Guppy not eating and isolates himself

[satu]

Hi,

I was hoping i could find a bit of help here as one og my guppies stopped eating about a week ago. He's not even remotely interested in food. He doesn't hang around the others like normally and he stays still, near the surface with his tail drooping down. I can't see any external signs of disease on the guppy (called Otto). He can swim down normally if he wants to, but most of the time he doesn't.

We have 3 guppies, 2 mollies and 1 coradora. Others eat and behave normally. We've had the tank for 2 months and one guppy died of swim bladder. This is not swim bladder. It looks different. I'm wondering if it could be internal parasites and what i should do. I cleaned the tank 1.5 weeks ago. Every 2 weeks.

My boyfriend works with small animals and he'll bring some anti-parasite medicine today, but he's not sure it is internal parasites.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
Satu

 

[Devilishturtles]

Does the guppy look like he is wasting away? Sorta like he is real skinny? That would be one good indication of internal parasites.

Other things that might help us would be the size of your tank and water parameters, if you know them.

It's really hard to know given the symptoms. With no external signs, sometimes it's impossible to diagnose a fish. Guppies especially are hard because they are often born with genetic and internal issues because they are inbred. Not always the case, but it does happen.

If you answer those questions, it will help rule out a few things that could be affecting your guppy.

 

[Zagz]

I'd have to agree with DT. Tank parameters will be very helpful in determining the cause or the illness. Sometimes it isn't the illness that is the problem, it is the cause of the illness that needs to be addressed.

Welcome to AA!

 

[satu]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

The tank is 21 litres. I guess the tank's too small for all my babies. We've been planning to get a bigger tank.

The little one who didn't eat, Otto, We separated him for a couple of days in a breeding net so the others wouldn't stress him by chasing. He started eating a little. We also gave him the Interpet Aquarium Treatment #9 Anti Internal Bacteria. He seems a bit better. Two night ago we let him go with the others and last night he went a got a few bites as soon as I dropped food in the tank. I think he's getting better. The problem is that he still spends time near the surface, not much though, and his tail is hanging down as if it was too heavy. I saw another one of the guppies do the same today so I'm not sure if it's normal??? Or if the other one is getting stressed too. Generally he seems better.

We tested the water a bit over a week ago and the quality was good according to my boyfriend. We will do another one on Saturday. The thing is we're going on a holiday next week for 8 days and a friend of mine will come a couple of times to see their weekly food pyramid is releasing food and that everything is fine, but I'm so worried that something will happen when I'm not there to try to do something about it.

Once again, thank you for your help.
Satu

 

[Zagz]

Posting your actual parameters in ppm for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph would be most beneficial. It would be a good idea to change the water before you go on holidays and add dechlorinator to the water before adding the new. The water will most likely need to be changed while you are gone as well for such a small tank. Ammonia and nitrite will build up quickly.