New member with Guppy problem???

[diggity]

Hey new member here and just bought and set up my first fish tank. It's a 10 gallon starter aquarium with tropical guppies (3 female and 1 male). What I have noticed recently is that the male guppy, which has a large, beautiful, and firey tail, has seemd to be swimming near the bottom of the tank, and his tail has shrunk and he drags it as he swims. The other three guppies are fine and swimming well but only the male guppy has been affected somehow.

Is it normal for him to show these signs? - non expanded tail, drooping body, not eating???

Please help me if you can because I'm really concerned. Thanks in advance, and I hope to make informative contributions to this forum in the near future.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Is the tank cycled, and do you do regular water changes? If no to either (and if you don't know, then assume no), do a partial water change (replace with dechlorinated water), maybe 25-50%, and see if that helps. Drooping and not eating are not normal. He's probably stressed out from ammonia/nitrite if the tank is not cycled. Or, if you just got him recently, he could have been sick from the store.

 

[diggity]

You're right. I haven't made any partial water changes since I set up the tank a couple weeks ago. How often should I be cycling the water like you suggested and what can I buy to check for nitrite/ammonia levels if I do in fact forget to change the water?

By the way, the fish was fine when I purchased it. It was the first of the four that I bought, so this is a recent occurance. Thanks for the help.

 

[PlecoCollector]

Cycling is a process that newly established aquariums go through. Read over the stickies (http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=31669) to learn more about it. During the cycle, ammonia and nitrites spike and then go back down as bacteria is established. The spike can stress and sometimes kill fish in the tank. A cycle usually lasts about a month.

Since you're doing a cycle with fish, you should be doing partial water changes (25-50% as Capslock said) to keep the levels low. Your LFS should carry testing kits that can be used to check the water levels. I highly suggest you get one so you know when your cycle is over (when both Nitrites and Ammonia are at 0).

In my experience, guppies aren't the hardiest fish in the world. I've put them in tanks that had been going for months and still lost them. I'm down to my last one at the moment. I wish you the best of luck with yours

 

[Pure]

Yup you made the same newb mistake that most of us have made at one time or another. Your fish are going to die..Sorry that is just the way it is.

Read the forums in the beginner section and it will help you with your next attempt.

I don't mean to be harsh and I am sorry for your fish, but the fact of the matter is....yes water changes can lower the poisonous levels in your tank, but it also lengthens the amount of time it takes for the tank to cycle...IE more stress for the fish...They normally die from this.

Read, read, read!