Pregnant Guppy at the bottom of the tank

[dgrushkinder]

Hi All,
I have been a silent observer here at Aquarium Advice for a while now and want to say thank you for all of the information that is posted here. It has been a great resource since starting my hobby 2 years ago.

I have a very pregnant female guppy. She has been pregnant for quite some time now (not exactly sure on length of time but longer than usual) and is currently sitting at the bottom of the tank. Her scales are portruding out only on her bottom side (I am fairly certain it is not dropsy as the portruding of scales would cover the fish). She has not eaten in the past two days and has been having stringy poo. I moved her from the 29gal to the breeding tank a week and a half ago. She is not lethargic; she just scoots along the bottom. Prior to the past two days she had been eating very well and moving around quite a bit. She is also larger than she has been with previous pregnancies (approximately the size of a robin's egg; not quite as much girth though).

Tank parameters Amonia-0, nitrites-0, nitrates-0, 78 degrees, pH of 7.6 I am using Jungle Quick Dip 5-in-1 Test Strips and have an ammonia detector mounted in the tank.

The tank is 10 gallons has been set up for 2 months.

The filter on the tank is a Penguin Bio-Wheel 100.

She is the only fish in the tank currently (and will be until I figure out what's up with her).

I vacuum the tank and do a partial water change (~25%) once a week on Mondays.

I, personally, have had her for 9 months. However, she came from my uncle's tank and he's not sure how long he has had her.

Nothing new or different has been added to the tank.

I have been feeding her Wardley tropical flakes supplimented with peas, squash, and other vegetables once weekly.

Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dez

 

[Devilishturtles]

Hey Dez, welcome to AA. Sounds like Momma may be having a bit of a hard time with the fry. The protruding scales is not good, I'm afraid. With the stringy feces, it could be internal parasites or something of the like...but my guess is that she is stressed from something dealing with the babies. My only suggestion would be to try adding epsom salts to the water, or perhaps aquarium salt and the dosage reccomended on the box. Sometimes, livebearers appreciate the addition of salt, especially if they were raised in it (which isn't usually the case, but still). Salts can also help draw some of the fluid out of the body that may or may not be building up with your guppy.