I had four guppies, purchased as two pair from store A, two pair from store B. A week ago one of them from store B turned grey from about his midsection back, and his tail shriveled up, and he was having terrible problems swimming. I had no clue what it was, but I didn't want it spreading and I didn't have time to deal with it, so regretfully I fished him out and flushed him. He had been fine until that day.
A few days ago, I came home from work and found the other guppy from store B laying on the bottom of the tank on his side, dying, but nothing visually wrong with him. I fished him out and put him in a bowl with some tank water and an airstone, but he died almost immediately. He had also been fine that morning before I left for work.
The next day - thursday or so - another of my guppies was exhibiting difficulty swimming. He was getting around, but his tail was always a bit low and he seemed to be working overly hard at swimming. Last night he started spending occasional small amounts of time laying on the bottom of the tank, upright, but then he'd get up again and swim around. Today, he's spending almost all of his time laying on the bottom of the tank, but also still always upright, never on his side. The other guppy pesters him now and then but most of the time he doesn't get up. Occasionally he swims to a different spot and lays down again, and when I gave them their morning feeding he did swim up and eat. There's nothing visually wrong with him other than the swimming problems. No redness around the gills.
It's a new-ish tank, I've had the guppies about a month, but my water tests fine for everything. Zero ammonia, it's cycling well, so that's not the problem. Water is 80 degrees. Very well oxygenated. pH is 7.0. It's all stable. My other fish (the other guppy, one tetra, one tiny catfish) are thriving.
I'm thinking swim bladder disease, contracted from one of the obviously unhealthy guppies from store B. Opinions? :help: I'm going out at 6:30pm to get something to treat the problem.
A few days ago, I came home from work and found the other guppy from store B laying on the bottom of the tank on his side, dying, but nothing visually wrong with him. I fished him out and put him in a bowl with some tank water and an airstone, but he died almost immediately. He had also been fine that morning before I left for work.
The next day - thursday or so - another of my guppies was exhibiting difficulty swimming. He was getting around, but his tail was always a bit low and he seemed to be working overly hard at swimming. Last night he started spending occasional small amounts of time laying on the bottom of the tank, upright, but then he'd get up again and swim around. Today, he's spending almost all of his time laying on the bottom of the tank, but also still always upright, never on his side. The other guppy pesters him now and then but most of the time he doesn't get up. Occasionally he swims to a different spot and lays down again, and when I gave them their morning feeding he did swim up and eat. There's nothing visually wrong with him other than the swimming problems. No redness around the gills.
It's a new-ish tank, I've had the guppies about a month, but my water tests fine for everything. Zero ammonia, it's cycling well, so that's not the problem. Water is 80 degrees. Very well oxygenated. pH is 7.0. It's all stable. My other fish (the other guppy, one tetra, one tiny catfish) are thriving.
I'm thinking swim bladder disease, contracted from one of the obviously unhealthy guppies from store B. Opinions? :help: I'm going out at 6:30pm to get something to treat the problem.
I think it would be unlikely the fish could swim up to eat, then down again with an impaired swim bladder. That said, it's possibly bacterial in nature but hard to determine with certainty.