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Hey Guys..
I'm new here and too fish so bear with me!! I currently have a 10 gallon tank with 5 guppies (4 female) 3 cory catfish and a chinese algae eater. Also about a billion guppy fry!!!
Some of my guppy fry (about a month old) have ho tails, and one appears to bent upwards in the middle!! THey are earting and swimming fine and seem to be perfectly healthy! Any ideas what this could be?

Also, one of my olders guppies has dropsy, i bought some stuff that says it will cure it but im afraid she may be too far gone Another one of my female guppies has what appear to be red dots on one side of her! Shes swimming and eating fine also, any ideas what this could be?

Thanks for your help too!!
Sam

I'm not very knowledgeable about dropsy medication, but about the other questions . . .

The tail-less fry probably got the fins chewed off by the females. That will inhibit their ability to escape. If a lot of the fry were born in one batch, it wouldn't be uncommon for one or two to be deformed given the small area they all had to live in. Depending on how the arch affects the internal organs, the deformed one might survive, but you'd have to take it out of the tank because of again, slower swimming speed.

The redness of the female is probably from pushing out a lot of fry. That's something to keep your eye on.

Thanks for the info, it helped me a lot!

Hi,
If possable move the guppy with dropsy to a hospital tank for treatment. If this is not an option and you treat in the main tank, only 1/2 dose as many medications cannot be tolerated by corys, CAE & fry in full dose. Dont forget to remove any carbon fron the filter (if you have any) during the treatment.
Also if possable you should seperate your fry away from their parents, even a breading net can help with this. This helps to prevent the fry being eaten by their parents.

Hope this helps

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Also, your Chinese Algae Eater will soon outgrow that tank. Id take him out and maybe add another cory or 2

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Hi Sam. Welcome to FishProfiles !

I'm afraid with all those fishies, you are just going to have to spring for a bigger tank. You will definitely need to return the CAE but I wouldn't add anything more to the tank right now.

I would say the fry with bent and/or missing tails are most likely the result of the other guppys trying to make a snack out of them. It may prove to be more of a problem as they grow and try to become more mobile so keep an eye on them to make sure they are able to get to their food.

The guppy with dropsy should be moved out as soon as possible as it can be infectious. For what it's worth, I have a Molly fry that had dropsy. She tripled in size overnight and had the pinecone look so I know she had dropsy. I moved her to my 2 gallon which doesn't have a heater so the temperature is quite cool (usually around 70 to 72 degrees). I added a little salt to the water. Her size has now returned to normal and she is her active self. Now I don't know if this is a remedy or something that just worked for me but I figured it was worth a try since most dropsy treatments fail.

I have no idea about the guppy with the red dots on her side so hopefully someone else can help you there. In the meantime, keep a close eye on it.

Good luck and have fun watching the new babies !!

Hey thanks for the info,
Unfortunately im a college student in a small apartment!! I can barely afford to eat!! and i dont really have room for a bigger tank The lady at the pet store, said that the CAE would be fine as long as I only have one!! I don't think I can return him anymore...

My poor fishy with dropsy died, but the one with the red dots seems to have healed, they are gone and she seems healthy!!

Is it ok to just leave my fry in the main tank? I didnt plan on breeding them, and as you can tell i dont have any room for more

If i do get the money for a bigger tank, what size should i get? and does anyone know where there are affordable tanks?

How often do you do water changes? You should be doing about 25% weekly or at the least every 2 weeks. Also, try adding some salt. Not much, just a Tbsp per gallon. Most livebears like a little salt in their water. Many times the lack of it will cause dropsy, shimmering, and deformities at birth. When you do water changes, add more salt, according to how much water you change.

HTH....




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There is always a bigger fish...

I change approx. 25% at least every week and a half, and i have been putting some salt in the water, how often an im supposed to be putting it in?
Sam

Not to be rude, but I stated already, add the salt every time you change or add water. But only add enough for the water you are changing. Example is, if you change 2 gallons, then add 2 Tbsp, one for each gallon. Once the salt is in the tank, the only way for it to get out, is to be taken out as in a water change. The salt will not evaporate when the water does. So you do not need to add salt any other time, except when you are changing the water.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Acid, 1 TBLSP of salt per gallon?
Thats an awful lot of salt considering there is corys in the tank. Guppys and Platys and Mollies do not require any salt in their water at all.
Most have been born and raised in freshwater for generations. Salt is not required. Salt is not very aggreeable with Cory Cats either. I would say if you want to add salt, add it at a rate of no more than 1 TBLSP per 10 Gallons.
Add 1 Teaspoon back every 25% water change.

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Yes, many LB, and especially guppies and platties, are raised in FW only without salt these days. But, from her description, it sounded like this is what was needed for her tank. Most of my fish I get are either wild, or within a few generations of whild. Also, I did not reconise that there were cories in there, was more so paying attention to the LB descriptions. Yes cories do not like that much salt. But they can tolerate it. I have cories in with my wild Montizumas, and they do just great. And it is kept with 1 TBSP per 1-2 gal.

This may not be the problem, but from the descriptions she stated, it just sounded like the next step to try, if she had not already tried it.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I'm sorry to hear your fishy went to the great lake in the sky but yeah the other one healed.

A lot of fish stores will take fish in trade for store credit so you might want to consider that when the time comes he's too big for your tank.

Hee hee guppys and platys are great for making a "small" hobby into a not-so-small hobby. I started with one bowl and one fish and well....

It is definitely okay to leave the fry in the main tank especially if you don't have room for another tank. Your adult guppys will thank you as many, if not all, will probably become snacks.