Guppy belly distention

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DRVNFAST

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 13, 2003
Messages
10
Location
Denver
Hello All!!!

I have a 29G standard. Tahitian Moon Sand, Bio Wheel 170, with lots of fake flora. Fauna wise I have 3 adult female guppies(used to have 5), 5 dwarf puffers (they never nip), 5-7 ghost shrimp, 1 CAE. and one clown loach.

Water clarity is always perfect. No smells of discoloration/cloudiness.

They eat flake 2x daily and blood worms 1x daily.

I add 1G a week for compensation of evaporation. I do not own a water test kit, as I have yet to need one, although I fell like I am about to be lectured for not owning one.

The problem started about 4 weeks ago when I found one guppy dead at the bottom of the tank. She was emaciated and colorless. I quickly removed her and did a 1/3 water change. Two weeks later I found her sister dead at the bottom, this time no color change, but she was horrible distended, (huge belly). Deffinatly not pregnant distended, but scales peeling off distended. Today I noticed another of the guppies is hugely distended. Same thing, scales peeling off, and about a 150% gain in circumferance. She is still alive, swimming and eating.

All other fish are fine with now obvious signs of distress.

Of note: The dwarfs have only been in there 3-4 monthes, so the blood worms feeding is new to this 2 year old, well established, never problematic guppy tank.

Any Ideas?

Feel free to stone me for having a water test kit, but I have never had a problem in two years.
 
Feel free to stone me for having a water test kit, but I have never had a problem in two years.
...that you know of. Many diseases can get going in a tank with poor water quality.

Before I get to the problem, it also sounds like you are feeding too much. Fish do not have to eat three times a day. They will, but they did not evolve that way. Overfeeding can also lead to problems.

This sounds like dropsy. Are the scales poking out like a pinecone?

Try looking through these sites:
http://www.aquatronicsonline.com/hobbyist/hobbyist3.htm
http://www.aqualink.com/disease/sdisease.html#ich
http://fish.mongabay.com/diseases.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqBizSubWebIndex/fishdisho.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/health.htm

I encourage you to look through at least a few of the sites and see what description fits best given the condition of your guppies.
 
If you can, I'd move all of the healthy looking fish out of that tank immediately. Dropsy is pretty contagious.

-j
 
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