Bloated Male Guppy

[Sydsmom367]

Wednesday night as I was putting the little fishies to bed, I noticed one of my male guppies appeared to be bloated with a big string of poo hanging out. I figured he must be constipated and gave him and his tank mates a breakfast the following morning of frozen peas, cooked and peeled. I gave them the same meal that evening and again this morning. How long should I feed them peas? How long does it take for it to work? Should I start giving them regular food again (Topfin Tropical fish flakes)? I hope it’s not Dropsy. He still seems a little bit active and his scales do not appear to be raised, however, his lips do seem to be a bit more puckered and swollen like.
I set this tank up at the end of June and did an in-fish cycle with the 2 male guppies. It is a Grreat Choice 10 gallon started kit that came with the hood light and an internal canister filter with a 90 gph flow rate. It has a filter cartridge and bio grid. I have not yet replaced or even remove the filter cartridge. I also have a Terta HT30 auto adjusting heater that is keeping the tank between 78-80°f. I test regularly using the API liquid master test kit and by the first week of August, the tank was fully cycled and I added 7 Harlequin Rasboras, 3 have since died and I have no plan on replacing them. I then added 3 Red Cherry Shrimp this past Monday. I tested this morning, AM-0, NO2-0, NO3-20ppm, PH-7.8 followed by a 50% WC with API Stress Coat+. I typically do a 40-50% WC every 7-10 days and vacuum the gravel at that time.

 

[Sydsmom367]

Here's a picture of him.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Here's a picture of him.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Maybe you could try an epsom bath dip. NOT aquarium salt. Look up exactly how to do it, I don't want to give you bad info.

Just want to make sure it is a male. I thought I had all female platys until 2 ended up pregnant and I learned how to tell the sex. Also, even if you don't have any guppy tank mates, females can store the sperm for a long time and may have been impregnated at the store.

 

[Sydsmom367]

Maybe you could try an epsom bath dip. NOT aquarium salt. Look up exactly how to do it, I don't want to give you bad info.

I looked up the epsom salt treatment and still not sure how to do this properly. Some say to use aquarium salt and not epsom salt. I have a 1.5 gal I could use as a med tank but I do not have a filter or heater. That shouldn't be a problem though since it sounds like I only need to keep the fish in the salt bath for about 15 minutes, depending on dosage amount, but I'm still not sure how much salt I should put in a 1.5 gal.

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

So annoying - I totally just typed out a long response and then lost it. Sorry.

I think the 1 gallon is fine because you will only be doing a bath/dip. I know it is Epsom because I learned the hard way when trying to do a salt bath to ease bloating. As it turns out, aquarium salt makes them retain water, epsom does the opposite.

There are really bright, informed people on here especially when it comes to,water,issues. Perhaps they don't visit all the forums, so maybe you could post in general discussion or getting started and pose the question as a water to,grav their attention - something like - how to,salt for a freshwater aquarium - and then describe your need for the proper ratio of salt to water for a salt bath and how long it should last.

Whatever,you do, err on the side of under-salting, in,my opinion. Keep,trying. Someone with more expertise will weigh in - especially if you try a new title in a different forum.

 

[MICEY]

Epsom salt is the way to go
guppies like some salt in there water , but wait till your fish are healthy to add a little
guppies need more veggies in there diet than those flakes have you would be better off with a premium brand of fish food, and buy a small container unless you going to keep the extra in the freezer , it goes bad in a few months
brine shrimp also helps with constipation
when you can you need a bigger tank at least a 20gal long, and a better filter , that filter needs cleaning , don't clean it all at one time
what is in your filter ? carbon last about 3 days , foam should be washed in tank water from when you do a water change
filter floss can be replaces with pillow battening (polyester-fiber) from Walmart
if all it has is floss only change half of it at a time to protect your good bacteria