Help my female guppy

[username321]

Well, one of my female guppy gave birth about three days ago. Before giving birth she used to be the most active of the females that I have and would always be seen swimming around. However, now she seems to be very lethargic and retracts herself from the rest of the crowd. Most of the time (95%), she is seen sitting at the bottom of the tank. (when she first started doing this she would atleast hover about the gravel using her fins to stay afloat, now she simply sits at the bottom) Also, she look very very thin now and her tail is not as rounded as it was before. (its more of a oval shape now). Also my tank seems to have been infected with a parasite so i'm treating it with copper safe. I also gave her a salt bath to relieve her of any parasites that might be on her. That does not seem to help her either. My water stats checks out fine with ammonia and nitrite being 0 and nitrate being 20. Thanks in advance for those helping me and my fish. smile.gif

P.S: At first I thought she was simply tired after giving birth, but after three days that seems to be out of the question. (she only gave birth to abt 6 or so fry). Also at times, I can see her not moving her mouth for a while and then she would start gasping and taking heavy breaths while moving her body, but she still remains stationary. I also think that she has fully given birth to all her fry... thx

[kamanut]

if she only gave birth to 6, she could be really old and slowly dying...sorry.

also, the birth process is very stressful for livebearers--they will die sometimes from just giving birth. I would just watch and wait...keep treating for the parasites (make sure that's what you have) and best of luck!

[username321]

thanks for the reply. these fish were only bought about two weeks ago so i assumed they were pretty young. (maybe i got a old female). She is still alive but still staying pretty motionless occasionally coming to the top for food. But she doesnt seem to have the energy and the strength to compete with the others in the tank. So I took my biggest net (8") placed the female in there and hung it on the top of the tank. This way I am able to feed her and prevent harassing from any other fish. Any other suggestions or clarifications as to why she is doing this or what I can do will be very helpful. THanks.

[kamanut]

she could be really young too--usually if they have such a small batch, they're either old or young...but yours sounds old, or sick.

my guppies have never had a problem birthing, but I know that it is tough on them, and something might have happened during the birthing process. If she doesn't have anything physically wrong with her (parasites, fungus, etc.), I would just wait and see how she does. Make sure she's in clean, well filtered/aerated water. Does she have clamped fins or any other "sick fish" signs? Is she eating normally?

[username321]

Originally Posted by kamanut

she could be really young too--usually if they have such a small batch, they're either old or young...but yours sounds old, or sick.

my guppies have never had a problem birthing, but I know that it is tough on them, and something might have happened during the birthing process. If she doesn't have anything physically wrong with her (parasites, fungus, etc.), I would just wait and see how she does. Make sure she's in clean, well filtered/aerated water. Does she have clamped fins or any other "sick fish" signs? Is she eating normally?

thanks again for your prompt reply. She did have clamped fins about a day or two after she gave birth and before I started the tank on copper safe as all the fish were flicking. Now the flicking has stopped by all the fishes and she was also given two salt baths to get rid of any parasites that might have been on her. Since then, her fins are normal again (i.e her dorsal is fully arched back and her anal fins are spread out. however her tail is still not as rounded as the other females; it still has a oval shape to it)

She started eating immediately after i isolated her but sometimes she would take a bite and then spit it back out too.

On a positive note, i was able to save one of her fry today.

[kamanut]

I'm not sure what you mean by oval tail fin--don't they usually stay the same shape, whether the fish is pregnant or not?

If she's eating, that's a good sign. Are you crumbling it up small enough, so that she doesn't need to keep spitting it out to get a small enough piece?

It sounds like you're doing everything you can. Good luck!

I gave away over 100 baby guppies yesterday...lol!

[username321]

Though she spits it back, when i check back again in 5 or 10 minutes, its all gone and i do crumble food up so she can eat it.

Regarding the tail fin, irregardless of whether they are pregnant or not, it is usually rounded in all of my females including this one. However now its tail fin is now not as rounded as it used to be before.

Wow that's a lot of fry. Were they all from a single female?

[kamanut]

Hmmm..well I'd just keep an eye on her for now.

Yes, those fry were all from the same female, but they were 3 batches. I probably had around 120 or so.

[username321]

Thanks for the reply again. I managed to take a pic of the female today. Her tail is now back to the full circular size. However, her body seems to be bent in the center of her spine with the head portion being lower than the tail. Also when I feed the main tank she is not interested in eating anymore. So I'm netting (8" net) the female and raising the net slightly above the water line so it forms sort of like a breeding net and then I feed her. Still she only cares to take a bit or two. Now she either is at the top of the tank acting in a sluggish manner or goes down to sit at the bottom. The tank is well oxygenated too with five airstones running and the water line recessed to increase surface agitation.

the female is on the far left.

[kamanut]

Wow you have 5 airstones?! why so many?

Also, what is your tank size? What are your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings?

Like I said before, the most likely bet is that something happened during the birthing process. Have you done a water change since then? You might want to, if you haven't, to see if that perks her up a bit.

[username321]

the entire tank was treated with copper safe (the fishes have stopped flicking ) so that's why i had five airstones running. The tank is a 46g tank with 9 fishes. ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrate is a little less than 20.

i am a bit hessitant to do a water change as my tap water contains ammonia at around.75ppm even after being treated with Prime.

[oliesminis]

Originally Posted by username321

i am a bit hessitant to do a water change as my tap water contains ammonia at around.75ppm even after being treated with Prime.

only do like 10-15% at a time and the good bacteria in your water / filter / gravel will help nutralise it.

[kamanut]

good idea, oliesminis. Yes, you definitely need to do water changes...see if that helps any. Remember to keep them small though.

[username321]

ok thanks guys. i'll do the water changes as you guys said. Also do i need to treat the new water with copper safe or shall i gradually start to reduce the concentration of copper in the tank by replacing the tank water with water not treated with copper safe. BTW, I started treatment about 3 days ago. Also are her fins showing any signs of stress ATM.

[kamanut]

She doesn't look stressed to me...but she doesn't look entirely happy either. I think she's a little bothered by the birth, but hopefully she'll rebound in a few days.

What do the instructions on your copper safe say? Do you have any more symptoms of parasites?

[username321]

the copper safe medication simply says that the treatment is effective up to 30 days and to add medications to restore it when doing water changes. I didnt see any external signs of parasite. However the fishes started flicking themselves against rocks and plants and such. So I started them on a course of copper safe and now the flicking has completely stopped now.

Also my lfs told me that since I also see some white poop that its suffering from an internal bacterial infection also. So i've added some pimafix into the tank as well. I'm thinking of doing multiple water changes this weekend to remove most of the medication in the tank .

[kamanut]

Ok, sounds like a plan. I'm guessing your fish got their problems (bacteria/parasites) from bad water quality...so make sure you do water changes every week or so. It should make a difference.

[username321]

Thanks for all your help! The fishes sure have gone through a lot of stress in the recent week with all these transfers. Thanks once again!

[username321]

Well, the female guppy died today while I was treating her. Nonetheless thanks for all your help and I hope her young one makes it into adulthood.

[kamanut]

I'm sorry to hear that--she could have done something to herself internally that none of us saw (from the birthing). Best of luck with the young ones!