# New female guppy not eating!



## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

So, I got two female guppies a week ago, and one of the females doesn't really eat. She are a little bit about every other day but hasn't eaten in a day or two. The other female is eating fine (she's a bit ragged and tired now seeing as she just gave birth to some fry. I've caught 8 so far. Biggest drop I've had yet!).
I have both females in quarantine. The one who just gave birth is in a 2 gallon by herself and the other is in a cup floating in the main tank. (The cup makes it easier for me to keep the water clean and such). I haven't treated her with anything other than using stress coat and adding AQ salt to the water. 
I'm not sure if anything is wrong or not. Any input would be appreciated.
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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

why are you adding aquarium salt to the one thats not eating? what do you think the issue could be? if she is eating even if it is a little i would let her be in the main tank and not move her around back and forth as this will cause even more stress. same with the stress coat, its a un needed chemical thats not found in nature (im kinda a purist) so i would keep her in her QT and stop adding salt chems untill you se sighns of something that warrants it. her not eating could just be stress coming home as you say she is the "new guppy" this is normal and she will be eating liek the rest once she settles in.


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## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

I add a trace amounts of AQ salt to the QT tank every time I add new fish to it. Often I've found they have some kind of parasite or something and this helps it go away. Also she had a tear in her tail and her dorsal was frayed a bit so I'm trying to encourage regrowth. From what I understand neither the AQ salt nor the stress coat are harmful and can only help.

I know about the stress of being moved but its been a week and she hasn't gotten any better. I've only ever had one female act like this and she died within a week of bringing her home. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to help her get healthy.
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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

in my experience chems have never helped a problem, untill i found melafix but thats for bacterial problems. how does aq salt help repair fins? never heard of that. adding chems that "help" in my opinion arent worth the bottle they are in, and just exposes the fish to man made chemicals but liek i said i tend to be more of a purist when it comes to illness as usually salt and clean water usually have cleared up any fish ailment ive ran into.


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## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

I know AQ salt can kill any lurking parasites and such (since i've just got her i'm not sure if she has any illnesses or not. she certainly doesn't seem to be acting perfectly healthy), It can also prevent infection, it helps reduce stress, and can help aid in the formation of a healthy slime coat. Other than that I'm not entirely sure.


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## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

Update: the female who was eating passed away an hour ago. She had what appeared to be early stages of some disease (not sure what.) she had red bloody looking dots in her stomach and faded in color. I have 6 of her babies so hopefully they survive (she might have been a female lyre tail with a cobra/snakeskin pattern) 

The other female just have birth to 5 fry. Two were born dead. Her ta is missing a larger chunk and it looks almostime it's melting away or something. Her body is getting paler and she has splotches where it looks like chunks of her skin are missing (even though it is flat) she seems livelier than she was before. She's in clean water but I have a feeling she's not going to last through the night....
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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

wow i had no idea about the benifits of the as, from the sounds of the living one with the flat white splotches and the tail melting away might be some type of bacterial issue, the dead one with the red dots in her belly maybe birth complications or internal parasites?


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## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

It's definitely possible. They both appeared to have some parasite of some sort. There weren't many visible symptoms but they just seemed off. As for birth complications, I guess it is possible, but she died a day and a half afterwards so I have a hard time seeing that as the most likely cause. 

I've started the surviving female on half doses of pimafix in the hopes that it will kill whatever this is that she has...
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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

goodluck hope it all works out for you, keep us updated with what happens


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## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

As I suspected, woke up this morning only to find the other female had died. I'm not sure what exactly it was that caused it, but I'm pretty sure it was some bacteria or parasite. I'm going to have to do more research before I get more because I'd like to know if there is anything else I can do to save their lives.
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## erinbirdsong (Jan 16, 2013)

Unfortunatly I have noticed with guppies they aren't as hardy as the stores claim. I think the issue is the down breeding, Most are probably diseased when bought from stores... IN the course of a month I lost 4. I have one lone surviving female and she was pregnant but seems to have aborted her babies. I am fond of her and would be sad if she dies too. 

Sorry for your losses.


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## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

Yeah. I have noticed that as well. The LFS I got these two from usually has gorgeous fish and I have bit yet seen a sick fish there. So needless to say I was surprised when they didn't last more than a week. Oddly enough there is one Petsmart near me in which all the guppies I've gotten from there have survived and are current thriving in my tank. The guppies I've gotten from any other place don't last very long.

Luckily I have some fry from both females so I'm hoping they didn't become infected with whatever it is the mothers had. They were really pretty and I would love to add there genetics into the rest of my tank
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