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Drake
Lv 5
Drake asked in PetsFish · 1 decade ago

Guppy with a problem. Flared gills and swimming circles?

I have been looking around but cannot find an answer to this one. Maybe you can help.

I have a tank of feeder guppies and one of my females is displaying unusual coloration and behavior.

Her color over the last 24 hours has darkened to a dark bronze color while the other fish remain silvery.

Her gills are flared wide and are bright red in color.

She jerks to the left at 3-4 second intervals and is swimming in circles as a result. She is also bumping into things when she jerks.

I have added freshwater salt to the water to try and soothe her That was 12 hours ago and it doesn't seem to have helped. The day before this behavior began the tank got its regular water change. Ammonia and all other tests check out okay so nothing in the water quality has changed. None of the other guppies exhibit this behavior, only her. I see nothing clinging to or growing on her body. She hs no problems with motion and is all over the tank, but remaining out of the strong current.

She picked at the food last feeding and didn't seem to have much of an appetite. The only thing new to the aquarium recently was a piece of cucumber which all the fish chewed on. I do not recall if the jerking started before or after I added the cucumber. The timing was close. Over the last 24 hours she has only gotten worse. The cucumber has not been in the tank for the last 6 hours.

Links, advice, recommendations welcome.

Thank you in advance.

Update:

Max, I only said it was a feeder guppy so you knew what kind it was. I could have said Fancy guppy if it was that in an effort to provide all information possible to figure out the problem. And no, I didn't buy feeders to feed. I bought them for a much different reason, I want them to live. Their survival gives me the answer I need for a different problem http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al.St... (as a side note this Q is a little old. The glass peeling isn't a problem to date. The guppies just avoid the stuff.)

Besides, feeding a sick fish to another fish/creature could pass on the problem and get that creature sick. Not a good idea.

Update 2:

Blaze: I have the strips for PH, hardness, Nitrates, Nitrites and Alkalinity. I use a liquid test for the ammonia. The strips are PetCo brand and I have used them before. They're not 100%, but they seem to be fairly accurate. Feel free to refute if you know otherwise. The Ammonia test is by a comapny called "Red Sea".

4 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I suggest confining her in a small bowl or tank and giving her some Stress Coat. It may help. But that doesn't sound good and usually once they start twitching, it's near the end.

  • ?
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    Are you using the quick dip strip test kit? or the liquid test kit for ammonia? those strip tests are known to be inaccurate. You should transfer the fish into all new fresh water and see if it improves.

  • mcdole
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    that's no longer a reliable sign. He sounds heavily ill and can be a source of contagion to different fish in the tank. in case you have small isolation tank you would be able to desire to objective putting him in there and retaining a watch on him to make sure if he recovers or worsens.

  • 1 decade ago

    well if its a feeder guppy, why does it matter? just feed it to the animal that will prey on them...i mean isnt that why u buy "feeders"? to feed something higher on the food chain? im just saying...and its probably time u said ure goodbyes to the fish...sorry :/

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