Guppy 911...Help Please!?

Question

Hi...
I have a new freshwater tank (I put it together 10 days ago) . I have a guppy and a Molly that I put in one week ago. I keep testing the water and as predicted, the amonia spiked yesterday and I read that was normal. My Molly is fine but my poor guppy is showing these symptoms:
Appetite dwindled , belly looks bigger, feces trails attached, and he swims at the top of the tank. He looks a little off balance. It's not good! Last night I changed 20 percent of the water, hoping it would help. I don't want to hurt the Molly in the process.
What can I do?!!! Thanks in advance!!!

Answer 1

The best bet for you is to continue doing water changes to keep the ammonia down to a fairly safe level. You don't want to remove all of the ammonia, just enough to keep the level in the safe zone. This will help the molly as well as prevent ammonia poisoning deaths in the tank. Just keep it up until you see no more ammonia in the tank.

MM

Answer 2

This is not constipation. It is a reaction to the ammonia in the water. Tho all fish are sensitive to ammonia and can die from being exposed to it, guppies are amoung the most sensitive.

I recommend you go get BioSpira. It's in the refrigerator at PetCo and many smaller fish stores.

To learn more about cycling with fish-
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html#cycle

This article talks about tank cycling products, but it precedes BioSpira, which is unlike any of the products mentioned in the article.

The purpose of having you read the article is to help you better understand the cycle. Cycling with fish tends to kill fish.
Add BioSpira to the tank and keep monitoring the cycle. It should cycle in a week or so (as opposed to 6 weeks with just fish).

EDIT-

Yes, mollies like brackish. In fact, mollies can even live in full marine conditions with no problem. They also do just fine in freshwater. Tho I would recommend salt, brackish is a bit too much for the guppy- 1 tablespoon per 3-5 gallons would be best. Be sure to use aquarium salt, not marine salt or table salt.

Here's an article on guppies-
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/guppy.htm

Both mollies and guppies like slightly hard water and the guppy need his water a bit cooler than most tropical fish- 65 - 75 degrees. The molly is fine at 68 to 82, so I'd recommend about 72 as a good mid-range for both.

You don't say what size tank you have, but guppies prefer to be in groups 2 females per male, and mollies like to be in male/female pairs.

Answer 3

first you should give a tank about two weeks to build up the right amount of bacteria guppy's do swim at the surface normal. Did you add salt to the water to make it brackish for the molly because that is the what they like also how big is the tank? mostly you probably needed to let the water set longer. is the belly of the guppy blackish. the feces is normal don't worry about that. she could just be pregnant.

Answer 4

Well, this is most likely a simple case of constipation. The treatment is economical and easy. Change 25% of water with treated water of the same temperature. Withold feeding for 2-4 days. If signs do not improve, feed the fish a thawed and 'shelled' pea. This acts as a natural laxitive.

Hope this helps you!
Jason C