guppies....fry keep dying, what should i do?

Question

I have been breeding guppies since about february, about 6 months now. Sometimes my fry (baby fish) are healthy and live to be beautiful adults, but sometimes they die. And the weird thing is, I always know when they are going to die because their tails kind of disintegrate, they dissapear, they go away... Its so weird. Usually, you know how fish tails are supposed to go out in a fan shape? well these fish's tails just go away, the tails just get thinner and thinner until they are really pointy and look like snake tails. So i call them "snake tail" fry. Whenever a fry has a snake tail, i know that it is always doomed to death because i have NEVER seen a snake tail fry live. Ever. They always die within a week or so, sometimes less.

I used to think that their snake tails were genetic, but it wasn't until recenetly that I began to think otherwise. I've noticed that usually the fry are born with normal tails, and when they are about 1-2 weeks old, (cont.)...............

they develope snake tails. I have 3 female moms, and i have noticed that all females can produce snake tail fry or non snake tail fry, so i think it has nothing to do with genetics, as i said before. But I did notice that usually when one fry starts developing a snake tail, all the other fry in the breeding trap that i keep them in develope snake tails as well. Do you think it could be an illness, or parasite that is literally eating their tails off and killing them? It seems like all the other fry "catch" whatever they have... has anyone else heard of this snake tail thing im describing? What should i do to fix it?

Answer 1

I've really never heard of this at all. Where do you buy your fish from? Maybe someone who works there will know what is causing this to happen. It does sound like it could be some kind of fungus, bacteria or parasite, but it's strange that it's only affecting the baby's, unless maybe it's something the adults can fight off but the baby's can't.
This might offer an explanation: http://guppyplace.tripod.com/Ailments.html

Here's a site where you can ask questions:
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/mb/mb114.html

This one refers to something called needle-tail, this kind of sounds like your problem, click the tab that says diseases:
http://www.guppy-world.com/

Answer 2

OK begin with the basics, Water chemistry. Check everything from PH to alkalinity. If you do not have a kit take a sample to your pet store. Most test for free. Next you should do a partial water change. Then if no help Treat with a broad spectrum desease treatment for ROT or ICK. If No success I would Dismantle and scrub everything with salt, rinse good, try again.

Answer 3

NEVER DISMANTLE YOUR TANK
Try treating with melafix and stress coat (both found at local petstore)
to be safe have water tested

Answer 4

get a $2.50 breeding net

Answer 5

throw the dead ones out..