Guppy Swim Bladder Issue

I have a female guppy that seems to have developed this problem, she pretty much swims vertically with head down and is very wobbly. I don't have a Q tank to stick her in. I was read on this site to stop feeding for a few days, does that include the whole tank

 

even if you have a rubbermaid container or something like that to put her in with a couple plants (to help her in getting around), you could do that and treat her with liquid vitamins and a fast, then some pea pieces or you can fast the whole tank.. if they eat like our fish, a few days won't hurt them to go without food.

 

Now would be a great time to set up a q tank. Get any 5-10 gal tank or container (if you want something cheap, clear plastic Rubbermaid-type containers work well) and a heater. Normally you'd also want a filter for it but it won't be cycled for your Guppy so I wouldn't bother with one at the moment. I would however set up an airstone for circulation and oxygenation. You'll also want something for the fish to be able to hide in...this could be some cheap fake plants that have weighted bottoms, a piece of fake wood or other aquarium decoration, or even a small clay flowerpot. Gravel is not needed (in fact it is undesirable because you want to be able to keep the bottom as clean as possible).

Without a filter you'd need to do daily large water changes to keep it clean. You also can consider using Prime dechlor which makes ammonia harmless to fish. If you want to go ahead and get a filter for future use in the q tank, you can use any small cheap filter...I personally like sponge filters. Put it in the main tank so it can be seeded with bacteria, and after 2 weeks it should be good to use if you ever need the q tank again.

Hope your Guppy gets better...the only thing I can add to Dave's instructions is that it is super important to keep clean water for your Guppy to help him recover, and to give a nice varied diet and to be sure you're not to overfeeding (once you start feeding again).

 

she seemed a little better this afternoon, swimming more horizontally but still wobbly, but this evening I have noticed white fuzz on her head, looks kinda cottony, I guessing maybe fungus since her immunity is down. I have a antibiotic/antifungal med I will try

it being later Monday and not much is open I will see about a q tank tomorrow, may have to wait till payday tho

 

Sounds like bacterial "fungus". I would not treat with antibiotics in the main tank because they can cause side effects (mainly drowsiness but sometimes worse) in the fish as well as sometimes harming the biological filter. She really needs to be q'ed now anyway to prevent spreading the disease.

What is the name of the med you have?

 

I'd recommend: for treating that fungus. it's safe for the other fish and not so damaging to your nitrogen cycle.

 

it`s called Sulfathiazole, from Seachem. Says it`s for bacterial, fungal & protozoan infestations and won`t mess with nitrification. The problem is that it is difficult to bring in meds from the states to Canada, they are really strict at the moment . A lot of the stuff n the DFS site We can`t get here. I had a chat with the guy at our LFS and he said it was quite difficult to get some of the meds. I will run in today to see if they have something similar there. What are the chances of it spreading? Should I treat the tank to be safe?

 

ok, that's one of the sulfa antibiotics.. they are pretty effective against fungus and do leave the good bacteria alone. maybe organic/herbal type of meds will be easier to get there than strong antibiotics? fungus can spread so i'd treat the tank to be safe.

 

she wasn't looking too good last night, back to swimming vertical again, hiding in the plants so she doesn't float away.
This morning I found her stuck to the filter intake, dead pulled her out. Most of her tail fins are gone and they were ok looking last night, so I don't know if it was because of the filter intake or something else.

The meds I used said treat every 3 days, should I treat again today to be safe to catch any residual fungus in the tank?

 

I would, then follow that with a bunch of water changes and just watch for any signs of trouble.. but it's a good chance you might not see any more.

 

I did a big water change last night, but I have another guppy acting odd, swimming erratically. I will keep an eye on her, she looks fine just fat, I keep fearing she may be pregnant since she's not eating much


Edit: I guess I spoke to soon, I checked on them before I came to work and she was belly up as well so that's 2 in 24 hours. The last 3 seem fine... for now

 

While the occasional fish getting sick or dying will sometimes happen for no real reason, when you start getting a bunch of fish getting sick there is always a reason for it. You can (and should) keep medicating but usually they will keep getting sick as long as you don't fix the problem. So...try to figure out what may be causing them to get sick. Is the tank cycled? Are ammonia and nitrite 0 and nitrate under 20? Is the temp stable, or have you done any water changes with colder or hotter water? Have you tried to adjust the pH? Have you recently added fish without quarintining them? Are they fed a balanced and high-quality diet? Are there any fish in the tank that are bullies? Is the tank overcrowded? These are just some of the possibilities for why your fish have been getting sick--although, I will say the most common cause for swimming problems and bacterial infections is poor water quality. Hopefully you will be able to figure out the problem.

 

the tank was cycled but I added 3 new guppies and suddenly my tank started to cycle again, I tested water daily and pretty much did water changes every second day & used prime at all water changes. I'm feeding tetra min flakes which seem pretty popular but occasionally do sinking shrimp pellets and peas . Ph has not changed and temp is consistent. When I change water, the new water is measure for temp before it's added. There is definitely no overcrowding. the first one that died, we had for 2 weeks, the second one we had for 1.5 months. Bought them from 2 different stores.

There is one that did bully a bit at first but a bigger one put her in her place, unless it was happening after lights out.

