Dojo

Argh was just going to bed and checked in on the fish and saw one of my guppys tail has been shredded to bits. It must have happened between thursday and today because I know for sure he was fine thursday morn but can't remember for sure whether he came out to feed on friday coz I was so busy I just fed them and kept going. Reason I think it happened a couple days ago is I think there is a bacterial infection in his tail area now - either that or some scales came off.

So first off what is best treatment? His remaining tail (just the rays) is so fragile I put him in a breeder box so nobody can pick at it. Put in some stress coat and he ate a couple bloodworms. Should I use bacterial meds? Or just keep water pristine and hope it grows back?

Secondly - I want to know who did it because obviously I don't want aggressors in my tank. I think the way it is shredded (removal of fin tissue but rays left behind) means it was probably 'sucked' off rather than loads of little bites like other guppies would do.

So i'm looking at the guys with big mouths - either my weather loach or my keyhole cichlid. I'm thinkin it was my keyhole. Do you guys think the tail looks like a cichlid did it? If so I think I may return him before he does more damage.. i'm dead fond of him but if he's gonna attack my other fish..


Here's the poor injured guppy






And size comparison with keyhole.. I think his mouth is the right size?

mare2009

hello DoJo Im so sorry to see what's happened to your guppy. I think that you may be right about the cichlid, it is known to be semi-aggressive. But its hard to pin-point 'how aggressive', and to what other tank mates.
Keep the water pristine clean, and use the stress coat. I wouldn't go for the bacterial medications yet. Its better to not treat on prevention alone with an antibiotic.
Has the loach ever showed any interest in the guppies? And also is there anything that it could have caught its tail on in your tank?

Dojo

Hi mare, no my weather loach is probably one of the most peaceful fish in there, she completely ignores all the fish even at feeding time so I really doubt it was her. I think the keyhole bit another guppy's tail the time I introduced him to the tank but I put it down to settling in because he has been peaceful since, even swimming alongside the bitten guppy. (that tail was only a mildly bitten though nothing close to the way this guppy is)
I don't think there's anything in the tank that could have done it, even the filter intake isn't strong enough to do that. He's swimming strongly etc despite his tail. He had been hanging around the top in the plant canopy nibbling algae a lot of the time so he would have been easy to sneak up on.

mare2009

Well, they (loachs) do tend to hang out more on the bottom, right? I sure hope your little guppy heals up good. I think your doing the right care for him at this point. good luck to you..

Stephen 31

Hi Dojo

Is it possible that the other guppies did it to him? I had the same problem with my last tank. I thought it was my pearl gourami until i caught the guppies at it. if you have the time i'd try spend a bit of time watching them when the lights are off. thats when i caught mine anyway.
hope the little guy recovers though. Good luck

Bad Wolf

this happened to me a few weeks ago and the poor thing ended up dead, he looked worse than that, i had no idea what caused it.

Nick G

It could well have been the other Guppies or the Keyhole. Personally I don't use any meds for healing fins. Pristine water and stresscoat as mare suggested should do the trick.

Bad Wolf

also, nice picture, the 3rd one.

Shawnie

aww poor lil guy!!! hes definitely been in a battle hasnt he....out of your 5 guppies, do you have more than one male? guppies are very aggressive towards other males if there are females in there..they compete almost constantly...they should be in a ratio of 1m-3-4 females....I agree no meds just some good water and stress coat...if you can find some vita chem and fish protector, that does wonders as well...goodluck with him!

Dojo

Hi well he didn't make it through the night
I guess at least he was in a breeder box in peace..

I had 6 guppies, it is 5 now though, must have put wrong number down in aqua info. Of the 5 left there are 4 males and 1 female, and there are 4 2month old female fry too - her oldest fry which i'll prob keep.
There has never ever been guppy aggression, they all get along great despite the lack of females.
The 2 yellow males prefer to court my female platy, the red one is completely oblivious to females and the blue one has claim to the female - they are always swimming together and im pretty sure he's the father of her fry.
You can see him with her there in the 3rd pic.
He doesn't bug her too much just follows her about. The other males only show some interest after she has fry and is receptive but they never squabble over her or chase/nip just follow her together.

Main reason I doubt it was them apart from how peaceful they are is the shredded tail's rays are almost all intact apart from a few at the top.
I don't see how small guppy mouths could bite at a tail and shred it right down the the body without breaking the rays.
Plus the tank has been utterly peaceful for over 6 months - then I add a keyhole and 2 guppies are attacked in the same month.. seems likely it was him?

Shawnie

im sorry you lost him...rip lil man....but you are going to have more with that ratio ...and dont doubt they cant hurt one another....prior to learning about the ratio with them, i had the same tail issues and it was only guppies in the tank..and I know i didnt bite them as others said it could be the keyhole as well but im still putting my bet on the males competing for that 1 lonely female...shes gotta be exausted

Dojo

I know it goes against the grain but really, they don't compete for her. I don't know why - I suspect it is because the other guppies were there first with no female then I added the 2 blue ones together and they stayed together. The other males will swim right by her and keep going, and the blue male doesn't chase her he follows like a puppy.
They don't seem to have noticed the 4 young females yet - what age should they notice female fry?

Bad Wolf

i'm so sorry to here that, i had no idea they were so violent.

harpua2002

Generally they aren't. My keyholes were very passive when I kept them. With a single female in there, my money is on the male guppies as well. Just because you haven't seen it happen doesn't mean it wasn't them.

Bad Wolf

mine got shredded and there were no other males except for 4 or 5 adolescent males, they only just started getting a gonodopodium (sorry, can't spell). you could still only just tell female fro male.

Dojo

Well I watched the whole tank for ages and couldn't see any aggression at all from any fish so I couldn't decide what to do, but wish I had. Was working 16hrs on a once off job yesterday - turned on tank light at 6am and everyone was fine, checked in on them at 10.30pm and 2 guppies were dead - tails in bits, and my keyhole was dragging my oldest guppy around the bottom of the tank by his fin. I put keyhole into a breeder box and put in some stress coat to the main tank for the injured guppy. He's doing ok at the moment but still paler than usual and has a colourless patch on his tail where it was in the cichlid's mouth. He is a tiny bit brighter than he was last night so fingers crossed.
His tail isn't shredded just a small bite gone and that patch. Hopefully I got him in time.
Needless to say I returned the keyhole, though ill miss him a lot.
Totally sucks.