There is no such thing as a guppy episiotomy

[nirbhao]

This is Sunny



It looks to me like she is desperately attempting to give birth and having no success. She sets herself up vertically against a hard surface. She'll gasp, stick out both ventral fins stiff as boards, and do a little shimmy. Sometimes it looks like there might be something coming out. Then she'll:-/ zip around the tank erratically.

She eats and poops like a champ. In fact, she takes breaks between these gasps to clear out her bowels. So much poop!

It's a 10 gallon aquarium with an AquaClear 20. Temperature is 78, pH is 7.8, ammonia 0, nitrates 0, nitrates 10. Some live plants. Her tankmates include her daughter from her last brood and four nerite snails.

She dropped her last brood mid August. She's had episodes like this twice before- once in September and again in October. Sometimes it looks like there's a little clear bead coming out, but it never comes all the way out.

I know guppies can hold, but this seems different. Every time I ask people say to let things work out, but this doesn't seem to be working itself out.

Please help.

 

[nirbhao]

I removed Sunny from the tank. I touched a Q-tip to lidocaine hydrochloride 2% jelly and used it to gently massage her vent and belly from front to back. She's currently hanging out square as Minecraft in some java ferns. I will let you know how things progress.

 

[nirbhao]

After staring at her for several minutes, she now has either a fry or egg protruding partway. I'm going to give her half an hour before I do anything about it.

 

[nirbhao]

Good morning!



I don't see any fry, but Sunny is mostly round again. She's also swimming normally.

After seeing her spend three to five days in distress twice, I'm glad this episode only lasted a few hours. If no fry survive but she's okay, that's good enough for me.

 

[jessipanda]

How did she make out? Ever have any fry, or at least doing any better?

 

[nirbhao]

Still very squarey.



No fry. At least she's not in distress.

 

[nirbhao]

I just noticed a bunch of these things that look like tiny crystals. I tried to take some out before taking a picture, and there'snice nothing in them. They're just like membranes.




I wonder if those are miscarried fry. Or something entirely unrelated. Either way, they weren't there a couple of hours ago.

Edited to add:
I really felt like something was stuck, so I'm relieved to know that, if the membranes are from her (and they probably are) that fry from her next brood will be able to get out.

Could she be lonely? It's just her and her daughter. And snails. I was waiting for this brood for her to have more company. Should I get another female? I have a blue ram and dwarf gourami who eat baby everything else, so I can easily give them some fry to prevent over population.

She's the First Fish. She's the one my daughter saved her money for (along with a male but that's its own thing), and the entire 10 gallon is dedicated to her needs. I want to make her life good.

 

[Matt68005]

Large fry can get stuck. I'm not sure what you can do....

 

[nirbhao]

She's still pregnant. We got her some wisteria. I don't care about the fry, really. I just want her to be okay.

 

[Nils]

I just noticed a bunch of these things that look like tiny crystals. I tried to take some out before taking a picture, and there'snice nothing in them. They're just like membranes.

View attachment 290730
View attachment 290731

Those jelly-like things look like snail eggs to me, they only unwanted babies you'll get Look like pond snail or ramshorn egg sacs.
So let me get this straight, there's no male in there?
Just asking because it would be highly unusual for her to have a brood with no male.
I don't know that much about guppies, but there's n to much you can do IMO. If I were you I'd let it play itself out, I know that's not the information you're looking for but that's the only thing that comes to mind.
I hope someone who knows this better than me chiefs in, and I really hope she gets ok again soon!

 

[nirbhao]

Her last brood was born in August, and I have no doubt that she is pregnant. I could see the fries' eyes.

We had not purposefully added ramshorn or pond snails, and there had been no recent new plants, so they would have to be ninjas. I know it's not beyond snails to be super sneaky, but it seems very unlikely.

"Let it play out" is no longer an option. For her to spend three and then five days straight in distress (once in September and once in October), it's not playing out. I interrupted November's episode.

She survived the lidocaine (which I did research and read that it is safe in tiny doses), and she was swimming normally again afterwards. What I would really like is for the intervention to be a one time thing.

 

[Nils]

I really have no idea I'm sorry to say. I thought for a second the tit could be across breed between maybe platy's and her, that sometimes happens with livebearers.
Are there ANY other livebearers in the tank?

 

[nirbhao]

Are there ANY other livebearers in the tank?

Nope. She lived with a dwarf gourami and one daughter until we got blue rams, and then the two female guppies moved to the 10 gallon the males had been in. The males went into the community tank.

So two female guppies and four nerites. Three now, actually. One turned herself into escargo.