help needed for a weird female guppy

[janesc2003]

Hi, there:

I'm new here and don't have much experience keeping guppies. However one female of mine seems to be paralized. At first she lost her balance but tried to swim around. Then she might be exhausted after struggling for about a week. For now she's unable to move her tail and barely keeps floating herself up like an arc. Since she could not swim much, she eats very little. But as far as I can see she's still fighting to stay alive. There's no visible weird spot on her body and everything should be fine with the whole tank as other guppies are pretty healthy and happy. Does anyone here happen to know what is wrong and how I can help her? Thanks in advance.

Jane

[Morainy]

Hi Jane,

I don't know much about fish diseases or guppies, but it sounds as though her problem may have started with her swim bladder. (I'm guessing that because of her loss of balance) There can be a number of causes for that, from bacteria or parasites to water quality. However, the other fish don't seem to be getting sick, so maybe it's just something congenital. (How can you tell I"m not a fish doctor...)

The first thing that I'd recommend is to make sure that the water quality in the tank for all the fish is very good. Do a partial water change, removing the chlorine with water conditioner, of course. Guppies seem to appreciate water that's a little harder, so maybe adding some Seachem Equilibrium (or something similar) would help, or even a little aquarium salt.

I hope your fish recovers. Right now, though, I think a key thing is to protect your other fish. If you're going to keep the guppy in the same tank with the other fish while she (hopefully) recovers, then keep a close eye on her. If any signs of a bacterial or fungal infection show up (red streaks, rotting fins, white fluff), remove her to another tank immediately and do another partial water change in the main tank. Hopefully she will recover, but if she dies then take her out of the water immediately so that the other fish don't eat her.

How long have you had this tank and the guppies? If it's a fairly new setup (say, a month) then the problem might just be that the tank hasn't cycled and you've got an ammonia spike. Water changes will help with that, as well as not adding any new fish for awhile.

Good luck!

By the way, this post probably belongs in the hospital section. Maybe someone will move it there? You'll probably get better advice from experienced fish medics in the hospital...