Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Health => Topic started by: AdyDnt on October 11, 2015, 10:55:37 AM
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We have a 40ltr tank with some GWC minnows and 3 male guppies in, 2 guppys have now become bloated and staying on the bottom, the 3rd is its usual self and the minnows are all fine. so i'm wondering if its an age thing as they are over a year old and did hear they only have a life expectancy of about 18 months. But if its not age what could it be and how could i maybe medicate the tank, iv heard of salts could be added to the tank, is this normal salt or epsom salts or something. All help and advice appreciated.
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Are the scales sticking out on the guppies? It is easier to see if you look down on them.
Sticking out scales is dropsy, a symptom of several diseases rather than a disease itself. There is some underlying condition which causes the kidneys to fail, the fish can't get rid of water and it swells up with the swelling making the scales stick out like a pine cone. The problem with treating dropsy is knowing what the underlying cause is - it could be a bacterial, viral or even protozoan infection. And the bad news is that once a fish reaches this stage there is usually nothing that can be done. Kidney failure is virtually impossible to treat.
OK, that's the worse case scenario. If your guppies' scales are not sticking out like a pine cone, are there any other symptoms to consider? Are they eating or not? When they poo, is it normal? How long have they been like this? Could they have overeaten if it's not been long?
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Thanks Sue, the scales aren't sticking out and there eating ok, in fact they will swim up for food, as for poo iv not seen them have one lately, one guppy has been like this for 2 weeks and the other the last couple of days, i wonder if there constipated.
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Good news on the scales.
Try feeding the fish either a few daphnia or peas then fasting - miss a day's feeding. Don't feed a whole bag/cube of frozen daphnia, just a few. Or cook two or three peas (or save some from your meal), pop the insides out of the skins and chop them till the bits are small enough for the fish to eat.
If you use peas, their poo will turn green!
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I did put some brine shrimp in earlier, will try peas later
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It's daphnia that 'clears them out' rather than brine shrimp. If you don't have any daphnia, try peas. But if they've already been fed today, give them peas tomorrow (Monday) then nothing on Tuesday.
And on the subject of peas, guppies do like a bit of veg in their diet so maybe add one pea a week to the feeding regime. You can mix it with their usual food, just a bit less of that. And when fed routinely you don't need to fast afterwards, that's just to get rid of constipation if that's what the guppies have. It won't hurt the other fish to miss one day.
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i do have daphnia too but had already put the other one in, use them as a treat once a week but will look at maybe twice a week
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It's fine to use frozen live (or even alive) twice a week. But give the guppies peas as well - though the white clouds will also eat them.
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thanks sue