My guppy looks funny...

[hisc1ay]

I have a male guppy that is very beautiful, but he looks funny. From the back of his dorsal fin, it's like his body juts down. It's a very hard angle. Another one I have, I'm assuming his brother since my cousin gave me both of them and they're relatively the same size, has a smiliar problem, but he is more straight. The ladies look fine, and so does the other male that I bought last week (who is probably the coolest one I've seen ever). Has anyone had a similar problem? I know it's hard without a picture, but I will get one shortly. I'm going to borrow my dad's digicam and take one. I should have a pic by Saturday.

His tail was attacked by my danio, so it's in half now, but his body looked like that before anyway.

-j

 

[targaboy78]

I am by no means an expert on this, but I was reading "The New Aquarium Handbook" by Ines Scheaurmann

There is a section about bacterial and viral diseases and in there it refers to tuberculosis (TB).

Fish tuberculosis is the most common of all bacterial fish diseases. This form of TB is not infectious to people. Almost 80 percent of all aquarium fish carry latent TB infections. They are difficult to recognize because the symptoms vary from fish to fish. Also, parasites take hold of the weakened fish quickly and conceal the underlying cause. Poor filtration combined with overcrowding is a sure path to TB. Typical symptoms are weight loss, boddy ulcers, gill and fin deterioration, and even spinal and jaw deformation. Although TB cannot be cured, many fish recover from the over symptoms when the general environment is improved.

Maybe something to check into?

BUT please remember, this is only something I read and your post reminded me of it.

I hope this helps.

 

[reefrunner69]

Fish tuberculosis is the most common of all bacterial fish diseases. This form of TB is not infectious to people. Almost 80 percent of all aquarium fish carry latent TB infections. They are difficult to recognize because the symptoms vary from fish to fish. Also, parasites take hold of the weakened fish quickly and conceal the underlying cause. Poor filtration combined with overcrowding is a sure path to TB. Typical symptoms are weight loss, boddy ulcers, gill and fin deterioration, and even spinal and jaw deformation. Although TB cannot be cured, many fish recover from the over symptoms when the general environment is improved.

The above quoted text is wrong. I am not flaming the poster, I appreciate that this was printed in written form, it is just wrong. Aquatic TB is very uncommon in Aquarium fish. Aquatic TB is contagious to humans.

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

reefrunner is right...

 

[hisc1ay]

interesting....

-j

 

[targaboy78]

I stand corrected.

Hey reefrunner69, NO offense taken, I assure you.

hisc1ay, I'm relatively new to this hobby and I am constantly reading articles and books, then regurgitating the parts that seem applicable. So before you jump to any conclusions... I am not diagnosing your guppies... Just bringing your attention to this information.

I did a search on GOOGLE for "fish tuberculosis" and found tons of information, however the following 2 seemed helpful.

http://www.pvas.com/articles/keefer-tuberculosis.htm

http://aquaria.port5.com/diseases.htm

This quote is from the second link...

Fish Tuberculosis causes a fish to become bloated. Unlike Ascites which also causes bloating, this disease deforms the spine. Warning! Is known to infect humans through contact with infected fish.

 

[jasonit]

I haven't kept guppies in a long while, but I do seem to remember that as they age, they tend to get a bit "hump backed". I am pretty sure it is a normal affect of age, not a disease.

 

[hisc1ay]

jasonit, that would be a more preferrable answer...if he wasn't a youngster. But I think he's less than a few months old. Maybe 4 or so. I should look into this problem to make sure it's not TB.

-j

 

[targaboy78]

hisc1ay,
"Better safe than sorry" is the way that I would play it. I would treat it as a worse-case-scenario....

PS. I am REALLY, REALLY sorry if I created a little bit of hysteria but like I said previously,

I am constantly reading articles and books, then regurgitating the parts that seem applicable.

Remember to wear gloves. (just in case) Good luck and hopefully, we are just overreacting and things work out for the best.

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

if i remember correctly , guppies don't live but a couple of years at best...i have a female, who is less than a year old that has developed a hump, but she's not sick and she's been this way for awhile....seems to only affect the fancies in my case, don't remember a feeder guppy ever doing that....

