What did my guppy die of!!!

[Pisces68]

OMG!!! What the hell killed my guppy??!! My young 4 month old guppy started bulging & I thought she was pregnant as my other adults are, but she didn’t appear to have a darkened gravid spot. Then over about 3-4 days I noticed her scales started to appear rough with a white furry look. After 24 hours of just sitting there & hardly eating I took her out of the main tank & medicated her new tank with 50% water change in both tanks. I then took the first photo of her, she didn’t look so bad side on! Within 6 hours she was on her side, & dead 6 hours after that!! Her body looks disgusting!, like she exploded inside!!!! What happened to her?? Is it contagious, my other fish look perfectly healthy & my tank water quality is very good - I do frequent testing & 25% water changes every 5 days & partial rotating gravel vacs. I use API Stess Coat & Stress Zyme have plants, a carbon filter & air rock. What killed her???

 

[elizae]

I cannot tell you what she died of but that pineconing indicates that her kidneys stopped working properly. She has dropsy which isn’t a disease itself, but instead a deadly symptom. It is almost impossible to save a fish after it develops dropsy. How big is the tank, what kind and how many fish, and do you know the tank parameters before her death/ can you test to see what they are now?

 

[Pisces68]

I cannot tell you what she died of but that pineconing indicates that her kidneys stopped working properly. She has dropsy which isn’t a disease itself, but instead a deadly symptom. It is almost impossible to save a fish after it develops dropsy. How big is the tank, what kind and how many fish, and do you know the tank parameters before her death/ can you test to see what they are now?

It’s a 50 litre tank with 2 Mollies 3 Guppies 1 Sucking Catfish. I was overstocked with 18 fish but now have 3 tanks. Ph is 7, No Nitrates, Low Nitrites 10 - 20. No Ammonia. 25% Water change done 18 hours ago. Water temp 26 Celsius. Feed flakes/bloodworms twice daily enough for them to eat in about 2 mins, Catfish has chips.

 

[elizae]

I hope you just switched up nitrites and nitrates because having a nitrite reading is very bad. Is suckermouth catfish a pleco?

From what I understand mollies and Plecos need a minimum of 20 gallons. If it is a common pleco he will need a new home! If it is not a bristlenose or a common pleco and is a clown pleco or something small, then he will be ok.

As stress zyme is mainly for cycled tanks, I do not see why you would need to add it. Stress coat is ok because it conditions water but I highly recommend prime but what you have works.
Moving her would have stressed her out but since she had already declined rapidly I’m not sure there’s much else you could have done

Do you know how long she had been dead for? The swelling comes from water build up inside of the fish. Were there any other symptoms prior?

I can only offer fish TB but I do not believe that it is the cause. Healthy fish do not suddenly come down with dropsy. Please keep a very close eye on the rest of your aquarium because you see how fast this can go wrong. It is either a parasite, bacterial infection, or an underlying disease. Unless the other fish show signs of distress I do not think I could give you a guaranteed cause of death, besides organ failure.