Constipated guppy - peas and garlic did not help

My guppy is constipated. So I tried the peas soaked in garlic juice and it didn't do much. Then I fasted him for about 3 days and he looked much better, however as soon as I fed him he was all backed up again. So I tried peas and fasting again and he was ok for about a day then got bloated again! Arrrgh. At the moment I am attempting the raising temp method suggested by a fish keeping magazine. Any ideas on why this guy keeps getting backed up or how to make him regular again? I figured it was the food but he won't eat anything else. Blah.

 

I figured it was the food but he won't eat anything else. Blah.

If he's not offered anything else he will eat I feed my guppys a veggie based flake in the morning and a regular flake at night. They will also pick at veggie flakes. All they need at each feeding is a pinch since their stomach is the size of one eye. Hope that helps.
Carol

 

If it's really bad you could give him an epsom bath, dose of 1-2 Tbsp per gal for up to 1/2 hour is what I usually do.

 

hmm I actually heard that if you feed them one grain of Epsom salt that it helps. I also read this in a fish mag. Has anyone else heard of this or tried it?

 

Feeding them salt would probably kill them.

That would be like you trying to swallow a handful of sulfur.

If they are bloating at just about every feeding you are probably feeding them too much food. Try cutting back.

 

That's the thing, they are not bloating after every feeding. Its just that one. I know I am not overfeeding. Honestly I feel like I may be under feeding because of the one guppy.

And the thing I feel is odd about the Epsom salt is, why would it be featured on an up to date fish keeping mag if it would kill them?

 

We quit getting one of the top selling fish magazines when they had an expert write an article saying you could get 5 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank... need I say more?

(I am not meaning to come across as a know-it-all, just that we get to talk to and hang out with many of the "experts" several times a year, and they are not the demi-gods some of the magazines make them out to be.)

 

Feeding them salt would probably kill them.

I would not feed him any Epsom salt either but Epsom salts is not really salt(sodium chloride), Epsom salts is Magnesium sulfate, its called salt because of its appearance
Carol

 

Makes sense, how about this epsom bath? Is that any good? If so I'd like to try it out. ASAP.

 

Bathing your fish in salt is, to my knowledge, used to cause your fish to produce more of a slime coat... mainly because it irritates the fish, which causes increased slime coat production to defend the body. There is no instance where Dino or I would ever give a salt bath to any of our fish.

 

But see I'm still confused, I've read in a fews sites so far that epsom salt is a good alternative.

Here is one of them



The 6th post mentions it.

Here is another one that mentioned results with epsom salt



The only reason I'd like to know is incase the previous methods mentioned do not work
(since so far they haven't really had lasting results)


Oh and another thing I read was soaking their food in aquaruI'm water before feeding. Does this sound like it would be helpful?

 

Bathing your fish in salt is, to my knowledge, used to cause your fish to produce more of a slime coat... mainly because it irritates the fish, which causes increased slime coat production to defend the body. There is no instance where Dino or I would ever give a salt bath to any of our fish.

An epsom bath is different than a salt bath. Epsom is different than salt...it's used to reduce bloating. I have used epsom baths before and they work well, you just have to watch the fish carefully because sometimes they can react negatively to it. But if a fish is severely bloated epsom can save their life, imo.

 

Epsom salt baths are something that I would only use in dropsy cases and even then it would have to be the last resort. It's very dehydrating to the fish and can help relieve dropsy-induced bloating sometimes.

What I would recommend is putting less food in the tank when you feed them and if you're feeding them once a day, cut that lesser amount in half and feed them 2x a day.

Omega One Veggie Flakes, Nutrafin Livebearer Flakes and peas/green beans (frozen & thawed or fresh with peas peeled) is what I would feed them, mixing it up to mostly be meals of 1 flake or the other with veggie meals to give them a more varied and balanced diet.

 

I think I will try the epsom bath on one of my guppies since he does have dropsy (induced by his tumors) and has been bloated for weeks now.

For the constipated guppy I will try the mix of foods as suggested. I purchased the livebearer food a while back and its been mixed with the regular flakes so my tetras can pick at it as well. Its funny though because the tetras like the livebearer food more than their own flakes
Should I throw in tiny bits of algae wafer? or will that block him up too?
I also read something about spinach but I'm not sure how to offer it.

I'll be separating him from the other gups tomorrow and begin fasting him again before I try the new food because he looks like he is about to bust.

 

algae wafers can really constipate a betta fast so I wouldn't send any the gups' way. I believe the spinach needs to be rinsed well and boiled before being fed - I guess you could use a veggie clip or tear little tiny bits off and feed them like flakes. We've not used the spinach since we always just did the pea treatment.

I think kanamyacin (kanaplex) is sometimes helpful in treating dropsy but is a very strong med.

 

How long have you had the guppies?

If you got them from the store like this I would never buy from that store again. Tumors, dropsy, and bloating you said... That is indicative of low-quality stock.

Omorrokh I respect your opinion on the epsom baths, and if it works out for you that's awesome. We (Dino and I) just wouldn't do salt or epsom baths for our fish, but for anyone that does decide to do that and finds success in it that's awesome.

 

I've had the guppies for 8 months now. I already knew the place I got them from was not the best. That's why I no longer go there. However, I am proud of myself considering I have only lost 1 of the 12 fish I have purchased since May. Which was the betta I euthanized.

 

How long have you had the guppies?

If you got them from the store like this I would never buy from that store again. Tumors, dropsy, and bloating you said... That is indicative of low-quality stock.

Omorrokh I respect your opinion on the epsom baths, and if it works out for you that's awesome. We (Dino and I) just wouldn't do salt or epsom baths for our fish, but for anyone that does decide to do that and finds success in it that's awesome.

That's ok. I would like to point out though that you guys probably have excellent quality fish to begin with so you don't have as many disease problems. A lot of people are stuck buying sickly, poor quality pet store fish. I've had several bad disease problems with pet store fish I've learned to treat them very aggressively, or else they all die...but I do think that baths are stressful and should only be for very bad cases.

Maggie, let us know how your gups are doing.

 

Right now my constipated guy is a bit better. I fasted him for today and he has shrunken a good amount. I changed the type of food and also soaked it in aquarium water before offering it making sure to only give him a tiny bit for now. My gup with dropsy is still looking bloated. I started using Maracyn Two yesterday though. I'm thinking I will do the epsom salt bath tom to relieve some of the bloating.

 

Glad to hear the constipated one is doing better.

With such a serious disease as dropsy I definitely think the potential benefit of epsom outweighs the risk.

If you can get some I recommend kanamycin sulfate as a med for dropsy. Maracyn might work but kanamycin is a lot stronger. But go ahead and try Maracyn and see if it works, no need to treat with a super strong med if another one does the trick.

 

True, with Dropsy, go right to kanamycin asap. It's something to be aggresssive with for sure.