Guppy Spasms :(

CollegeFishy · 11-02-2005, 10:30 AM

My new guppy is having some kind of twitchy seizure or something. He'll scoot around the tank, and then stop short, tense up, shimmy sideways and then keep going. What is he doing? Is he going to die? Will he take the others with him?

I've never had a tank on my own before, is treatment going to fit into a college budget? Help!

Georgia Peach · 11-02-2005, 11:19 AM

Im not sure what is going on there..hopefully someone will answer you soon!

Lexus · 11-02-2005, 12:04 PM

Sounds like Shimmy, which is an actual name for the problem. It is also known as livebearer disease. You can use Start Right with either Molly Bright or Shimmy Blocks. Typically they get this because there is a lack of electrites. I have never seen a fish come out of it though

**Cichlid Man** · 11-02-2005, 01:15 PM

Before we go on to try and help your problem, do you anything about CYCLING a tank, PH of your water, what the NITRATE, NITRITE, and AMMONIA levels are in your tank? You might need to research these things. If however all of these things are up to scratch, then there could be some harmful toxin in the water, or if nothing seems to be wrong with the water, then a small amount of salt will almost certainly stop the shimmering by killing off hidden parasites and maybe it will correct the balence of the fishes swimbladder if this is the problem.
Good luck.

**TheOldSalt** · 11-03-2005, 03:30 AM

Or maybe there's nothing wrong at all, since guppies can be spastic little buggers sometimes. Actually, by the description, it sounds rather a bit like he's doing his little mating dance. Are there any female fish in the tank which might have his attention?

Oh the other hand, he might have some problem. A full investigation is required to figure out if that's the case.

11-02-2005, 10:30 AM	#1
CollegeFishy Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Utah Age: 21 Posts: 2	Guppy Spasms :( My new guppy is having some kind of twitchy seizure or something. He'll scoot around the tank, and then stop short, tense up, shimmy sideways and then keep going. What is he doing? Is he going to die? Will he take the others with him? I've never had a tank on my own before, is treatment going to fit into a college budget? Help!

11-02-2005, 11:19 AM	#2
Georgia Peach Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gray, Georgia Age: 42 Posts: 1,610	Im not sure what is going on there..hopefully someone will answer you soon! __________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Cichlids have more personality than most people I know !*

11-02-2005, 12:04 PM	#3
Lexus Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Wisconsin Age: 22 Posts: 2,406	Sounds like Shimmy, which is an actual name for the problem. It is also known as livebearer disease. You can use Start Right with either Molly Bright or Shimmy Blocks. Typically they get this because there is a lack of electrites. I have never seen a fish come out of it though __________________ 55 Gallon 2 Blood Parrots 2 Angelfish 1 Fantail Goldfish 46 Gallon 1 Albino Bristlenose 2 Angelfish 4 African Dwarf Frogs 4 Black Skirt Tetras 5 Zebra Danios 8 Tiger Barbs 9 Neon Tetras 13 Assorted Corys 29 Gallon 8 Daffodil Cichlids & fry 1 Electric Blue Crayfish 10 Gallon 2 Snails

11-02-2005, 01:15 PM	#4
Cichlid Man Super moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2,100	Before we go on to try and help your problem, do you anything about CYCLING a tank, PH of your water, what the NITRATE, NITRITE, and AMMONIA levels are in your tank? You might need to research these things. If however all of these things are up to scratch, then there could be some harmful toxin in the water, or if nothing seems to be wrong with the water, then a small amount of salt will almost certainly stop the shimmering by killing off hidden parasites and maybe it will correct the balence of the fishes swimbladder if this is the problem. Good luck. __________________ If you have a big enough tank with enough hiding places, pH of around 7, you can keep virtually any fish together as long as all the fish are around the same size and these two groups of fish are avioded: Serrasalmus Tetradon(figure eights and dwarfs are the exception). I keep a successful community of fish in a 4 foot tank including the following families: Cichlids, tetras, loaches, gouramis, barbs, rainbows, livebearers, killiefish, catfish, puffers.

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11-03-2005, 03:30 AM	#5
TheOldSalt Darth Ichthyos Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,358	Or maybe there's nothing wrong at all, since guppies can be spastic little buggers sometimes. Actually, by the description, it sounds rather a bit like he's doing his little mating dance. Are there any female fish in the tank which might have his attention? Oh the other hand, he might have some problem. A full investigation is required to figure out if that's the case.

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