Dying Guppy :(

One of our male guppies has been suffering for a couple of days now. Hes never been that healthy since we bought him in january. He was only little and as he grew he grew with a bent spine and never could swim too well. The last few days hes been  spending most of the time on the bottom, occasionally coming up for food but then he would sink back down to the bottom. His head has got massive and his body is really thin and today he cant stay upright so hes just floating around on his back, occasionally righting himself. His gills are still going but hes obviously struggling.  I've got him in a net and separated him at the top of the tank just in case the shrimp start on him but I don't really know what else to do!

Poor little thing. From what you describe, it doesn't look good. It sounds as though he was from poor stock, and never grew properly.

If you want to try and keep him alive, the net is the best place. But to be honest, I would put him down. You'll read of many ways to do this, but there are 2 generally accepted methods, one of which can be hard on the fish keeper.

Clove oil, sold at chemist shops (old remedy for toothache). Put the fish in a tub of tank water. Find a screw top bottle/jar, add 20 to 30 drops of clove oil (depending on how big the tub is, and how much water is in there) and a bit of water then shake until the oil emulsifies. Pour slowly into the tub with the fish and leave it a few hours. If you take the body out too soon there is the risk the fish is just unconscious. Waiting the few hours ensures it is dead before disposing of the body.
Clove oil stinks. You won't be able to use the tub or bottle for anything else. And I keep a pair of rubber gloves for this as it takes ages for the smell to wash out of your skin.

Physical trauma. Put the fish in a plastic bag and crush it. Do this as quickly as possible to minimise distress to the fish. This is the method that is harder for the fishkeeper.
With big fish, cut off the head with a very sharp knife rather than crush it. Again, speed is all important.

Well he has gone. We let nature take its course and decide because neither of us could do the deed! I think I must have checked about 15 times before I was sure he was gone! Poor little fishie. Was quite attached to that one (never thought I'd say that about a fish!!) 

Hi Louking,

Sorry about your little guppy
Just to let you know for future reference, (hopefully you won't need it) I have used the clove oil method a couple of times, and it is the easier way, for the fishkeeper at least. You must be sure the oil has dispersed throughout the water before adding it to the container with the poorly fish in, but then it is quite quick, but definitely, like Sue said, leave the fish in the clove mixture a couple of hours...I left mine overnight, but then I am a big wuss.

As Colin said, (what wise folk there are on here ) guppies are ridiculously weak these days, but a mature tank does make a big difference. The other thing to try is not to buy your fish as soon as they arrive at your LFS, but wait a couple of weeks, hopefully they will still have some left, and they will be more likely to survive the move to your tank and survive better. Any particularly weak ones will have died shortly after their arrival at the shop....not in your tank.

Good luck!

Thank you! Luckily all our other guppies are thriving so fingers crossed it was a genetics problem. Much happier knowing hes not suffering any more. I will be getting some clove oil for the future though just in case! X