Hi. I now have 4 guppies (2 male, 2 female), 4 platies (3 male, 1 female) and 1 chinese marble algae eater in my 20 gal tank. It has lots of plants and decorations. Everything was going along so well and lately I noticed my 2 female guppies hiding lots. I wasn't sure why but now I notice their fins are getting chewed up. I can't imagine who is doing it. When I had just guppies before I never had that problem. And the platies were supposed to be peaceful. I figured algae eaters were peaceful. The female guppies are quite small yet, maybe an inch long at the most so they are smaller compared to the platies. Any ideas?
Guppies getting eaten!
- Thread starter AJ
- Start date
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Capt.Gorilla
Aquarium Advice Freak
It may not acctually be agression, ammonia can cause fishy fins to frey.
If you posted you water parameters you could probably eliminate some possible causes.
If your sure they are getting bitten try to keep an eye on the tank and find the culprit then isolate them before they do more damage.
If you posted you water parameters you could probably eliminate some possible causes.
If your sure they are getting bitten try to keep an eye on the tank and find the culprit then isolate them before they do more damage.
My ammonia is undetectable, as are nitrates and nitrites. pH is 8 and kH is 5 or 6 I believe (I tested yesterday, can't remember).
I lost one of the females this afternoon and the other doesn't look good.
I am not convinced they are being eaten. What does fin-and-tail rot look like?
I lost one of the females this afternoon and the other doesn't look good.
I am not convinced they are being eaten. What does fin-and-tail rot look like?
Could be disease, could be aggression.
Finrot looks like frayed ends to the fins, often but not always with a white edge.You can see some pics of some more severe cases here: http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Finrot
It may be the chinese algae eater. Nasty lil buggers, especially as they get older. They stop eating algae, and have been known to be aggressive towards other fish in the tank. How old/big is it?
Finrot looks like frayed ends to the fins, often but not always with a white edge.You can see some pics of some more severe cases here: http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Finrot
It may be the chinese algae eater. Nasty lil buggers, especially as they get older. They stop eating algae, and have been known to be aggressive towards other fish in the tank. How old/big is it?
Hi, yeah I think it's finrot. I looked closely at my algae eater and his dorsal fin looks shredded along the top edge. My lone female platy is obviously not feeling well and is keeping her fins clamped down and one of my male guppies maybe has a little on the edge of his tail fin but he is acting normal.
I just don't know why! My ammonia really is fine. And if the algae eater has it too I don't know why he has it.
I am having such bad luck with this aquarium business.
However, I got some antibiotics, it is apparently a bacterial infection, and so hopefully that stops it in its tracks.
My last female guppy died, I found her under a log decoration. She had absolutely NO tailfin left. Her other fins were almost gone, except for pectorals.
And I see another white thread-thing hanging out the butt of one of my platys.
I give up.
I just don't know why! My ammonia really is fine. And if the algae eater has it too I don't know why he has it.
I am having such bad luck with this aquarium business.
However, I got some antibiotics, it is apparently a bacterial infection, and so hopefully that stops it in its tracks.
My last female guppy died, I found her under a log decoration. She had absolutely NO tailfin left. Her other fins were almost gone, except for pectorals.
And I see another white thread-thing hanging out the butt of one of my platys.
I give up.
LondonGman
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hang in there dude.
Throw in the recommended dose of antibiotics. This would probably affect the biological filter in your tank so you will probably have to do daily 10% regular water changes to keep the waste levels from rising too high. Hopefully the rest of your fishes will recover.
I, like almost everyone here, have lost a lot of fishes, especially in the beginning, but it is worth it when they are looking cool and all you have to do put a pinch of flakes in the tank and the occasional water change.
here are a few kudo to feel better.
Throw in the recommended dose of antibiotics. This would probably affect the biological filter in your tank so you will probably have to do daily 10% regular water changes to keep the waste levels from rising too high. Hopefully the rest of your fishes will recover.
