Frail Guppy going downhill. . .What to do?

Ok, one of my 3 guppies is and always has been kind of a runt. A day or two ago my wife noticed he was getting some red on his tail fin. . .The next day we noticed his tail was starting to look a bit ratty. I'm assuming from what I've read, that we're dealing with some fin rot. Likely due to stress IMHO. The water is good. . .all the other fish are good (including the other 2 guppies). No signs of any problems whatsoever from the others.

Well, this little guy, he's in bad shape. He's doin' the "I can't swim straight" thing, and is spending a lot of time laying on the bottom.

He's still alive but it seems he's on his last legs.

Now, do I leave him (its definitely a him) and see if he gets better? Or should I remove him in hopes that whatever his problem is doesn't spread to the other fish?

His tail is lookin' pretty bad today, and if it weren't for his gills moving, I'd swear he was dead. If he tries to do any swimming it results in a corkscrew pattern. He cannot swimg straight. In fact his tail fin doesn't move in its full range. It seems to only half work. He can move it to the right, but going back to the left doesn't make it . . .

Any suggestions?

 

Sounds like it could be fin rot and possibly some septicemia.

How big is the tank?
What fish are in it and how many?
What are your actual readings for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte?
Is the red on the fins streaks (like THIS)? Or just redness along the ragged edges?

It wouldn't be a bad idea to isolate him if you have an already cycled hospital tank.

For fin rot, I like to use Maracyn 2 (not regular Maracyn). If there's some septicemia going on, a medicated food would be beneficial (Medigold is one of the better ones, but I don't think it's really commonly available. I know Jungle makes some medicated food). That said, if there's something wrong in the tank that was the root cause, you need to take care of that first or any medication won't help much.

-Chelle

 

18gal tank.

1 Algae Eater
8 Tetras (neon and albino glowlight combined, they love one another lol)
3 Guppies.

According to my handy dandy Quick Dip Test Strips, everything is spot on. Nitrates/rites, ph, alkalinity, harndess. Everything is where it should be. The water is crystal clear to boot. (Did a 15% change this morning when I pruned the Brazilian Sword)

All the other fish are pristine. Bright colors, healthy. No fin damage or discoloration whatsoever. The one guppy that was attacked by the Siamese fighting fish. His tail fin looks great and is growing back beautifully.

The redness on his tailfin is all around the outter edge of the fin. The rest of the fin is so dark you can't tell (I can't at least) if there is any streaking. His tail is in shambles quite honestly. It looks as if its just fraying apart.

His eyes are showing absolutely no signs of cloudiness. . . .I'm puzzled.

At the moment he's at the base of a plastic plant, just laying there. Breathing away, but not moving much otherwise. When the batteries recharge lol, I'll take a pic as close as I can.

 

Ok, here's a pic. Not the greatest in the world, but it is the best I could get with him floating all over the tank with the flow of water. He's still alive, but thats about it.

You can see one of the other guppies tails on the left. Albeit blurry . . .

Edit:
Here's a better pic.

 

Well, the end came. Right around 5pm it was over.

I took the little guy out and put him on a paper towel and took the below pic.

If any of you guys and gals see anything that make you think, "Oh thats what it was". Then by all means say so. I'd like to be able to possibly prevent whatever happened to this guy, in the future.

I doubt anyone is eager to see a dead fish, so I'll just post the link. It's better quality than the above pic, although a bit bright.

http://home.comcast.net/~swedespeeder/DSCN3360.JPG

 

Hi HazeX, Doublecheck your Nitrite and Nitrate readings. You have been adding a fertilizer to the tank (Flourish Tabs). I'm not familiar with the Flourish Tabs but all fertilizers are high in Nitrogen, which will alter your Nitrite and Nitrate levels.

 

Hi Hazex,
kc5gvn suspition is a very valid one, One has to be pretty careful dealing with fertilisers as they will be having a lot of nitrogen, And can easily increase the Nitrate / Nitrite or ammonia (NH3)level. I used to do the checks at least once in 4 days as recommended by my plant specialist. Then got used to with my routine changes of water and the cleaning proccedures. Now i do that once every 15 days.

-Raghu

 

Tested and they're good. . .Since the test kit i have doesn't provide #'s. . .The colors (checked and rechecked by someone thats not color blind lol) are spot on for the test. I'm stumped. I can only assume because he was the runt he was, that stress was the cause. The water tests (did more than one lol) show everything is dandy.

As for the flourish tabs, the only thing i can find about them is pretty much from their manufacturer and a couple articles that recommend them.

lol They're not *supposed* to increase anything, but thats the key word. "Supposed". They dont "contain" and nitrates, but I dont suppose that means it can't produce them.

Nonetheless, the water appears to be fine, as do all the other fish (in both tanks).

Quite puzzling. . .