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In my fully cycled 20 gallon tall I have 7 female guppies and 2 female mollies. No boys allowed!

I just noticed one girl guppy has a white spot on her back. Sure looks like fungus, but I also saw that her gravid spot is much darker than the other girls. Her tummy seems larger than the other girls too. Immaculate conception perhaps?

This tank has never had a problem/disease and I've had these girls since I rescued tham as fry from my LFS a year ago.

78 degrees
pH 7.6
kh and gh 120
zero ammonia, nitrites and <5 nitrates.

I've upped the salt.

I wonder if she might have an internal parasite which would explain her tummy and stress her to allow fungus. She isn't clamped finned, not itching, just hanging with her gal pals.

I'm just going to monitor her for now and see what the salt does. Any ideas?

thanks,
Tim

Guppies being as they are, are you sure that one didn't sneak out last weekend? I'd check the odometer on your car, looks suspicious.

Seriously though, could you describe the white spot a little more? Is it just a little speck, or does it look patchy, like a little cottony, any redness in the area, etc.?

Thanks for the reply Jake,

The patch is cottony, on her back - forward and blow her dorsal fin. It's small and on her scales and there arent any raised scales. It's in her slime layer. No redness or streaks. She might be doing a slight shimmy but it's hard to tell.

Hopefully the salt will work. Fungus meds are so hard on the bio filter and my QT tank has my crab!

Tim

[span class="edited"][Edited by tr6tim 2004-08-28 13:15][/span]

None of the fish are new then? Do you have any other tanks, and if so, do you share anything in between them, such as nets, a gravel vac, etc?


I have a tendancy to want to call everything wrong with a guppy bacterial, given their apparent disposition to bacterial infections, but based on your information thus far I think I'd be overreacting.


If the other guppies contract the "white spot", then I suggest Maracyn Plus for all of them, or Maracyn and Maracyn 2 if you can't get that. If none of those available, then just a broad spectrum antibiotic, but those are the only ones I can assure you will not affect the biofilter when used as directed.

If it remains solely on the one guppy, it's more likely that it's a true fungus in which case Maroxy might help. I've never known Maroxy to affect the biofilter.

At this point in time though, I would shell a few peas and feed them tidbits, and keep doing what you're doing. If the spot gets larger or spreads, hit em with the antibiotics. If it gets all fluffy and stays on the one fish, hit em with some maroxy ( also made by mardel ).

edit - missed the part about having a crab in the QT tank, hehe.

[span class="edited"][Edited by jake 2004-08-28 21:16][/span]

UPDATE:

[font color="#C00000"] She has blood in her gravid spot! [/font] I've done a 20% H20 change, upped the salt and added melafix.

I'm feeding them "Pepso Food" and contemplating about some Jungle "Parasite Clear" because obviously I'm thinking she has a parasite.

Otherwise she is perky and hungry like all the rest.

You all think I'm on the right track?

thanks,
Tim

I don't know of any parasite that produces visible bleeding like that. If she's having all these problems, and more keep coming, find a way to hospitalize her.

What perplexes me is that you rescued them as fry you said, so being bloated from pregnancy ( and a female guppy is going to stay this way almost her whole lifespan, heh), is pretty much out of the question if you are sure all the guppies are female. Add the white spot to the bloating, then the blood near the gravid spot, the fact that your water parameters are ok, no other guppies having any issues...

What does this bleeding look like? Red streaks? or is it "literally" bleeding?

The only boys in the house are me and my son - even the crab is a girl!

This has me stumped. It's not hemoragic septicemia I don't think, and my water is super IMHO.

The white spot is smaller since yesterday. Either the salt or the melafix I'm sure.
Her gravid spot had red streaks under the skin this AM. She seems more bloated than the rest - although a couple others appear fat too - compared to the rest of the girls. They are all sisters by the way and about a year old.

I've started them on Pepso Food and did go with the Parasite Clear. Now the blood isn't as apparent but it's hard to tell.

I don't know where they could have gotten anything though. I only have 2 tanks, the girl guppy tank and a 10 gallon with a red clawed crab and about 6 baby ghost shrimp. I've had them for probably 9 months.

Maybe she is just getting old, weak, and vulnerable to something in their ecosystem.

I'm going to keep monitoring them and run the parasite meds for a few days to see what happens.

Thanks again,
Tim