 

[hisc1ay]

In doing some research, it seems like if this was a big problem, there would be other issues as well, such as some type of fungus. I called my cousin, and he said none of the other fish he has have that problem, but I'm going to see if he gets over it. I will be keeping watch on him though to check for anything else.

Thanks for all your help!

That being said, one of my girls has a bright red area on the tip of her tail that looks suspicious...

-j

 

[hisc1ay]

News for Saturday...

He doesn't seem to be swimming well. It seems like a great feat for him to swim even a little, so he's been kinda chillin on the bottom. I wonder if it's because his tail is half gone (From my danio I'm assiming since he enjoyed to chase the smaller ones), or if he's actually really sick. I'll keep coming back with updates if for nothing else to give someone something to compare their experience to if they have something like this in the future.

-j

 

[hisc1ay]

Ok, now I'm just confused. He hardly moved all day. Just hung out on the bottom. I just fed them..instantly he seems fine (before eating) and has no problem swinning at the top getting some food. What gives?

-j

 

[SleeplessLwd]

Tuberculosis:
The bacteria which causes fish TB is known as Mycobacteria marinum. fish TB is not very contagious, and as a result, if symptoms are noticed early, it will not have an effect on the other fish in the aquarium. Symptoms include the following: loss of appetite, fish remains in seclusion and out of site, rapid breathing (respiration), eyes appear to be cloudy or "popping out", fish lies on its side near bottom of aquarium, stomach of fish appears to be sunken, white blotches on exterior, degraded and frayed fins. The fish can last for weeks with these symptoms, often allowing for detection and treatment before permanent effects are caused. Move the fish into a quarantine tank.

 

[hisc1ay]

Ok, so now i have two. The male who is quarantined, and now a female. The one with the red spots. The spots left within 2 days, but I noticed last night her tail looked like a > instead of C, and this morning it looks worse. I also found her laying on the bottom seeming to breathe rapidly. I moved her to a small tank with the other one. They don't have a problem swimming, but they don't like to swim. What do I have to get to treat this? Neither of them lay on their side, but they lay. They don't have a sunken in stomach, but the male at least (I didn't pay attention to the female yet) enjoys being fed. Her eyes look bigger than the rest of them, and they both have messed up finnage now.

I had a male die yesterday, but I didn't notice anything wrong with him at all, and I've been checking them all every day. There are three left in the main tank, none of which appear to have problems. I would like to treat this before all of my kids die. What do y'all say?

-j

 

[SleeplessLwd]

If you think it's Fish TB here's a site that tells of a successful treatment. I hope you can help them. Good Luck!
Fish Medications

 

[SleeplessLwd]

Sorry I pasted the wrong thing. If you copy an paste this it will open to a site where someone talks of successin treating Fish TB.

http://www.thekrib.com/Diseases/fish-tb.html#0

 

[hisc1ay]

Cool, thanks.

I checked them just now, and the male is now laying on his side. His fins look like crap. The female's tail is smaller now that it was this morning. I'm amazed at how fast that happens. I just hope I can get to the rest before it's too late for them.

-j

 

[hisc1ay]

Ok, he died. He looked terrible. His fins were almost gone, his body, which once was black ended up white in the front and dark blue in the back, looked shriveled. Her fins are almost gone (but she swims SO much faster now... ). I am going to get some antibiotic food tomorrow as the pet store has closed, and hopefully I can save her and nip the other 3 in the bud.

Oh, and if I haven't yet, I want to thank you all for your help. It's definitely been a learning experience.

-j

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

how's your water chemistry? do a search for columnaris, or aka saddleback disease...i had a round of that with guppies and it was horrendous, i finally had all of them, a fullllll tank of them die despite multiple unsuccessful treatments....but they do get an area that looks like it is very pale, not necessarily white, and they do start having trouble swimming but they would still come up to eat for the first few days until they just couldn't anymore...mine had the saddleback manifestation, but it doesn't have to be that form....