I really need your help guys! I'm super worried about a guppies tail! So I'm fostering my friend's 2 guppy males in a 20 gallon planted tank over the summer. Things were fine, but this morning when I went to feed them and the one's tail was stuck in the intake tube of the filter! I shut it off and he got out. But he is struggling to swim. His fin isn't torn or anything, but the edge of it looks dark, like I'm pretty sure there was some tissue damage. Idk how long he was stuck, just that he wasn't when I shut the blue light off at about 11 last night. I didn't have time to do much about it, because I had to unlock work this morning and could not be late. But I did put some melafix, pimafix, slime coat/conditioner, and accurel body rx in to hopefully help his fin heal. I know there is some debate about whether melafix and pimafix actually do anything, but I'm so worried. I've been using them with all my other tanks for years and haven't noticed any bad effects. I even use them half strength with my betta and that has been fine. And bettas are the ones people seem to have the most trouble using mela and pimafix with. Mostly at this point they are just a thing I use here and there just in case, and they make the water smell nice. Anyway, I figure every little thing I can do that will possibly help, I should do. If he still looks super rough when I get home, assuming he's alive, I'll probably give him a salt bath. I left the filter off so it wouldn't happen again. And when I get home I'm going to put filter foam around the intake tube so it never happens again. And there is a bubble bar going, so there should still be enough oxygenation of the water. Plus there are live plants. I feel guilty, because I noticed pieces of plants had got sucked to the intake tube, and I thought to myself, maybe I should put some prefilter foam on there. But I didn't get around to it this weekend because I deep cleaned and redecorated my 10, 20, and 37. As well as helping my bf clean and redecorate our 2 crested gecko tanks. I'm so mad at myself for not putting that foam on, because now one of these guppies might die! But I couldn't have known this would happen. And my friend has had them in this tank with this filter for quite awhile and didn't say anything about this ever happening before. I did ask her if this had happened before, and explained the situation, but she hasn't responded yet. Still, I knew it was a risk, I've seen my betta's flowy fins get stuck to the filter intake before. And guppy fins are just as flowy. I should have done something about that intake. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have suggestions about anything else I can do for the poor little guy? I'm freaking out because he isn't my fish, though I've been loving and caring for them as if they are. I haven't even had them a week, but have really been enjoying them. Omg I hope he makes it, I feel terrible! Fyi, I have the temp set at about 78 right now. Should I raise it?
I would assess when you get home today and see how he is. If he appears to be a bit sluggish, but only has wounds on his fin edges, I'd think your best remedy would just be frequent water changes to keep the water as clean as possible. That will help his fin heal.
Do you think I should turn the temp up a little? I've seen some posts where ppl are trying to heal fin rot and they say that upping the temp helps. This isn't really fin rot, but still, his fins are damaged.
I would calm down and stop putting 50 types of treatment in the tank. If you freak out and act without thinking you could do more harm than good. You should only use one treatment at a time. So chose one. Primafix, melafix, OR heat. You could stress him out if you do so much stuff. Water changes are essential
Let me preface this with, I'm not trying to be rude, but in text format it might seem that way. It was my understanding that pimafix and melafix are fine to use together, and in fact are often suggested to use together, as stated on api's website. Water conditioner/slime coat is a standard thing to use even when fish aren't sick. And I've read that the risk of overdosing it is super low, because you'd have to add an extreme amount. The bodyguard rx is the only thing I'm not sure about. But it is just a weekly vitamin booster and appetite stimulant that helps keep the immune system good. I presume it has an effect similar to that of seachem's garlic guard, which I would have used if I thought the poor thing would have been able to eat the food. So I don't see how it will hurt. But nothing I've used so far looks to be toxic, or interact badly with anything else. I mean, it's not like I put 3 different kinds of antibiotics in there. I haven't put any legit medication in there, just natural remedies,vitamins, and standard water treatment. Of course I will be doing water changes, because clean water is key to any fish health issue. Which I see as common sense, but I'll give you, a lot of beginners don't know that. I haven't done anything with the heat yet, I was asking if I should. I've never kept guppies, so I'm just not exactly sure of what temps are safe for them. If this was my angelfish, I'd bump his temp up. Guppies, not sure on. But I do know about the products I'm using. I've been using them with my other fish. I'm not just throwing stuff in the tank all willy nilly. I put in what I reasonably expect to be safe and have some sort of benefit. And I'm asking what else I should do from here. Fyi, I have anxiety and these aren't my fish, so yeah I'm freaking out. But not freaking out in the way of, "I don't know at all what to do and am just going to try whatever.", but more freaking out in the way people with anxiety do when things go wrong. Like in the, "omg this fish is going to die and I haven't even had it a week, and even though I did all I could, my friend is going to be mad that I killed her fish." kind of way. She isn't though. I finally heard back from her and she gets that this isn't my fault, I couldn't have done anything about it happening, and is honestly concerned about how stressed I am over it. Rationally, I know I should calm down and the stress isn't doing me any good. But sadly, that is just not how anxiety works my friend.
Ok, what I'm trying to say is that if you dump a bunch of medication it can stress the fish out. Guppies should be fine with a heat rise, but I wouldn't do it with medication. Anyways good luck with it. Keep calm and tank on. Haha
I get it, anxiety is one of the monsters on my shoulders, too. You should be ok to raise the temp to 80, but I wouldn't go much higher than that for too long. Does he seem to be acting fairly normally now? Eating? Swimming ok?
