sick guppy!

I have a 10 Gallon tank with 2 guppies, 2 zebra danios, and 1 cory catfish. I noticed yesterday evening that the guppy I have had for about a year now had what looked like a tiny white blister/pustule (no bigger than the head of a pin) on one side of his dorsal fin. On the other side there were two more that were smaller. The look like perfect globes that just got stuck onto his fin and is pulling it over onto one side of his body. He is swimming almost normally - but he is shimmying and resting at the bottom or on plants a bit more than he normally does. From looking at pictures and things I think it is a bacterial infection. So today I went to Petco and got Melafix which I have treated the aquarium with. Before I put the treatment in the tank - I briefly scooped both guppies out into a clear glass (instead of netting to cause less stress of course) and looked at him and now the underside of his belly is red and inflamed looking and it almost looks like it's eaten through his scales! It's terrible...but I treated the tank and am crossing my fingers that I'm not too late.

As I was trying to take a picture to post of my guppy - (I failed because it kept moving around) I noticed that one of my danios doesn't look right either! He swims so fast and never stays in one place it's almost barely noticeable, but he has a tiny white dot on one of his pelvic fins. In addition, both of his fins seem a little frayed. Could this possibly be fin rot? And if so - will the Melafix be good for this? It's crazy that they can look like this and be swimming so normally. Also should I be feeding them anything differently? My sick guppy kept going up to eat and then spitting out the food....

Also…after putting the aquarium salt in (I don't know if that makes a difference or not) I tested the water

Nitrate - High (160ish) Unsafe I know...
nitrite - Low (0) Safe
Hardness - High (150ish)
chlorine - Low (0) Safe
alkalinity - High (180ish) Ideal
pH - High (8ish) Alkaline

Yesterday after I noticed he was sick - I did about a 20% water change. I also added some API StressZyme (as well as API StressCoat as a conditioner). I don't know if these tests are serious enough to require an immediate water change again or if because of the new addition of the meds and the aquarium salt if I should just wait it out...

Does anyone have any thoughts on what this might be and if I need to be doing anything differently?

[Bjur]

"Corys are sensitive to salt, as with other scaleless fish, adding salt to the tank will cause them harm." Taken from http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Cory

I reckon it is the PH. It seems to be pretty high. These fishes are suppose to be in more acidic water. Try to lower your PH slowly to 7 or below slowly.

WHITE SPOT (Ich, ichthyophthirius) is caused by environmental stress and/or cold water. It can also be caused by sudden changes in water temperature. It is a parasite resembling a grain of salt that feeds on the tissue of the fish causing irritation. It spreads through the skin and fins and will eventually kill the fish if left untreated. The mature parasite cannot be killed, nor can its eggs. It can only be destroyed in its free swimming stage after the spot falls off and the eggs hatch. This can take from 1-4 days. This is why it is important to continue to medicate for at least 3-5 days after the spots are gone. Add 1-2 drops of formalin or copper sulfate to the tank water and raise the temperature to 82 degrees (use formalin with great care as it is a cancer causing agent).


VELVET (Oodinium) is similar to ich but it is much smaller and has a golden color to it. As above, the fish will eventually die if untreated. Use the same treatment as for ich.


PROTOZOAN FIN ROT is the reason for death in most imported guppies. It eats away at the fins and in no time causes death. Caudals turn gray and will eventually fall off it not treated. An effective way to quickly combat this problem is to combine formalin (1-2 drops), sulfa (1 capsule per 10 gallons) and salt (one handful per 10 gallons) and treat the fish for at least a whole week, making 10% water changes daily. Remember to replace medications daily. Antibacterials such as nitrofurazone and tetracycline, when used for 7 days, work well also.



FUNGUS is grayish white patches on the body or fins. It too, can easily kill a fish. Treat with nitrofurazone (250 mg. per 10 gallons) for 7 days. Any similar antibacterial will also do the job.

As you can see, you don't need a full medicine cabinet to treat the common diseases of the guppy. If you keep formalin, sulfa, nitrofurazone, tetracycline and salt in the fish room, you should be ready for all but the most exotic diseases.

[KeeHuat]

Did you test for the level of ammonia, what is the figure.

Originally Posted by baggykitty

Nitrate - High (160ish) Unsafe I know...
nitrite - Low (0) Safe
Hardness - High (150ish)
chlorine - Low (0) Safe
alkalinity - High (180ish) Ideal
pH - High (8ish) Alkaline

filtration: are u using any filter? might be good to have a simple one.

WC routine: how often do u change water? should do a partial WC every week to remove nitrates. if nitrates had built up already, no harm to step up and do a 50% WC. just make sure u dose your water conditioner accordingly.

PH is ok. guppies can tolerate a broad range.

do a search on "white spots" or "ich". its been discussed extensively already.

It looks as if his abdomen is spilling out :-( :-( :-( It looked like it was sort of red and irritated before but now there's this bulbous thing coming from his abdomen which I think is probably his intestines. There's no coming back from that is there?
I don't know what to do...should I put him out of his misery?

Originally Posted by baggykitty

It looks as if his abdomen is spilling out :-( :-( :-( It looked like it was sort of red and irritated before but now there's this bulbous thing coming from his abdomen which I think is probably his intestines. There's no coming back from that is there?
I don't know what to do...should I put him out of his misery?

if u want, u can isolate the sick fish in another tank, in case it spreads and medicate accordingly.

i personally do not cull fishes. it may live, or it may not... its in the hands of the almighty...

Originally Posted by detritus

if u want, u can isolate the sick fish in another tank, in case it spreads and medicate accordingly.

i personally do not cull fishes. it may live, or it may not... its in the hands of the almighty...

Yup...have to isolate the fish first before the disease spreading to other....

Hope the poor fish can recover soon.

Keep us posted.

[xaine]

Originally Posted by baggykitty

It looks as if his abdomen is spilling out :-( :-( :-( It looked like it was sort of red and irritated before but now there's this bulbous thing coming from his abdomen which I think is probably his intestines. There's no coming back from that is there?
I don't know what to do...should I put him out of his misery?

That sounds pretty much like a internal bacterial infection and is at the later stage of it. There are some medication (like Interpet No9) that would help, but that's usually if treated earlier, no harm trying. You never know if you can help reviving it.

Those that you have appiled (Melafix & API StressZyme) usually treats exterior wounds.

[KeeHuat]

I find yellow powder works for me if I detect it early and apply the medication.