# Does this guppy have fin rot?



## adolwyn (Apr 11, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I'm really new to keeping fish. I'll admit this. I bought two guppies to add to my tank today and because I was in a rush, I didn't check them both closely. When I got the fish home and had them added to my tank, I noticed that the tail of one of the guppies was looking odd. The top was very ragged and stringy. Some googling told me that fin rot might be at play here (because I really don't want to deal with a tank full of sick fish!) but this guppy doesn't have the discolouration at the ends of his tail that so many sites seem to suggest. So, I bring this to you... the experts! 

What follows are my answers to the questions you asked that I post, to the best of my knowledge. I'll admit I don't treat my aquarium like it's an extension of myself, so some things I just can't remember. I keep my fish because I like watching them, really; it hasn't progressed to full-blown hobby, yet. With that said, they are living creatures and I sure don't want them to be suffering if I can help.

1. What is the size of your tank?
20L

2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
QuickDip 6 in 1 Test Strips: 
Nitrate: 20ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
GH: 300ppm
Chlorine: 0ppm
KH: 120ppm
PH: 7.2

Ammonia Quick Dip brand: 0ppm

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Freshwater

4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
Five months

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
I have... Three Zebra Danios (about 1" each), two Mickey Mouse Platys (1"), two Dalmation Mollies (2-3"), one Hatchetfish (2"), 1 Spearfish (I think that's what they called him?) (2"), 2 guppies (under 1"). All but the guppies have been in the tank for well over a month. One Platy was born and made it without being eaten, so he's the newest (1 month old)... The rest have been in there for months.

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
Noooo. I only have one tank.

7. What temperature is the tank water currently? It fluxuates between 76 and 78 F.

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
Yes, two, and both are growing really well.

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
I honestly have no idea. I haven't replaced the filter since I got it.

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
No other equipment (other than heater and filter)... Well, I do have a fluorescent light.

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
It receives light from a north-facing window. Normally I turn the fluorescent light on at about 8am and turn it off at about 10pm.

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
I change about 5L once a week. Last change was on Sunday. I do not vacuum.

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
Fish get fed mostly dry flakes twice per day. When I was feeding them once per day, I was getting a feeding frenzy thing going on, so my LFS suggested feeding them twice a day, but less food each time. They get fed about 8am and 8pm.

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
I'm concerned about my new guppy. It's tail is really weird looking and the part of its body from about tail to stomach is white. I don't know if that is normal or not.

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis. 
I haven't treated for anything... I'm trying to find out if I should return it to the store tomorrow, though. I live a 90 minute drive each way from the city, so I can only get in on weekends.

Here are links to two photos of the fish in question... Quality is not good; all I have is my cellphone camera. Also, for some reason when I uploaded the photos, they got flipped upside down. I think you can still see the tail in question, though.

http://eurotrash.cc/temp/IMG_0329.JPG
http://eurotrash.cc/temp/IMG_0330.JPG

Thanks for any help and for being patient with a newb to fishkeeping.


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## adolwyn (Apr 11, 2010)

Well, it sure did have something! I woke up this morning and it was dead on the bottom of the tank. Got to love stores that sell you sick fish, right?

So, my new question (and one I'd love the answer to before I head into the city) is whether or not I should medicate the whole tank because they were exposed to whatever this fish had. Thoughts?


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## fryup (Jan 12, 2010)

no because your not 100% sure what it was???.....i would just keep an eye on the other fish and see how they go...good luck


i had a female PREGNANT guppy die of mouth rot a few month back and none of my other fish had anything wrong with them ??....


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## fryup (Jan 12, 2010)

oh and welcome to the forum!!!...


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## adolwyn (Apr 11, 2010)

Thanks for the help. 

I did a 50% water change and I'll change out the water about 25% a day for the next few days just to keep the water fresh. Hopefully that's enough. The rest look fine so far. Here's hoping!


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## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

with an established and healthy tank, infectios agents like cotton fungus, fin rot, and other pathogens are in our tanks- 
Just like we don't get sick every time we go out the door because we have healthy immu systems, fish are the same way.

As long as all the other fish are healthy and there's no fighting going on (open wounds cause fin rot- 99% of the time they are damaged before fin rot sets in) the rest of your fish are perfectly safe.

If you'd like to be on the SAFE side, you could add a TBSP aquarium salt (kosher salt, even iodine is HARMLESS in the quantity it's present in salt- I used "rock salt" for YEARS before I bought aquarium salt. I only bought it because I was considering a brackish tank)

I'm fighting ich right now, consider yourself lucky.

Call the pet store, explain what happened. They might let you return it next weekend if you pop it in the freezer (so they can see it. I've done it before ) and even if you already threw it away, call'em anyway. They might be nice, many chain stores will do it if you ask to talk to the manager and act really mad.


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