# Female guppy inflamed gills



## Keaze

I have 3 guppies (2 females 1 male), 2 tetras, and 3 4 month old baby guppies. My cycle has been steady for about 4 months now. I've never had any real trouble with the guppies. One female recently gave birth to about 20 fries. She has been very thin since then (4 days ago), but this seems normal after labor. 2 days ago she started having trouble swimming. Now yesterday she started having inflamed gills and she is really struggling with swimming. Today she is hiding at the bottom in a cave, touching the ground and not moving. Her gills are very swollen. She hasnt eaten in 2 days.

My levels are pretty ok. Nitrite is nil, nitrate around 20. I've always had a consisten problem with ammonia. It has never been below 1.25 (it's not the test kit, as before the cycle started, the kit showed 0). I do weekly or bi-weekly water changes. I dont terribly overfeed but maybe sometimes a little too much. It has never ever happened that i had 0 ammonia. I have to admit that i did not do a water change for about 2 weeks. Both females were gasping for air before the gills got swollen so it's obviously the reason. I shouldn't have gone 2 weeks without the water change. I just did a 75% yesterday though. 

Is there anything i can do to help her? Will she get better since the water is now clear? 

How can I get my ammonia to 0 ? 

Thanks.


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## jaysee

Welcome to the forum

Not to nitpick what you've said, but I think it's important - if you've had a continuous problem with ammonia, then your tank's cycle has not been steady. Getting your tank cycled is the most important thing right now. Doing water changes is the best thing for the fish, as you know. 

I know you are looking for answers, but we need quite a bit more information to be able to provide you with any significant help. It sounds as though you may have lost your cycle, or maybe even never had it.

How big is the tank? What do you have for filtration? what are your maintenance routines? What products (tank additives) do you use? What do you use for testing and is it expired/good?


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## Pearl2011

Before the cycle it will be 0, because there is no ammonia yet.

Your tank has probably not cycled yet. Dont get anymore fish and dont overfeed plus fast one day a week. At 1.25 I'm surprised there are any fish still alive.


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## Olympia

Along with what the others said, I agree 100%...

Sadly this fish has permanent damage, it will not get better.. It may survive, it may become somewhat more normal, but the damage is done... Better conditions may let her live...
All the fish in your tank are damaged from this, you may not see it is all. All our fish are damaged when we get them, from shipping, the pet store.
This fish has hyperplasia, cells built up around it's gills to protect it from toxins.. Though this then makes breathing more difficult. Add to the fact that ammonia reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood, and you get that gasping fish. 


Something in your tank is preventing a cycle from occurring if it's been 4 months. We should figure what it is, even if it may be too late for the guppy.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jaysee

It's not the ammonia in the water that poisons the fish directly - it's the ammonia built up in the fish. Fish (except for goldfish) passively excrete ammonia into the water from the gills. If the water has 1 ppm, then the fish will have 1 ppm. If the water has 0 ppm, then the fish will have 0 ppm - which is ideal. That is why it's so important to keep the ammonia levels low when cycling with fish, and why cycling with fish is not recommended.


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## Keaze

Thanks jaysee

Oh wow sorry guys i meant to say my ammonia is 0.25! 

To answer questions my Ammonia test is API. The rest is the nutrafin mini master test kit. The tank is 10 gal, Filter is penguin bio wheel 100, temp is at ~79. PH is around 7.4 which is a little high especially for the tetras but they are doing ok. I do 50% water changes once a week. I don't use any additive, except the nutrafin tap water conditioner. Sometime I'll put carbon in the filter. Oh I've been meaning to ask. What are those black spots under the folds of my filter? Is it only algae? Sorry the pic is out of focus i was 1 handed http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/6317/p1000550z.jpg 


The gils seem to have deflated a little today, but I think she has more trouble swimming.
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1784/p1000552m.jpg

I really wish she would not die. I've grown very fond of these 3 guppies.


