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Guppy illnesses.


mangolm

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I have two guppies (one new which seemed to develop the illness due to stress from arriving at the LFS and then arriving at mine later that day. Very stressful day for the poor girl! and the other male I've had for ~4months)

Both are now in the same quarantine tank. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 2 nitrate using API freshwater testkits. (nitrate is so low because I just took the smaller filter from my main big tank, but otherwise the water in the quarantine is all new. I prefer just keeping the filter ready so that I dont have to have the quarantine set up permanently)

The tank is in day 4 of treating with Melafix and Pimafix.

1. Male adult guppy. I noticed this guppy had white poop for a few days and had become more 'shy'. He was still eating so I didn't think much of it, just that maybe the Rams had been bullying him a bit. I kept an eye on him and he still occasionally had white poop but the rest of the time it was either green or brown dependent on what he had eaten.

The white poop was party see-through and rather stringy. He began to bash himself against the gravel and moss tunnel and the next day i noticed he had some tears in his tail.

He was removed to quarantine so that he could have some peace to recover, and two days later I began dosing with melafix and pimafix as a preventative measure for his tail and in hopes it would help with whatever was causing the white poop. He remains interested in food but isn't managing to get much down. He spits most food back up. I have not seen any more white poop since I started dosing but that doesn't mean it isn't still happening.

Any ideas, based on the behaviour and poo what could be wrong with him? His tail is repairing nicely but I still don't know the cause.

2. Female adult guppy (Huge blue tail! Its crazy :D) Looked fine in the LFS tank - a bit stressed but I was informed that she had been recieved only a few hours previously. I already had the quarantine set up with the blue guppy and two other males which were new and was 2 days into dosing so I figured any stress related illnesses would figure themselves out with the dosing. When i put her in to the tank (after drip acclimation - she had already had a hard day so I wanted to go slowly) the two other males attacked her, 'pecking' at her back. They were so determined and it seemed to be really stressing her they went into a breeder box in the tank overnight. She had no visible signs of any illness at this stage. Next morning she has two sores, one large one on her back left, just behind and above the gill - it looked like a scab and came off today to reveal a red sore underneath. Unfortunately one of the other fish ate it just as I went to fish it out :-?

The other is two little white flecks sticking out from her right side just before the tail. It doesn't look like ich to me, but ive never seen it in person so it is hard for me to tell. She has a tear down the middle of her tail... goes about half the way to the base but no sign of fin rot. She is no longer being bullied or looking stressed.

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The images can also be viewed here: http://imgur.com/a/sj0i3

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To #1:

"white poop was party see-through and rather stringy" are most likely flagellate in the intestine. The white stuff you see is actually intestinal mucosa that gets striped by theses buggers. There is a cure for it (5-Nitro-1,3-thiazol-2-ylazan) but in NZ it is per VET prescription only afaik. 7 days and it is all good. After that I would treat with Praziquantel at 2mg/ltr for 12h to take care of any worms.

To #2:

Your LFS should have never sold you the fish in the first place. Fish need time to settle in a new environment and putting them through the stress of 2 acclimatations in one day tells you they only care about $$$. Putting her in a small breeder box didn't help either. Next time just switch the light off to give new fish a break and some time to orientate themselfes. Use Wunder Tonic to take care of the fungal skin disease she is already developing around the sores.

But to be honest: She is a very old girl by the look of her. Guess she is one of the breeding females and got chucked in the mix for sale before she carc's it. Not much left for her in a short guppy-life...

Good luck,

JaSa

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She didn't get put in the breeder box. They two small males pecking at her did. Was wondering if the sores and white spots are more likely a response to that bullying before the males were removed or to something else.

Thanks for your response. Ill go and see a vet tomorrow about the parasites.

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To #1:

"white poop was party see-through and rather stringy" are most likely flagellate in the intestine. The white stuff you see is actually intestinal mucosa that gets striped by theses buggers. There is a cure for it (5-Nitro-1,3-thiazol-2-ylazan) but in NZ it is per VET prescription only afaik. 7 days and it is all good. After that I would treat with Praziquantel at 2mg/ltr for 12h to take care of any worms.

Good luck,

JaSa

would metro be used for the same purpose? It seems to be a derivative. I am investigating my options to get my hands on some metro as I do often see it suggested as a medication for internal parasites. I have a skinny guppy also with the white stringy poop and normal worming treatments (prazi. Lavamisole) haven't helped.

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Yup, Metro (Metronidazol) if very effective for flagellates as well. I thought it's even harder to get ?

Cheers,

JaSa

you're right!

what about the medicated metro flakes sold on eBay .. any good? can we bring them into NZ? .. or even the seachem metro treatment for that matter?

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As metronidazole is a prescription only medication in NZ you're not allowed to import it legally from overseas. Some vets may write a prescription without seeing the fish but most will want to still have a consultation so they can charge for it, even though I can pretty much guarantee they wouldn't know much if anything about tropical fish diseases.

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Metro !

:bounce: My usual vet is going to get some for me, I just have to go in and sign some forms and take a photo of I can. but he said the liquid form could be quite pricy and is going to get back to me with a cost based on my tank size.

I have looked at different dosing rates and the seachem recommendation seem to be a lot lower than other sites..

Any one got any ideas for dosing guppies?

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