I, like almost everyone here, have lost a lot of fishes, especially in the beginning, but it is worth it when they are looking cool and all you have to do put a pinch of flakes in the tank and the occasional water change.
here are a few kudo to feel better.
myriam
Aquarium Advice FINatic
AJ, I am a little worried about the male:female ratio of your livebearers. From my research the recommended ratio is 3 females:1 male. Is it possible the males, with not enough females to bother, are taking out their aggression/frustration on the smaller fish or on each other?
And yes, LondonGman is right, we've all lost fish and it's a major bummer, but it does all eventually start to gel and you'll soon enough have a great community of fun fishies to take care of.
Hang in there. HTH.
And yes, LondonGman is right, we've all lost fish and it's a major bummer, but it does all eventually start to gel and you'll soon enough have a great community of fun fishies to take care of.
Hang in there. HTH.
You are having bad luck atm AJ; we all have LOL its part n parcel of the learning curve. Thing is, you ARE doing your research and asking questions. While things are a mess right now, I'll bet it doesn't ever get this bad again, cause now you know.
As for the...erm...butt hanging stuff. Is it poo? Or something else? Whats it look like besides color (yep...I'm asking about fish poo. My mom would be so proud LOL)?
As for the...erm...butt hanging stuff. Is it poo? Or something else? Whats it look like besides color (yep...I'm asking about fish poo. My mom would be so proud LOL)?
Well this morning my lone female platy seems to be surviving. That's a good point about the male:female ratio Myriam. I hadn't considered that. Whether or not she lives I don't know, she's lost alot of fin at this point, but she's getting around the tank instead of flopping along the gravel at least. I've spent alot of time watching the tank yesterday and saw no aggression from anyone so I don't know the culprit if there is one.
The hanging thing was white - remember I had those worms before? It looked thinner. Anyways I caught the fish in the net and tried to grab a hold of it but couldn't find it against the white net so I let the fish go and it was gone. So then later I saw a different male with it (these two look pretty similar) and so I figured I had the wrong fish before. So I caught him in the net after a very LONG chase around the tank and several cuss words, and same thing, it was gone too. I don't know. None of these fish look sick. Before when I had the worms the fish looked VERY sick by the time the worms hung out. And I treated the tank for that.
I don't know - can poo be white? I don't understand. I see no white hanging things this morning.
AJ
The hanging thing was white - remember I had those worms before? It looked thinner. Anyways I caught the fish in the net and tried to grab a hold of it but couldn't find it against the white net so I let the fish go and it was gone. So then later I saw a different male with it (these two look pretty similar) and so I figured I had the wrong fish before. So I caught him in the net after a very LONG chase around the tank and several cuss words, and same thing, it was gone too. I don't know. None of these fish look sick. Before when I had the worms the fish looked VERY sick by the time the worms hung out. And I treated the tank for that.
I don't know - can poo be white? I don't understand. I see no white hanging things this morning.
AJ
myriam
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Man, AJ, I feel for you. I had a platy that didn't make it through a bout of ich, and the worst thing is watching a fish sort of "hobble" around the tank and just look like it's about to take its last gulp. You don't know if you should put it out of its misery or keep trying to save it.
BettaLisa
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
A while ago, several of my fantail goldfish also had those white wormy things sticking out of them. It looked like a little bone protruding out of their skin-- at first I thought that's what it was, then when others in the tank got it, I figured it was some sort of parasite. I went to several books and websites, but it didn't match any of the photos I saw, so I decided to take a chance & just pull them off by hand. The weird thing was, when I caught them in the net, they would appear to be gone, but I discovered that they weren't really. It is very hard to see those things out of the water, but I bet they are still there. If it is the same thing I had, you should be able to pull it out with tweezers. I pulled them out & then medicated w/an anti-parasite medication & the fish all recovered.
guppylove
Aquarium Advice Regular
may be you need to feed them more.......lol 
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