Two sick fancy guppies - please help

[callisto9]

Hello. Very new to fish keeping. I have four fancy guppies and one apple snail in a 6 gallon tank. Filter, no heater. Water temp is about 80 most of the time. Water changes every week. Parameters are good, though I noticed nitrates were high tonight (20ppm).

I have a planted tank. Lights on 8am - 10pm. I noticed green and brown spots on some of the rocks and an anubia last week. I've been told this diatom algae?

Two of my guppies have a white fuzz on them. One is acting weird, hanging out towards the top, not doing much. The other is more active, but has more white fuzz on him.

Any ideas? I very much want to help them, but have NO IDEA what to do. Remove them? Add salt? Run to PetSmart and get something to treat this?

Please help.

 

[hcourts]

Fungus infection? How new is your tank? And where is the white stuff located on the fish? You may need to treat them:/

 

[callisto9]

Fungus infection? How new is your tank? And where is the white stuff located on the fish? You may need to treat them:/

Tank is about 10-15 days old. Nitrites and Ammonia are at zero.

On the one guppy, white fuzz is on body and there's a haze to his eye. Can't tell on the red one, but his eyes look hazy, too.

I have two NON-sick guppies and an apple snail in there, too.

What should I treat with?

Thank you.

 

[callisto9]

I should also mention I have a piece of mopani wood in the tank. I boiled it before I added it. I also have rocks (cleaned, boiled) and many aquatic plants.

 

[hcourts]

I am a firm believer in melafix but with your what sound like a fungus you could do the fungus clear tabs from jungle. I have had to use them and they are great. I got mine from Walmart:/

 

[callisto9]

I am a firm believer in melafix but with your what sound like a fungus you could do the fungus clear tabs from jungle. I have had to use them and they are great. I got mine from Walmart:/

OK, I wonder if PetSmart has it. I don't think the red one is going to make it much longer.

I keep remembering things to mention. I also rinsed off (pretty well) the filter with tap water. Would that create a problem?

 

[hcourts]

Yes they do have it or a similar product. Did you put the old media back in or new filter media? And have you done parameters lately?

 

[callisto9]

Yes they do have it or a similar product. Did you put the old media back in or new filter media? And have you done parameters lately?

I got Pimafix. It was hard to decide what medicine to get since I didn't want to spend $25, not knowing what the problem is. The symptoms described on the bottle of Pimafix seemed more like what they had - cottony growth.

I added some and removed the carbon filter, per the instructions.

Any other thoughts? I had a really hard time guessing if this is bacterial, fungal or a parasite. I don't think it's a parasite. Interesting that it's affected the first two fish I got rather than the last two.

And yes, I put the old media back in after I rinsed it off.

Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm and Nitrate 20ppm.

 

[hcourts]

Maybe the last stock you got was already ill? Sounds like you are on the right path. Hope it turns out good for your guys keep us posted

 

[callisto9]

I got two sets of two from PetSmart - two different tanks, both male fancy guppies. My original two are the ones that look sick. The newer two seem ok.

I will definitely update. I've been struggling to find a good fish forum - it seems I may have found it!

 

[hcourts]

I really like it here!! I think it's hit or miss at some petsmarts. I know I bought some female guppies from there and all but one died! But I got two khuli loaches that are great!! Glad you found this forum!! It is a great info tool!!

 

[callisto9]

So far, my track record with fish from PetSmart is not good. Two of out of my first four died and then I bought two more. Now, the first two look sick and the 2nd two are doing OK. I've learned so much in the past few weeks.

The Pimafix said to take out the charcoal filter, which I did. Is that going to be a problem for the nitrogen cycle? And what exactly do I do with the wet filter to keep it ready to put it back in at some point?

Thanks for your help!

 

[JerseyGirl1385]

Rule of thumb: when you medicate, ALWAYS remove carbon/charcoal filter. It nulls the medication.
Treatments usually aren't that long- how many days have you/are you treating?

And how old is the media? If its a few months old, go ahead and toss it and when your done medicating the tank, replace with a new one ( swish around in a separate container with tank water to help BB)

I hope everything turns out great!

 

[ktiz08]

I had a telescope moor who got beat up by a beta and lost his eye. I put him in a separate tank and added a little aquarium salt. He was doing well. I bought some fish first aid at Walmart..... Found him dead this morning. Don't know what was in that crap, but I'm upset.

 

[callisto9]

Rule of thumb: when you medicate, ALWAYS remove carbon/charcoal filter. It nulls the medication.
Treatments usually aren't that long- how many days have you/are you treating?

And how old is the media? If its a few months old, go ahead and toss it and when your done medicating the tank, replace with a new one ( swish around in a separate container with tank water to help BB)

I hope everything turns out great!

Media is about two-three weeks old. I just rinsed it out last night. The media is out right now since I put the Pimafix in. I just put in the first treatment tonight.

I've read never to replace the media - just rinse it off, otherwise, you might mess up the bio filter/nitrogen cycle. Can anyone chime in on that?

The red guppy isn't looking too good. I don't expect him to make it very long.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[callisto9]

I had a telescope moor who got beat up by a beta and lost his eye. I put him in a separate tank and added a little aquarium salt. He was doing well. I bought some fish first aid at Walmart..... Found him dead this morning. Don't know what was in that crap, but I'm upset.

My blue guppy came with a missing eye. He seems to do just fine though.

I thought about adding salt, but don't know how it would affect my apple snail.

 

[ibn219]

Im pretty green myself this is the best forum and ive had a similar problem it seemed like i got every fish disease known to aquariums at once i had ick and bacterial at the same time so i had to treat separate different fish different symptoms different meds
Best thing you can do to prevent and help cure is water changes quite frequently for awile then at least once a month over feeding is the problem the left over food dosnt just make ammo it also grows fungi and bad bacteria a clean tank is a healthy tank. Do 20% water change 1 a week for a couple of weeks the 1 every 2 weeks then 1 a month at least once a month srry about the rant but like i said i found out the hard way lost 2 pregnant female guppies one was ready to pop too and lost my male and female betas i was also trying to breed guppies to fin rot and the bettas ick and bacterial infection i tried to save them but had to separate them treat each individually and treat community to protect the healthy ones very important to do water changes. Oh you might want a heater to raising the temp prevents alot of ailments i do high 70s low 80s now and everyone is healthy and happy

 

[callisto9]

Our house is always warm, so the temp is always 78 - 82. Thanks for your advice, by the way!

Right now I'm doing water changes at least once a week.

I do think I'm overfeeding, too.

 

[hcourts]

I put my filter media in a zip lock bag with some aquarium water to keep it moist. Don't throw it away. Then after the 7-10 days I do a big water change and then put the media back in. Are you still cycling your tank? And melafix doesn't have anything that will kill any bacteria already in your tank

 

[callisto9]

My filter media is in a ziplock back in the fridge.

I lost the red guppy overnight. He was kinda stuck behind a plant. Tail was gone/eaten (?). I know the other fish (just one of them) might be close behind.

I believe my tank is already cycled. See parameters above. Although maybe not since my nitrates are at 20ppm. Unfortunately, I did this whole fish thing backwards and had to learn a lot of stuff quickly in the past few weeks.

WARNING - gross dead fish pic attached.

Any idea what the problem is here? Bacterial, fungal, parasite?

I am using Pimafix, not Melafix.

Thanks everyone!