Mlinzi

I've noticed that some of my toddler fish (1 week + old) are deformed, they very similarly resemble a check mark.

So my question is - what would you do? Would you keep them or put them out of their misery? Do you think they would suffer? These seem to be female as they have a little black dot by their "bum".

I'm not sure what the politically correct etiquette is for these situations.

Sounds dumb, but do you think the other fish would shun them?

Thanks for any and all advice!

Shawnie

I dont think a week old fish can show that much of a deformity...I would give them a few weeks to see how they are going to be...make sure their water is prestine and partial changes every day for the first few weeks...have a varied diet of a good crushed flake food and baby brine shirmp......everyone has an opinion im sure on culling fish, and thats mine

REDKAHUNA

Regular problem with guppies. I keep an orphan tank for such fish bent backs etc. Just dont allow them to breed with the others or you will perpetuate the deformity.

Mlinzi

Alright thanks to both of you. When I said 1 week + I'm sure they're more like 3 weeks old now that I think about it. I can JUST tell if they are girl or boy, so I guess they must be a few months old. But thanks for the advise, I'll move them into a seperate tank on their own.

I'll name it "Tank of Dr. Moreau"

Butterfly

When Hubby was raising guppys a long time ago we were told that was a vitamin C deficiency. When we started feeding them a feeding a day of crushed veggie flakes(omega one flakes) we stopped having that problem.
Carol

Shawnie

Allll my poor guppies are dying! Except the babies? I think this thread might also have allot to do with things....im sorry for your losses and your issues but I think something is up with your water for sure

Butterfly

Water quality goes a long way toward healthy fish and fry.
carol

Akari_32

deforities are from poor nutrition. i fixed my adlut females' back by giving her a variety of foods like tropical flakes, betta flakes, frozen brine shrimp and frozen veggies, tho her back wasnt very exagerated and she was relitively young. fry will bounce back to normal after a few days with proper nutrition and daily water changes. good luck!

samth

Wait... I thought that if fry were born with deformities such as bent spines, that they either stayed like that, or the deformities got worse with age. Can pristine water and a varied diet really re-align whole spines? That's kind of like saying scoliosis can be cured with a healthy diet.

Can fish actually be fixed like that? If so I'll be keeping more of my deformed fry.

Akari_32

yup, it can. unless its genetic, then im not sure. i've seen a few of my fry have back problems then a few weeks later not be able to tell who it was that had it! its rather neat.

as for scoliosis, if only.... at least we have chiropractors....

Butterfly

If it is a vitamin/mineral deficiency and they are fed from birth then yes as they grow the problem can be corrected.
Feeding the parents correctly and keeping the water quality as good as possible will produce healthier fry.
carol

bassbonediva

I had a female guppy whose back was bent like you are describing. I got her that way from some people who had 100+ guppies, two large (6"+) goldfish and a 12" pleco crammed into a 20gal high tank. They said they started out with 5 guppies a couple of years ago and hadn't added any new stock. So, Epona was clearly inbred. She was healthy and happy despite it though and always got her fair share at mealtime. Unfortunately, tank juggling forced me to put my males and females together (I had kept them separated because I was going to keep the males and send the females to a friend, but I ran out of room and had to put them together), and she ended up pregnant. She couldn't deliver the fry because of her deformity and ended up dying a few days ago.

This is my Epona swimming in her own unique way:

Akari_32

thats so cute! one of my males, Howl Jr, swims kinda like that, but its because his tail is so huge it hard for him to put his whole body into it like guppies usually do, so he just uses the corners of his tail and his pectoral fins lol