Matt68005
Aquarium Advice Addict
I think i may have cured the guppy "skinny" disease.......
So I have had an ongoing problem with my guppies. The new ones get bloated, hang or sit on bottom, and have stringy poo and breathe fast. I have had it going on in my tanks all summer and have lost many fish to it. It seemed to resist all treatments for internal parasites/bacteria....ie metro,clout prazi, benadazole de-wormer. 
I recently found an article by the guppy god Stan Shubel describing some mystery disease, and although he didn't describe the symptoms in detail, I had a hunch that's exactly what my fish had...So I tried his treatment.
I used a Acriflavin/Malachite Green "fungus" cure or "ick" cure. I also added some liquid "rid ICH" about 2ml per gallon daily. The tabs or packets work for the first 2 days, every other day, but then I was adding them daily to keep the water green.
I did not feed for 1 day and then only 1x per day. I used Epsom salt as well as a little marine salt in their tank, 1TBSP per ten gallons on the Epsom salt, the aquarium or marine salt just guestimated.
After 5 days of this treatment, they stopped hanging and started showing interest in food again. I did several PWC and added carbon to the water to get rid of all the chemicals, then I dosed with metronidazole and praziquentel and let it sit. Its been over a week and they are all acting normal, no stringy poo, no gasping or sittin on the bottom. They are back to mating and playing and begging for food like guppies are suppose to. Im gonna continue feeding the metro food (I just dosed once with the powder, had all this on hand anyways from previous attempts) for about a week, then im gonna say their out of the woods.
Nobody on any forum I had knew of a cure to this disease, or even what it was, but many people said they had the same problem. Using shubel's method WORKED or it appears so far so good a week into my treatment and their acting o.k.
I hope this will help others with whatever (took a guppy to the vet for a biopsy. They found nothing in its intestines parasite wise. Cost me 45 bucks just for a microscope look at it, plus 6 months or more of frustration and wondering what this is and loosing guppies left and right. I was about to give up on the hobby. I will report back on this thread if they start showing signs of it again. My wife even said the fish at petsmart all had the same problem. Its like an outbreak or something that has been going around. I hope this helps some people at least attempt a cure.
I recently found an article by the guppy god Stan Shubel describing some mystery disease, and although he didn't describe the symptoms in detail, I had a hunch that's exactly what my fish had...So I tried his treatment.
I used a Acriflavin/Malachite Green "fungus" cure or "ick" cure. I also added some liquid "rid ICH" about 2ml per gallon daily. The tabs or packets work for the first 2 days, every other day, but then I was adding them daily to keep the water green.
I did not feed for 1 day and then only 1x per day. I used Epsom salt as well as a little marine salt in their tank, 1TBSP per ten gallons on the Epsom salt, the aquarium or marine salt just guestimated.
After 5 days of this treatment, they stopped hanging and started showing interest in food again. I did several PWC and added carbon to the water to get rid of all the chemicals, then I dosed with metronidazole and praziquentel and let it sit. Its been over a week and they are all acting normal, no stringy poo, no gasping or sittin on the bottom. They are back to mating and playing and begging for food like guppies are suppose to. Im gonna continue feeding the metro food (I just dosed once with the powder, had all this on hand anyways from previous attempts) for about a week, then im gonna say their out of the woods.
Nobody on any forum I had knew of a cure to this disease, or even what it was, but many people said they had the same problem. Using shubel's method WORKED or it appears so far so good a week into my treatment and their acting o.k.
I hope this will help others with whatever (took a guppy to the vet for a biopsy. They found nothing in its intestines parasite wise. Cost me 45 bucks just for a microscope look at it, plus 6 months or more of frustration and wondering what this is and loosing guppies left and right. I was about to give up on the hobby. I will report back on this thread if they start showing signs of it again. My wife even said the fish at petsmart all had the same problem. Its like an outbreak or something that has been going around. I hope this helps some people at least attempt a cure.
