Half eatten guppy...help!!!?

Question

I have a mating pair in my tank so I have about 9 guppies I think they are playts er something. I also have an african dwarf frog that I have seen nipping at the fish and I believe one of the guppies got too close. It has no tail!! I found it will some mucus like stuff around the "tail" (or where it is supposed to be) It looks at if their is still bone there. This sounds like a case where I couldn't do anything and it will die shortly, but this little fighter has lived pasted two nights with basicly no rear end!! How can I help it survive because personally if it is fighting to live I am going to fight for it to live too. There is one problem....can it poop? because if not then IT MAY DIE!!! help!

if I flush it it will die a worse death.
can I add anything to the water?
could it possibly not have been biten?
any diseases? anything I could add to the water?

on the matter of fin rot...
it seemed as though it happened over night. I feed the fish every morning and check out everything before leaving. how fast does fin rot happen?

if i were to end it's agony..
how do i go about this?

Answer 1

Either your fish was badly damaged by a tank mate or it has a serious case of fin rot. Either way, the missing part will not grow back once it's this badly damaged. I would suggest you remove the fish and humanely euthanize it, it will only suffer.

Look your other fish over very carefully for any signs of fin damage, like the fins are turning into that white mucus stuff. If you see that in any other fish, you have fin rot.

Fin rot will need to be treated with an antibiotic such as Maracyn TC or Maracyn 2. Just treat as directed on the package.

All the best with your fish

MM

Answer 2

First of all girl, guppies are not platies, they are live bearers all the same but not platies.

Ok, about your problem, it is possible that your guppy was assaulted by that african''prince charming'' in your tank.To add, guppies have such flashy and slow moving tails, they are targets to nearly anything that bites.You should get the frog out to properly determine the cause of the tail lost.

If its fin rot, not to worry, just do a 25 percent water change in your tank and look out for fin-rot medication to apply to the water.Don't worry about the poo problem, the fish defecates from below its belly (a little further down but not below tail), so unless the fish totally has no belly, there would be no problem.

However, if you want to prepare for the worst and plan on euhanisation, the professional way would be to use a knife to severe the bone at its head.It would be fast and near painless for the sufferer.Just to inform you though, I can never bear to take the life of a living thing (Besides ants), and through my 8 years of fish-caring, I have never done it.

Answer 3

First, for the frog you need a different food than for the guppies. So it might be hungry, that's why keep picking the fish. You can't feed them with flakes as they only eat food that sinks to the bottom of the tank. The best is for them to eat frozen bloodworms or frozen brineshrim (or even live, than it is more fun for the frog).
Secondly, if the guppy has no tail and you observed that it was attacked by the frog, than all your guppies are in danger. I don't think it is fin rot, as you say it happened quickly, and rotten fins are not disappearing so fast.
At the end, I suggest to remove this sick guppy in a separate tank and if you see that it is suffering very hard than put in ice, that will kill him almost instantly and won't suffer anymore.

Answer 4

First of all that "mucus like stuff" sounds like a bacterial infection. Go to your petstore and get either a small hospital tank with the works or a breeder net to hang inside your tank. Treat the entire tank for bacterial infections. Your guppy most likely won't make it, but you should still try. Your tank will need treated anyway to stop any bacterial infections that might spread.
Second, take the frog out immediatly and put him in something biggish with a lid. It doesn't need to be heated or filtered.
Third, are you sure it is a dwarf frog? A lot of pet places get the dwarfs and the claweds mixed up. A dwarf usually wouldn't do that, but a clawed will eat anything and everything it can fit in it's mouth and they grow to the size of a fist (or bigger). Check out this site http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/clawedordwarf.html

Answer 5

I'd take the frog out of that tank and give him his own. Fish can survive with the tail bitten off, I have a Kennyi cichlid with no tail (rescued him from the pet store that way) and he gets along fine. I'd treat him with melafix and see how he does.

If you decide to euthanize him clove oil is the most humane way (add it to a small jar of water and put him in).

Answer 6

If medicating the fish doesn't help you can buy a product online called Euthanaze. You can remove the fish into a small bowl and add the chemical to the water. It will quickly and humanely kill your fish. It's just like putting it into a deep sleep. Here is a link to one website that offers it. Good luck with your other fishies.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15556&Ntt=euthanaze&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

Answer 7

I had a guppy that got quite a bit of it's tail bit off by another mail. It grew back; not all the way but enough where it swims fine and seems perfectly healthy. I would isolate it and try your best. If it seems like a losing battle then do as you please. I wouldn't flush it alive though. That seems like it would be pretty rough.

Answer 8

I guess the best would be to let it be since it seems to be doing fine. It could probably manage by itself. You may want to separate it from the rest of the gang for it to heal itself or if not, just let it be. I've seen fishes with missing fins, missing tails or even a missing chunk of their body but they've healed and they're doing fine.

Answer 9

My mother had 4 goldfish that she had for 4 years and they lived together for many years. Now they have gotten pretty big. One fish was kind of short and fat and the other fish were long and they began to eat him slowly. The fish did die because they ate him to death. Sorry to say but this little fish may die because of that. You may want to just flush him if you want or you can try to get him alive and she what happens

Answer 10

well i would take him out of the tank and put him by him self incase it is a disease or he is gettin eatin if it is a disease then he needs to b taken away from the rest b4 he infects the others or if its bc he was gettin eatin then he needs to not b with his fishie mates that are trying to eat him. so ya take him and put him in a seperate tank and u can call ur vet and c wat they tell u mayb they can help u and tell u if he has a disease or not