Beat-up male guppy

[figliaperduta]

My male guppy, whom I have had since Friday, has suddenly gotten beaten up by the three swordtails who share his tank. Up until today, they've been fine, even this afternoon he was okay, but I came back from a late afternoon appointment and his fins were ragged and he was hiding in the driftwood.

I've relocated both him and the female guppy to the hospital tank, where he seems to be doing a little bit better. The two sets of livebearers were going to end up in seperate tanks eventually, but I guess this moves up the time schedule a little bit--I'll be acquiring the guppies' 10-gallon tank tomorrow instead of Thursday. The 'hospital tank' is a little 1/2-gallon filtered tank that was designed for a betta--he's been moved to a 2.5-gallon tank.

As I said, the guppies seem to be doing better--they're not hiding in the single plant in the 1/2-gallon, and they're not pickingg on each other. However, is there anything I can do to help the male's fins heal? They're mainly torn, with one chunk missing.

I feel like a bad mommy because this happened.

 

[An t-iasg]

Awww...don't blame yourself! Guppies and swordtails are generally considered compatible, but fish don't always read the compatibility charts! The best thing to do if you see a mis-match is to separate the fish and prepare a new tank, as you've done.

In the hospital tank, you can try Melafix. It is a "natural" antibiotic and works well for torn fins. If the fins don't heal or become worse, try an antibiotic like Maracyn 1 or 2.

 

[Zagz]

I'd have to agree, melafix is a great healer for fins. You aren't a bad mommy, sometimes fish get along, sometimes they don't. You are a good mommy because you separated them.

 

[figliaperduta]

He's started swimming kind of oddly today, and then resting on the bottom for long periods of time. He'll just hang vertical at the bottom of the tank, tail resting on the bottom, head up. I hope he hasn't got a concussion or something like that...

 

[sudz]

Check Levels of ammonia in your hospital tank,
also, did you use tap water with dechlorinator? or tank water?

1 day seems awefully quick for ammonia to build up. What about temperature. Guppies aren't really a coldwater fish, though some will debate it.

 

[figliaperduta]

Ammonia is fine (0 ppm) as I keep the filter media for the hospital tank in the big tank when it's not being used for cycling purposes, dechlorinator/dechloraminator (Seachem's Prime) was used. Temp is a bit low (72).

However, I don't think it's a water problem--the female guppy in the same tank is absolutely fine. Only the male is having problems.

7:30 PM
He's now breathing really hard, lying at the bottom of the tank on his side. I've put a banana plant in there, to try and boost the oxygenation of the water. He'll be moving to a 10-gallon (his permanent tank) with the female tomorrow--hopefully he'll show some signs of improvement once he gets in there with better filtration and a heater.

I wish I had some Stress Coat, or something like that.

 

[Zagz]

Stress coat won't help IMO. Clean water and melafix is the best thing. For extra oxygen, lower the water level a bit to allow some splash from the filter. Good luck.

 

[figliaperduta]

He didn't make it--he died around 10 last night.

Thank you for your advice, though. I'm sure it will come in handy in the future.

 

[An t-iasg]

Sorry to hear about the guppy

 

[Zagz]

So sorry to hear that. You did the best you could.