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I just noticed this afternoon that one of my male guppies has a small, bright red sore on his body, a little bit behind his head. There is nothing in the tank that could have hurt him (only other guppies, a platy and some cories) so I am guessing it's bacterial. He is acting sluggish, mostly just staying in the same spot in the upper 1/3 of the tank. His mouth is opening and closing very often, but none of the others are doing this. He seems to be bloated.

The tank (23 gallon) is cycled and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate = 0 ppm. pH = 7.0. Another guppy (yellow in color) has developed small red streaks on both sides of his body and a red streak in his tail. He is acting normally. They were all interested in eating this morning and did not have any redness until this afternoon.

I do not have a hospital tank so I have put the guppy with the red sore in a 1 gallon kritter keeper. There is no heater and no filter. The main tank has temp 75 F but I'm afraid the 1 gallon will suffer a drop in temperature, since the room temperature is only about 65 F. I have wrapped the 1 gallon in tinfoil to preserve some of the heat. I added fresh, treated water and 1 tsp aquarium salt and 1/10 tsp Melafix (says it's good for open wounds, etc.)

Will he be ok in the 1 gallon as it is setup? I'm not allowed to get another tank, and heating or filtering it is not possible. I have an battery powered aerator, but it is very loud and I can't let it run overnight (landlords upstairs). I will run it every now and then to get some oxygen into the water. The alternative is keeping him in the main tank, but I don't want this to spread to the other fish. I will not feed him and can change the water daily.

Does anyone know what this mysterious redness may be due to? I hope he survives and the others don't get this, but if things get worse, what can I treat the tank with? I have Maracyn 1 and Maracyn 2 on hand, but I'm worried that these meds may be too strong for the cories? I'm going to the LFS tomorrow. A book I have suggests antibiotic medicated food?

Please help asap! I really want to help the little guppy and prevent the others from suffering too! Thanks.

Hi there,
definitely sounds like a wound or infection
of some kind, likely bacterial in nature.

You say the tank is cycled, yet Nitrates of zero
would mean the tank hasnt cycled at all.
There should be nitrAtes present in a cycled
tank.

I would go ahead and treat with Maracyn2, the cories
should be ok with, or treat the guppy on his own
if its possible.
Keep feedings light, but dont avoid feeding him, it
could make him worse. It may be easier to medicate
in the 10g tank with the maracyn.
It will be find with cories, I have used it successfully before with scaleless fish.
Do not put salt in the tank with the cories.

Marcyn 2 should clear it up, you should see marked
improvement in only 4-7 days.
Keep us posted.


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I totally agree...sounds like a bacterial infection. I like to use melafix, which treats bacterial infections, and pimafix, which cures funal and bacterial infections.

I've got a fever... and the only prescription... is more cowbell!

My neon tetra got the same thing once. I used a combination on Melafix and Pimafix and after a while it just disappeared. So I would say use that. It worked for me.