eaurouge! are you there?

[thisisyesterday]

my guppy has gone wrong!
s/he keeps just being all upright, either under a leaf or under the heater.

s/he can swim around to get food and stuff, but the rest of the time just hides under something. upright, as I say, with his/her head pointing up.

s/he looks really fat too. i wondered if it was a girl that was pregnant, but i'm not so sure now.

[peggotty]

Am not eaurouge (obviously!) but could it be swim bladder problem or dropsy? Hopefully eau will turn up soon!

[thisisyesterday]

i will google those! thanks

[EauRouge]

Evening! Yes, it does sound like a swimbladder problem. There are a number of different things that can cause it, if it's swollen up then I would guess at a bacterial infection. Are any of the scales sticking up? This is a sign of dropsy (which is a symptom in itself, not a disease on its own). Swelling up is usually a sign of renal failure and by this point it's normally curtains for the poor fish :(

Is it eating and pooping normally?
Any other symptoms like red patches/streaks?

What colour is the guppy? It's easy enough to tell between male and female, the females are normally grey/silvery and bigger than the males and the males have a fin attachment thingy called a gonopodium like in this pic here.

[thisisyesterday]

i have uploaded a picture now!

[thisisyesterday]

no scales sticking up, seems to be eating/pooing normally.
no other symptoms

[EauRouge]

Crikey, he does look a bit swollen any other fish affected?

[thisisyesterday]

no, the other 3 seem fine!

[thisisyesterday]

i have my much bigger tank waiting for them, but it's still cycling

[EauRouge]

Are they in a titchy tank? That won't help. If the smaller tank is cycled then you can just move over the whole lot (including filter media into the new filter) and not worry about the cycle. It's the filter where all the good bacteria are so there's no need to wait if you've already got a mature filter.

I've got to dash now but I would keep a close eye on the fish for the next day. If it is a bacterial infection then he'll need antibiotics which you can get from a vet (if your vet is any good, some seem to think fish are disposable ) or you can get them illegally from ebay. Metronidazole (also known as Fishzole) is the most popular one.

Have you done a water test recently?

[thisisyesterday]

yes the tank is fairly small. the problem is we've had to get a new filter for the big tank because it's sooooo much bigger!
the one they're in at the moment is 30litres, the new one is 108!

[EauRouge]

That's OK, you can just chuck the media from the little filter into the big filter, there will be enough bacteria to support the fish you already have.

Is the new tank all set up and running? All you would need to do is drain about half of the old tank and chuck the water in the new tank, switch the old filter off and put the sponges in the new filter (and then switch it back on quick), then move over the fish and the rest of the water.

I would acclimatise the fish in bags just in case there are any differences in water parameters although if both the tanks are just full of treated tap water then they should be near enough the same.

[thisisyesterday]

hello again.... my guppy is still the same!!!

i am not sure what to do.

i had 4 to start with.
this one was the first to get swollen- he is still alive, swimming about a bit more than he was, but definitely not "right"

of the other 3 one is absolutely fine.
one swelled up suddenly a couple of weeks ago and then died
the other one has also swollen up but liek the original one is still swimming around- just swollen!

what should i do??? I have put them into my new giant tank temporarily while I clean the small tank out totally to quarantine them both in

i would have thought they'd have died by now???
I did take the one that died to the vet (before it died obv!) and he said he wouldn't be happy giving me antibiotics as it is not usually that successful and because he would feel bad selling me something that expensive for a fish that cost so little.

now, he is a lovely guy and i think if i was persistant he would give in and sell them to me

but is it worth it?

it has been well over a month since the original fish became swollen

[EauRouge]

How weird! Are they swollen the same amount all the way around? Any other symptoms at all? How does their poo look, any bubbles or white stuff in there?

[thisisyesterday]

no it's mainly the tummy that is swollen, tho i have noticed that the last one to get poorly is now showing ever so slight pinecone effect

poo looks same as it always has

[EauRouge]

Bummer, that sounds like it could be renal failure :( antibiotics can fix some infections but they can be hard to diagnose. Once the fish start pineconing, it's usually curtains for them :( their system usually can't take antibiotics by then.

Dunno what your vet would say about my cats, they were free! Much cheaper than guppies