I get what you're saying, but Pimafix and Melafix are both herbal remedies and are perfectly safe to use together. While I, personally, don't think they do much for diseases, I don't think they hurt in a situation like this. OP did the best thing they knew in a scary situation, especially considering the guppy in question isn't even hers! Maybe next time, just word your post a little differently. Everyone here is doing their best to keep their little water pets safe and healthy, and they are coming here for help, not to get told they are freaking out. You gave good advice, just remember to be kind.
Ok this ended up being really long. Sorry. I went on an emotional rollercoaster of naive optimism of trying to save him, to the somber acceptance that he is going to die. He can't swim. It is really bad. I read on another post that these guys shouldn't be getting stuck in the intake. That it mostly happens when the fish is too weak from illness, or if the filter is way too strong. If he already had an infection and was weak, it would explain even getting sucked into the intake. And upon closer inspection of its(yellow)and the other(orange) guppy's tails, they are ragged. The yellow one's has a black edge. I think they have/had fin rot before. And the stress of the move brought the fin rot back or made it worse. Though I don't think that is the whole problem with the yellow one, because it seems like he can't move his back fin, his back half really. His front fins are going, but not the back. And I don't think any infection alone could do that. Not in one day at least. I think he has a major injury, maybe even a broken spine. He was one of those bent spine deformed ones too, so that maybe didn't do him any favors in the matter. I gave him a salt dip and put in a qt tank. He was a little more active in the salt dip. But "more active" is just moving at this point. Same in qt tank. I put some seachem paraguard in qt tank. And raised temp a degree or 2. But I don't think it is likely to help. I don't think he's going to make it through the night. Should he make it, I will go through my legit meds and see what I have to treat for fin rot. But I'm pretty certain he's dying. At least he is in the calm, mellow qt tank. I feel like this is one of those times where euthanizing would be the best option. But I don't have clove oil, and am too soft hearted to try anything else. The best I could do was give him a more peaceful tank. But I feel terrible that there is nothing else I can do. Regardless of what happens with the yellow one, I think I should treat the orange one for fin rot. Because while he doesn't have black infection on his fins, they are still pretty ragged when you look close. And he has been hanging out more towards the top today. His swimming is not bad, but it's not great either. Since I already have the qt tank, I think I'll give him a salt bath and move him over. Treat him with the less harsh, more natural treatments and if any help. And if he still looks bad, it will be easier to legit medicate in a 10 gallon qt than a 20 planted. This has been an extreme case of the mondays.
If he seems paralyzed along the back half of his body it is not related to fin rot, if he is getting dragged against the filter he was sick or other damaged before that point, even sleeping guppies that are healthy can pull away from the filter intake. Clean water is the best treatment for regular fin rot, it helps clear up infection and other issues of fin rot, if the fin rot is more sinister then "legit" meds would need to be used to help clear it. Salt baths will not help the fish at this point, they irritate the fish so it produces a thicker slime coat in defense - if it is a bacterial infection that would be the only reason it would be effective because it changes the composition of the water (like dipping a salt water fish with ich/ick into a freshwater bath briefly, to break the composition of the water).
Yes I decided that I will just keep the 20 planted the orange one is in clean, and monitor. I was going to do a salt dip, but maybe not. We'll just see how it goes. But the yellow one is definitely dying.
Sometimes they just do not make it even if everything is perfect and grand for them. I have had several pet store males that just faded away without any reason behind it.
I am constantly fighting ragged fins on my 4 male guppies in my 50 gal planted community. The parameters are perfect, and I do weekly water changes. No other fish have any signs of fin rot,nor any other problems. Just the gosh darn guppies! I think it's just a problem they are prone to. As long as the orange one is swimming well and eating, keeping up with your wc should be good. Sad to hear about the yellow guy. I don't think I could euthanize either, but you're at least giving him a stress free place to hopefully be calm and peaceful while he lives out the rest of his days.
Yes I'll be keeping the orange one's water very clean. And I added some paragaurd for good measure. Especially since I had to move my danios in with him so I could use the 10 they were in as a qt tank. I had just thoroughly cleaned it and they had only been in it for two days, so I don't think it was terribly dirty. But I did still gravel vac it and add paraguard before ising it for qt tank for the yellow guppy. Not that, it was much help, since he was already dying. I thought for sure the yellow one would have died overnight, but he didn't. But the poor little thing was just suffering, since he really couldn't swim or move his back half. He has just been on his side on the bottom, struggling to use his front fins. So this morning I found an old reddit thread that said if you don't have clove oil you can overdose pimafix to euthanize. I couldn't actually find info that stated that one of the ingredients in pimafix is clove oil, but this is why people believe it works for anesthetizing and/or euthanizing. I did however find many accounts of people saying their fish seemed drugged when they used too much of it. So it at least has an anesthetic property. I put some in a cup of water with the lil guy and waited awhile, his breathing slowed way down. I put just a tiny bit more in, and it looked as though he had stopped breathing. But people warn when you do this, even though they look dead, they can come back out of it. So you should then put some vodka in and it finishes the job. I did have vodka, so I used it too. I feel like sleepy and drunk is probably one of the best ways to die. Rip little dude.
