# Sick Guppies - Dropsy?



## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Okay, so I've posted off and on in a journal about a guppy tank upstairs. Go to the bold for the actual problem because first full backstory. First, there was a 1.5 tank with broken filter and rank water. I did a full change and got a new filter for it, but the single guppy still there jumped. We got another one and I soon upgraded the tank to a 10 gal one, added plants and the like, tried to teach the boy to feed the fish properly.

Mother fed the fish instead, and the fish got bloated badly. I fasted them and gave them smaller food portions. At this point there are four guppies, but one died yesterday. The pellets I got were too big apparently, so Sister tries to teach Boy to feed them properly with flakes (crush them up). At this point I'm so frustrated because Boy won't take care of fish and no one else but me cares, but I hate dragging my equipment up and down the stairs everyday. 

I go up, look at the fish. Decide that tonight we're going to feed them some peas and/or daphinia to clear them out. Two of the fish are bloated, one's not. Today Boy still refused to take care of tank, so we went out and got new supplies for them because Sister is bringing tank downstairs. It's her tank but I'm taking care of the water and cleanliness. 

When we're catching the guppies, I notice one has stringy stuff coming out of him and a bright red spot (this is a blue/white fish). I need to get a closer look at them, but I've red that white stringy poop, a red anus, and bloating are all symptoms of dropsy. I got some aquarium salt and a new heater (sadly nonadjustable).

*READ HERE:* 2 out of 3 male guppies have bloated stomachs and at least 1 looks like it has a reddened anus with something stringy coming out. I will try and look closer, but photos are impossible because they dart. I'll still try. Tank is being changed over so it will have a heater, is 10 gal, and no filter until I can order a sponge filter online. I'll be keeping up with the ammonia as I'm doing with my betta tank since I work from home. 

The tank will be heated, they will be fed, and I'll keep the water pristine with twice daily (min) water changes and gravel vac. I have aquarium salt to add into the tank. Is there anything else I can do? I can't set up a hospital tank because I have an endler fish in quarantine until he can be added to one of my main two tanks. So I don't have a choice about the guppies being altogether because I spent the last of my current money on getting some new supplies on these guys. 

What else can I do to try and help them? I'll go out and get medicine. I have some money coming my way again at the end of the week.

Sorry if this should've been in the betta fish care thread. I wasn't sure.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

IsaiahKey said:


> *READ HERE:* 2 out of 3 male guppies have bloated stomachs and at least 1 looks like it has a reddened anus with something stringy coming out. I will try and look closer, but photos are impossible because they dart.


That sounds like camallanus worms. Do some Googling on Google Images to see if that's what they have. Camallanus worms are seriously nasty, and quite difficult to get rid of. If they have them then they're in the entire tank, and all of the fish have them. By the time you can visually see them coming out of their butts, the infestation is pretty severe.

You need to be absolutely sure that camallanus is what they have before you begin treatment.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I pulled up some images of the worms and went and cupped both bloated fish to look at better.

Aubie didn't have anything floating from his anus and it didn't appear red. He is pretty bloated though and didn't like that he was cupped.

Suntail is in the attached picture. He had this long thing hanging out of his anus, kinda redder than I've seen pictures of guppy poop. Otherwise it looks like poop. He's not as bloated as Aubie is. Neither of them would hold still long enough to try and photo them without being a smear of color.

The third one, unnamed, was a lot calmer. I checked his anus just in case. No bloat, nothing coming out, no red. Kind of skinny actually, so I'm going to try and make sure he gets some food tonight when I feed them. 

I'm beginning to think I imagined the red anus because I'm actually very tired and worried about the fish. Aubie's fins on his bottom (anal fins? I need to learn fish parts better) are fairly clear, so I might've mistaken them as the white poop.

None of them are clamping or anything either, I should add. No pineconing.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

Just to clarify (making sure I don't misunderstand)... did you say there was white poop? If so, that's either an internal bacterial infection or internal parasites.

If I did not misunderstand and you did mean white poop.... Tetra makes these little fizz tabs called Parasite Guard. I've used them before and they work extremely well. You could try those and see if they help, or you could try Seachem ParaGuard. Just remember to remove the carbon from your filter before adding medication.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I did think there was white poop, but after I literally startled some out of the Suntail and looked at Aubie's fins, I think I mistook Aubie's fins for the poop (it wasn't well lit where we were). 

I got them in the new tank with sand instead of gravel, so I'll be keeping a close eye for more poop and figuring out what color it is. If it's white, I'll pick up some of those tablets or the seachem

Thank you Mousie!


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

So I got the guppies all settled into their new tank and tried to feed them some peas and daphnia in case they're constipated. The peas sank to the bottom so I fished them out, but they liked the daphnia. 

This morning I did a water change since there's no filter and I want their water to be clean. They were fine. I sprinkled some crushed flakes on top and have been half watching them from where I'm sitting and being miserable and sick.

Couple minutes ago I got up to see where they all where. The blue one that's not bloated and the bloated yellow guy have been swimming all over the place, but the blue and orange guy had stopped and is resting where I can't really see him (as I wrote this he moved to school with the other two for a moment then rested and I snapped a picture of him. Nothing's poking out of him).

Yellow guy has something poking out of him. Mind, the flakes I've been crushing for them have been primarily red/orange flakes, so this could be poop, but it's bright red and sort of just hanging out from him. It looks the same as what I scared out of him yesterday when he was in the cup too.

I might be paranoid, but I spent a good 20 minutes working to snap a good picture, so I wanted to show this and see if you think I'm being paranoid or if it legit might be worms. I'm bleach dipping my bucket and tools and rinsing them off with hot water (idk how hot but it steams out of the faucet!) to make sure I don't cross contaminate with Roanoke or Lopez, and my friend is bringing home a new bucket just for this tank.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

That looks like normal poo to me. Perhaps someone else can see something I don't, but to me it looks normal.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

If it's hanging there for a long time, he may be constipated. Peas and daphnia are good for that. All I can think of is keep an eye out on them and keep up with your water changes the same as you already are.


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## KathyR (Sep 14, 2013)

Yeah seems all normal to me. Make sure to do water changes more frequent when you think your fish might be sick. You also need to remember guppies are bred by the millions and there will be illness and fish dying off at all times.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Thank you all. I'm already doing two 50% water changes a day until I can get a proper filter - the one that came with wasn't any good for the tank. Should I up the water changes further? I work from home so I can afford to do one mid afternoon.

I plan on getting a sponge filter once I have some more funds come through.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

I think two a day are enough unless the ammonia reading is getting too high. It looks like you're doing the best there is with the situation!


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