I have not had luck with guppies at all

 

Hmm, sounds like everything is good. Guppies have been so overbred in the past decades they've become very weak and lost a lot of their disease resistance. A lot of people have had a hard time keeping Gups alive (including myself). If you ended up with weak Guppies or ones who were prone to infections, then there is probably not much you can do besides quarintine and medicate any others who get sick.

 

I don't like those shrimp pellets - they really can wreak havoc on your water chemistry the way they sort of dissolve into the big fat mess. How long have you used them?

 

I've only used 3 or 4 out of the jar, they actually float for quite a while before sinking, but I have found that they normally disappear and don't stay on the bottom long.

My guppies will eat pretty much anything even the algae wafers

 

This afternoon, Shifu my guppy, is swimming on his side. This morning when I took my son to school he was on the bottom, I thought resting. He likes to lay in the gravel. Now he's swimming around but on his side. All of his fins are intact so I think it's swim bladder disorder. Please tell me if you agree with my treatment plan. Please keep in mind I don't have a hospital tank. API master kit readings ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 20. Water temp is around 80. He is in a community 20 gallon tall tank with different species of tank mates listed in my profile.
My plan:
Hold feedings for a few days
Feed him deskinned thawed frozen pea tomorrow
Since my parameters are within normal range do I need to do a PWC?
Thanks for any and all advice.

 

Deskinned thawed peas is the way to go. I managed to save my Goldfish with that. He was up and about in a matter of hours. The hard thing is to get the peas close enough for the fish to eat if it is all wobbly.

Peas twice a week are part of my Goldfish diet ever since, along with a few bits of string beans.

 

So would you recommend I do the pea now? I don't want to loose him. He's the one I've had the longest. He's tough guy, survived my original 3 gallon tank disaster

 

Yes just feed him the skinned pea and if he isent interested try soaking it in garlic

 

So would you recommend I do the pea now? I don't want to loose him. He's the one I've had the longest. He's tough guy, survived my original 3 gallon tank disaster

Garlic is a good idea. When my fish was going through the problem, I had the same issue of how to feed the fish. Someone mentioned putting the pea on a toothpick and after isolating the fish, try and get it as close to it as possible. Luckily for me, I didn't have to do that as the fish ate the peas itself.

 

Ok operation Pea laxative complete. I isolated him in a acclimation bag and put the pea smashed in the bag with him. I saw him take about 4 witnessed bites. He did better when I wasn't looking at him. Will that be enough? I had to isolate him because the other fish were eating it all before Shifu even had a chance to look at it. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

Ok operation Pea laxative complete. I isolated him in a acclimation bag and put the pea smashed in the bag with him. I saw him take about 4 witnessed bites. He did better when I wasn't looking at him. Will that be enough? I had to isolate him because the other fish were eating it all before Shifu even had a chance to look at it. I guess we'll see what happens.

Holy moly! I left to pick up my son from school and when I got him Shifu was upright! Thank you all so much! I'm so grateful for your help

 

That is excellent news!

 

Shifu is on his side again this morning he's getting another pea treatment. He's isolated now and I chopped up about 4 skinned peas in there with him. Fingers crossed

 

He only needs about 1 skinned pea a day,, too much food isn't good for the fish either. It will take time, looking at probably at least 4-5 days, my platy took nearly 2 weeks. Good luck

And remember to have him in a very well filtered clean area , clean water is essential to any fish recovery.

 

I just wanted in increase my chances of him eating. I had to hand feed because he was interested. I hope he swallowed some and not just nipped it.

 

I understand, though as I learned when it comes to swim bladder, underfeeding has less bad things happen then over feeding, the swim bladder could be caused from pressure on the swimbladder so too much food, even if it is a pea, if its not coming out could cause more issues in the end.

 

I understand, tomorrow I will just use one. I also didn't feed the tank except the algae wafer for my oto. No one else likes those lol

 

Unfortunately Shifu has passed. We was stuck on the filter gate, no strong enough to prevent this occurrence

 

So sorry to hear this.

 

Thank jdhef, it wasn't for a lack of trying. I just wish I could have seen him in time. He was a tough guy

 

Has anyone successfully treated a guppy with swim bladder?
He was in a 65 gallon, with probably 30 other full sized guppies, one kuhlI loach, a Chinese gold, and a small pleco.
I've now put him in a 10 gallon on his own, added some aquarium salt, checked water parameters, and upped the temp. Figured we would fast him, but didn't want to fast all of the fish in the community tank(lots of fry, of course lol)
Anyway he's my favourite one, and I'd really hate to see him go.
Having difficulty uploading a photo, but he's a bright blue with a large tail, he's swimming nose up, and very slow.

 

Try feeding him a de shelled pea, after fasting him for a day.

 

Try fastening him!

 

I agree, fast him for 1-2 days and then feed him a cut-up, deshelled pea.

 

I have a female guppy in a 40 gallon tank who has been swimming vertically lately. I've tried some suggestions I've seen online already- water changes, aquarium salt, and peas. She seems a little better, but not much. What more can I do?

 

Welcome to Fishlore! I'm sorry you're having these issues.

Can you give us some more information?

Tank size and tank mates?

Water parameters? pH, temp, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates

 

7pH, 75° F, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, ~15ppm nitrate.

Tank mates are 3 other guppies, 1 is male. 4 Corys, a blur Gourami, 5 platys, 6 neon tetras, and 6 long fin danios. All in a 40 long.

 

How long has she been like this?

I would discontinue salt - the cories won't do well with it.