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## jaysee

When you say sometimes you put carbon in the filter, does that mean that you use custom media (not cartridges) or sometimes you add some extra carbon? If you use cartridges, do you change them every few weeks? When do you test? If the water has cholramines in it, then the water conditioner breaks it down to ammonia and chlorine, so there will be a registered ammonia level if you test right after changing the water. You are supposed to wait 24-36 hours.


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## Keaze

I use the media that came with the filter. It has carbon in it but it must be deactivated by now. Theres some extra space in front of the media so i put a bag of activated carbon there. I don't change the media to keep the cycle i just clean it with aquarium water. I do tests every once in a while, sometimes a few days after water changes but there's still always ammonia.

I seem to be doing everything right, which is why i dont understand why there is still ammonia...


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## jaysee

Yes, it does sound like you are doing everything right.

I would try adding more mechanical/biological media rather than the additional chemical media. I would also try fasting the fish for several days and seeing what the ammonia level is. If you still have an ammonia reading with the bioload at it's absolute lowest, then you've got a more serious problem. If you get a reading of 0, then that means you do not have the filtration capacity required - adding more media will help that.

Do you ever get nitrite readings? Do your nitrates ever change?


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## Romad

Is it possible that you have ammonia in your tap water? It's not that common but it happens. 

It is odd that you've never seen nitrItes in the tank :/

Does Nutrafin conditioner detoxify the ammonia at all? I know Seachem Prime does for 24-48 hours so I'd pick up some of that if you can while you're getting those levels down to zero.

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## Fishpunk

Ammonia in tap water manifests itself as chloramines. If you dechlor the water, it neutralizes the chlorine and converts the ammonia in the chloramine into something not toxic.


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## Keaze

My nitrites are always 0 and nitrates are around 20. Nothing ever fluctuates in my tank and that is what's puzzling. The kits work right because while i was cycling i saw the ammonia go up to 1.25, I saw the nitrites being very high, and then the nitrates started to rise. But since the tank is cycled it's always exactly the same thing. 0.25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate.

Yes there is ammonia in my tap water. Come to think of it.... If there is 0.25 in my tap water than that must mean I've never actually seen the ammonia ever being at 0 anywhere.... Maybe the kit is the problem. I'll test the ammonia tomorrow with the nutrafin's kit. I never use their ammonia test because it's much less precise. The first graduation is 0.6 and the card shows and almost transparent color so it's basically impossible to know if you have nothing or 0.25 ....

I'll try feeding less although I'm a bit reluctant about that since I now have 20 babies and those 3 4 month old that need to be fed often.

Sadly I'm anticipating she will probably be dead by tomorrow....


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## LyzzaRyzz

Do you have another tank that you could put the fry in? I know that fry do better with smaller more often feeding..maybe a breeder box? that may contain their food a little better?


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## jaysee

Fishpunk said:


> Ammonia in tap water manifests itself as chloramines. If you dechlor the water, it neutralizes the chlorine and converts the ammonia in the chloramine into something not toxic.


Chloramines are manifested as ammonia. Chloramine is comprised of chlorine and ammonia. It is much more stable than chlorine (it does not dissipate), which is why it is used for water treatment more and more. Water conditioners break it down into chlorine and ammonia. The chlorine is then neutralized and the ammonia is usually converted into ammonium (some brands use a different method). Ideally, the ammonium is consumed by the bacteria colony before it changes back into ammonia. That is why it is important to wait at least a day to test after a water change.


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## Pearl2011

How long do you let the water sit out before you add it to the tank? Dont quote me, but doesn't adding a bubbler to the water help the ammonia evaporate? Thought I read that somewhere . . .


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## Olympia

Ammonia can evaporate out of water yes, and a bubbler would help gas diffuse out of water. But I really doubt a noticeable amount would evaporate from your tank.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Fishpunk

Jaysee, what I meant was if you look on your water report from the city and see ammonia, this is what they add in addition to chlorine, and they combine to form chloramine. So I'm talking about before the water comes out of the tap, you are talking about after adding sodium thiosulfate to neutralize it.


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