# Guppy problems



## Captainmatt29 (Feb 28, 2009)

I have some Guppies 1 female and a few males - the problem is the water is at 19c so its not too warm and not too cold except they seem to be dying off.

First they get a limp tail that seems to be motion less and they struggle to swim, then eventually the sink to the bottom struggling even more and then die.

Does anyone know whats wrong, its not fin rot as the fins are intact etc the other thing is when they die they suddenly get engulfed in some sort of hairy jelly stuff which is odd.

Any ideas people?


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## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

Have you checked all your water parameters? If they are all ok,then its probably the guppies,they seem very weak at the moment due to in-breeding.Ive kept and worked with fish for more than 20 years,and ive struggled with guppies this year in the little tank i set up for the wife.My waters fine,as are the shrimps and other delicate inhabitants! Id do a water change,increase the temps,add a little salt (aquatic),and dose with a gentle treatment such as melafix.


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## klair328 (Nov 15, 2006)

white spot or some kind of bacteria you need to do a part water change and get some fungal treatment i think


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## Captainmatt29 (Feb 28, 2009)

Berber King said:


> Have you checked all your water parameters? If they are all ok,then its probably the guppies,they seem very weak at the moment due to in-breeding.Ive kept and worked with fish for more than 20 years,and ive struggled with guppies this year in the little tank i set up for the wife.My waters fine,as are the shrimps and other delicate inhabitants! Id do a water change,increase the temps,add a little salt (aquatic),and dose with a gentle treatment such as melafix.


Im going to change about 50% or so of the water tonight, its warmed to 20c now.

I did hear they can live in salt water how is this true are they marine/tropical ?


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## Captainmatt29 (Feb 28, 2009)

My female is also huge like massive huge with a black mass at her back end where her belly is etc but her spine seems to have gone crooked in the past 24 hours which is what happened to the ones that died before  or is she due to explode ?


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

klair328 said:


> white spot or some kind of bacteria you need to do a part water change and get some fungal treatment i think


if the problem is whitespot (which is a parasite) then you need a white spot treatment. If the problem is bacterial then you need a bacterial treatment. So why if it's either of these would you use a fungal treatment?


Best bet is a gentle treatment and a half dose of it. Melafix is great for bacterial problems but if it is fungal pimafix would be better. If it's parasites then the best bet is a treatment called Sterazin. It's quite a brutal treatment though. It completely empties the fish's system so you need to keep them well fed during treatment.

Can you give us more info on the problem? Without knowing what the actual problem is there's no point treating for anything because it won't help and could cause more problems.



messengermatt said:


> Im going to change about 50% or so of the water tonight, its warmed to 20c now.
> 
> I did hear they can live in salt water how is this true are they marine/tropical ?


bump the temp up more if you can, guppies are from Trinidad. So the temp is rarely that low. Also you need more females per male. Females are only ready to breed every 6 weeks or so whereas males will go at it all the time. Males will harass females to breed so you need at least 2-3 females per male to spread the sexual tension.


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## Connor_123 (Jan 15, 2009)

messengermatt said:


> My female is also huge like massive huge with a black mass at her back end where her belly is etc but her spine seems to have gone crooked in the past 24 hours which is what happened to the ones that died before  or is she due to explode ?


that massive black part could be the gravid spot? 
And the jelly like stuff could be some sort of fungus? If so a light salt bath should help.


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## klair328 (Nov 15, 2006)

mike515 said:


> if the problem is whitespot (which is a parasite) then you need a white spot treatment. If the problem is bacterial then you need a bacterial treatment. So why if it's either of these would you use a fungal treatment?
> 
> QUOTE]
> im not a fish person was just saying what i thought.. sorry for saying anything


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## lolly (Apr 2, 2008)

messengermatt said:


> I have some Guppies *1 female *and a *few males* - the problem is the water is at 19c so its not too warm and not too cold except they seem to be dying off.
> 
> First they get a limp tail that seems to be motion less and they struggle to swim, then eventually the sink to the bottom struggling even more and then die.
> 
> ...


i cant really answer anything else but shoudnt this be a more females to males ratio?
to reduce stress on the female guppy as males will constantly pester her :whistling2:


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## hedgehog738 (Oct 6, 2009)

messengermatt said:


> I have some Guppies 1 female and a few males - the problem is the water is at 19c so its not too warm and not too cold except they seem to be dying off.
> 
> First they get a limp tail that seems to be motion less and they struggle to swim, then eventually the sink to the bottom struggling even more and then die.
> 
> ...


i can never keep guppies. they die on me too:gasp:


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## Trillian (Jul 14, 2008)

Unfortunately, nowadays guppies are so overbred and inbred that a low survival rate is par for the course, I'm afraid. My guppy survival rate has only been about 25%......with no clues as to how or why the other ones died. However, those that have survived are still thriving in their own dedicated tank. : victory:


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## Captainmatt29 (Feb 28, 2009)

Trillian said:


> Unfortunately, nowadays guppies are so overbred and inbred that a low survival rate is par for the course, I'm afraid. My guppy survival rate has only been about 25%......with no clues as to how or why the other ones died. However, those that have survived are still thriving in their own dedicated tank. : victory:


This is what i was afraid of - they should live atleast a year in theory.

Ok to explain.......my female has suddenly gotten a kinked back and is what looks to be very ready to pop the babies.

However i am led to believe that the kink in the spine is a bad sign that is the beginning of her cycle to eventually die is this true?

She has trouble floating and spends alot of her time lower down the tank now.


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