# Guppy Suffering from a disease?



## FastRunner (Jul 17, 2012)

Hi Everyone,

So I have this one guppy who keeps having episodes of crashing to the bottom, being listless, bellied up, but still breathing. (The first time i saw this i thought he was DEAD!) And fast forward 3 hours later, the guppy seems to be swimming around again like nothing ever happened. This happened 5 times already. I checked water quality and they read Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0 ph is stable at 7.8 as well. There are 2 other guppies in this tank which are both very healthy and show no signs of disease. I have also included a picture to show what he looks like. I keep him in the netting because my other guppies tend to nip at him when he's in this state. Could this be swim bladder disease? Has anyone experienced this before? I feed my guppies API tropical flakes three times a week. 








ps. the photo posted is upside down.

Here's another picture. He just swam out of the netting, but is in this position now. You can see his tail is missing because the guppies were nipping at him during those previous episodes. But in between these episodes his tail has been growing back nicely.


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## bcorchidguy (Jan 14, 2011)

It's very difficult to see but it doesn't look like he has a swollen belly, what about the opposite, is he extra thin? Does he have red or black streaks? Any slimey feces? Swollen anus?
For loss of a better idea look up Swim Bladder Inflammation (head standing). No matter what when a fish appears to be ill you should isolate it from your other fish in a hospital tank and even better, a hospital/quaranteen tank in another room. You should have seperate items for this tank, don't use the same nets heaters etc...

Douglas


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

_"Could this be swim bladder disease?"_

yes, though it's not typicaly a disease so much as an infection. In goldfish it can be caused by constipation ("bloat"), but with most other fish it is generaly attributed to dirty water, _"dirty water"_ being a loaded term that can apply to a variety of situations, anything from short term filter interruption to heavy bioload _and/or_ poor maintenance.

Fish often respond well when moved to a quiet recovery tank with very clean water and easy-access food. Fish may starve while experiencing this condition as they have trouble getting around, so it's important to feed carefully.


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## FastRunner (Jul 17, 2012)

Well thanks for your input. I've isolated him into his own tank. Ive also added some aquarium salt and increased the temperature slightly. Time to wait and see!

Update: 09/21/2012 @ 18:00 PST.Well it just died in the hospital tank.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Sorry to hear that. I keep guppies also  Good luck with the rest of your fishies.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Guppies are notorious for breaking down if the water is too soft. Do you know what your GH and KH levels are? Please advise, I would be curious.


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## FastRunner (Jul 17, 2012)

Rastapus said:


> Guppies are notorious for breaking down if the water is too soft. Do you know what your GH and KH levels are? Please advise, I would be curious.


GH and KH are 180 and 120 respectively. I think thats within range of what guppies like


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

Rastapus raises a good point about some livebearers needing "Calgary" type water - I had trouble with micropoecillia because of hardness. 

Sorry the treatment didn't work.


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## coppercloud (Apr 14, 2012)

i like guppys (i have a few i had a lot more) but the ones you buy at the store live a few months and then die and then even keeping them with females almoust all of my fry turnd out to be female and the ones that were male died Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lol


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Ursus sapien said:


> Rastapus raises a good point about some livebearers needing "Calgary" type water - I had trouble with micropoecillia because of hardness.


What do you mean by "Calgary type water"?


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I believe he means harder water. I'm not sure on the exact amount of hardness tho, I just know calgary water doesn't taste very good.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Hey guys, just moving this to the Hospital forum. thanks!


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