Ich and Pregnant Guppies?

[HannahJ]

Okay, so the guppy tank has ich. My bad, I put a new one in there, and now that one has a couple white spots on it. I'm raising the temperature right now (we're at 76 and rising--still a ways to go) and adding in some salt. Hopefully this will be nipped in the bud.

Here's the question: a couple of the guppy females are seriously pregnant. Is a high temp and a little salinity going to negatively affect either their pregnancy or the soon-to-come fry? Obviously the temperature is going to be high for a few weeks, and I expect bir well before then.

[Zagz]

No it won't affect them. What temp is the tank usually at? You need to get over 87F and add extra aeration. The fry should also be fine, livebearer fry are very hardy.

[HannahJ]

It's usually at ~76 ish, but it was around 70 this morning when I saw the spots because my roommate opened the window (right by my desk, on which the tank sits) last night and then forgot to close it. I've done the heat treatment before, so I'm not too worried, and I've had a chat with the roomie about how the window's going to have to stay shut for a few weeks. I'm glad to hear the fry will be alright, even if I'm only breeding them as food for my ghost knife. :P

I'm raising it slow, so we're at 80 right now. Should have it up to 86+ tomorrow. Already threw in the extra airstone. Only one with clamped fins and flashing is the new girl, so maybe I'll kill all the free-swimming ich things before any of the other fish get infected.

On a side note, I have a lone platy in the tank with the guppies (rescue case). I know well-fed guppies generally leave fry alone, but will the platy eat them?

[mike47517]

Platy is actually the best known livebearer that leaves the fry alone as long as they to are well fed.

[HannahJ]

Okay, so the ich female also has cottonmouth disease, so now I've added Maracyn and MelaFix to the mix in the tank. On top of that, when I came back from PetCo with the Maracyn, I had several fry! The most pregnant female (not the diseased wonder) popped out 5 more while I watched (too cool) and despite being born into a diseased, hot, salty, medicated tank, they all seem fine.

I was a little perturbed by how much they were getting chased, especially by the male, so I went ahead and McGyver-ed a breeding net out of pantyhose and a hanger and netted the fry into it. I've got nine in there right now, I'm quite excited. I'm about to head to Petsmart to see what they have in the way of baby brine shrimp, as they fry haven't touched the finely powdered flakes I put in there.

I've also got hose over the intake of the HOB filter, just in case for the fry I'm sure I missed netting, and there are a billion fake plants in there that I'd added over the past few days in preparation for some sort of birthing. I didn't think it'd be so soon, though.

So...will the meds kill my babies? And yes, I do see the irony in saving the fry from being eaten with the intention of feeding them to a different fish later.

[HannahJ]

Here's my game plan right now: it's an 8 gallon tank, but I got the Maracyn with the 10 gallon packets, so I'm over-medicating a bit. Tomorrow morning I'll do a 60-75% water change, then dose tomorrow's dose along with more salt and MelaFix to replace what gets taken out. Lather, rinse, repeat for the rest of the week. If that new girl isn't improved in a day or so, I'm euth'ing her.

Man, I'm nervous to touch my other tanks with any of this equipment now. What's the best method for sterilizing everything, anyone?

Ugh, the ghosty better appreciate all this work I'm putting into his **** dinner.

[HannahJ]

The Diseased Wonder™ started looking really bad so I went ahead an euth'd her in a shot of everclear. Thank goodness for alcoholic dormmates.

Another guppy has a milk mustache going on. I hope this Maracyn does the trick....