Gwenz

I bought 5 male guppies yesterday, 2 are blue and black and the other 3 are a mixture of yellow, orange, black and white. Today I've noticed that Mac (one of the blue and black guppies) is not looking as he should. His tail is meant to be blue, but today it is turning a shade of silver/gray. This has happened in the last 2 hours or so, and it's spreading realy fast.* His tail is nearly all this silver colour, and it is starting to split.* Please help me, what wrong with him?

I'm realy worried. This is what happened just before some of my other fish died.* I don't want Mac to die.*

What about the other 4. Will they catch whatever this is?*

Mac ate this morning, but I just fed them and the others ate it, but he didin't. He got some in his mouth, then spat it out and swam away. What can I do? I have Melafix, will this help?

Thanks everyone.

Gwenz

P.S. - When this happened to my other fish, they were dead by the next morning, so please if you can, can you answer asap.* Thanks

skippi

GWENZ with the tail starting to split it sounds like it could be fin rot, though am not sure about the changing of colors. If you have another tank to put him in I would do that. The melafix is good for fin rot and a couple other things. You could start treating him with that until you hear different from like carol or someone. Good luck.

Heidi

Gwenz

OK thanks Heidi. I have my cory in my Q tank, but nothing is wrong with him. Do you think I could, put him into the 15gal for a while and then put Mac in the Q tank? Then I can treat Mac with the Melafix by himself. What do you think?

Gwenz

P.S. - Thanks for the quick reply.

chickadee

I would treat all the guppies with the Melafix rather than take a chance on putting your little cory in with some possibly not well fish. They could have a bacterial fin problem and if so leaving the temperature at the same temp you have had it to cycle and using Melafix should help. Mac may lose his tail but with medication he should live and be okay. You be sure and check the water parameters and then let us know how we may help you okay

Try not to worry and just give them some Melafix. That and clean water is the best treatment for fin problems.

Rose

LilaBean

lose his tail-- i didn't know that could happen... from finrot

chickadee

Well not the whole tail and the fins do grow back but they can look a bit stubby for a while. Bettas do that too in the case of crowntails who get it very badly. I have some pictures in books of the before and after of bad cases. They look very odd but it does grow back.

Rose

Gwenz

Thanks Rose. Unfortunately, Mac died this morning, . When I woke up, he was swimming with the others, but about 1/2 hour later, I found him dead.

Shall I still treat the 4 that are left with Melafix?

Thanks

Gwenz

P.S. - Does Melafix have an expiery date? I can't seem to find one on the bottle. I was just wondering because so far, every time I have used it, it hasn't made any difference to the fish and then they would died. I was just wondering, maybe my Melafix is past the expiery date or something.

chickadee

No Melafix is just a herbal remedy for bacterial problems. It does not to my knowledge have an expiration date. I looked at mine today and could see no indication of it. I would go ahead and run a course of 7 days of the Melafix in the tank on the other 4 just to kill off any trace of what may be happening in the others possibly. It is not a medicaiton that they will build up a tolerance to. It could be that before when you used it the little fish were too sick for the Melafix to do the job. It is not really meant to handle fish that are near death. It does a better job at disease processes when they are caught before the fish are horribly ill. I do think that the fish you have now are not that ill and may be just okay. But since you said the one little fish had a ragged area on his fin, I would still suggest using the Melafix and putting the temperature where you had it during the cycle process.

I hope this helps. I am so sorry about Mac, but like you said perhaps down the road a ways perhaps you can get Mo a little friend.

Rose

Gwenz

Thanks Rose. I will add some Melafix to the tank from now on for 7 days.

Gwenz

Isabella

Sorry your guppy died Gwenz Maybe the reason for it was different water conditions at the fish store from those of your tank? Did you acclimatize the fish before you put them in your tank? I assume your water parameters are fine.

Gwenz

Thanks Isabella. Yes my water parameters are fine. I did acclimatized them to the tank for an hour before acctualy realesing them to the tank. What I don't get is though, is if there was different water conditions at the fish store from the ones of my tank, wouldn't they have affected the others too?

Today I am taking him back to the store along with a sample of the water and they said they will give me another guppy, so he will have to be acclimatized to the tank with the others later.

Gwenz

Gwenz

Well, I have a new guppy. He is like Mac, but has a more of a brown tail than blue. I named him Bruno. He gets along well with the others.

Gwenz

Isabella

I'm not sure what you mean here by "affecting others too". If you bought healthy fish, but if the water from which these healthy fish came was very different from your water, then these healthy fish could have easily gotten sick from the shock exerted on them from sudden environment change. But you did acclimatize them, so they probably didn't get sick as a result of changing their homes. Perhaps they were bought sick already and the disease took a bit of time to show itself - this happens a lot, which is why a quarantine tank is always very useful.

To answer your question (if I understood it correctly): yes, other fish in your tank could have gotten infected from the new fish, depending on the disease type. Some diseases are more infectious than others. But generally it is nevertheless not safe having sick fish mixed with the healthy ones, no matter what the disease.

If your other fish didn't get infected, you should be happy! Just watch them and see what happens next. Also, watch your water and continue regular water changes. Best of luck.

Gwenz

Thanks Isabella. I'm running a course of 7 days of Melafix in the tank, as I was told by Chickadee to do. Should I still do water chnages while using the Melafix?

Thanks

Gwenz

P.S. - Bruno is doing well and gets along well with the others in the tank.

chickadee

I think it says on the Melafix bottle to add for 7 days and then do a water change and replace the carbon in the filter. Since you did a good water change and got good parameters before you stared to add the Melafix you should be okay for the week unless you start to notice distress in the fish then do a water change and put the carbon in and we will have to try another medication.

Rose

Gwenz

OK thanks. I'll wait until the 7 days are up first then, and then do a the water change.

Thanks

Gwenz