Guupy42

I recently got some new guppies from PetSmart. One died of Columnaris, he had an open mouth, and the other one is currently suffering of finrot and tail clamp. It started as a bite in his tail, and after the passing of his friend, his tail started getting clamped, and he has been hanging out by the filter a lot. He still comes out to eat, and swims a little when I tap on the glass, move the filter, or do anything to stimulate him. The last time I checked, the water was okay, and the PetSmart employee said that my water looked good. Anyway, here are some tank details. It is a 5 gallon tank with 3 adult male guppies and one Black Racer Nerite. I am currently doing a treatment of aquarium salt and stress coat. The GH might be a little low, but I am working on raising it with a cuttlebone. I also just noticed the white part in the hole, is that a sign of infection, or has he started healing? Also, since he gets temporarily active with some stimulation, what are some ways to provide entertainment to my fish? Thank you in advance. Here is a picture. Sorry if it is a little blurry, but he wants to stay behind the filter.

https://guppyexpert.com/guppy-fish-types/ Will the article above help? Nice guppies. I am thinking along the lines of a Albino Delta Glass Guppy (Poecilia Reticulata), as a combination of tail shape, pattern, and color.

Here are some Ideas. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/top-7-freshwater-snails The website says that rabbit snails can eat soft plants if they are not fed enough, but requires a male and female to reproduce. However, Bladder Snails can reproduce rapidly by themselves. The website doesn't say anything about Bladder Snails eating dead plants, though, so I recommend you do some research. Another warning, they are sometimes found with live plants and are referred to as "Pest Snails". Nerite Snails can only lay eggs in Saltwater, so don't go with those if you want a large snail population, even if they are good algae eaters and easy to raise. It's up to you to find the perfect balance. https://michael-langerman.medium.com/why-i-put-snails-in-all-aquariums-847fb87d9710 This article also says that guppies will eat snail eggs, so if you decide to get bladder snails, your guppies should keep the population in control.

Day one of cuttlebone is done. The fish seemed to have (mostly) recovered from the stress of losing a tankmate, and there hasn't seemed to be too much issue in the water, but there has been algae growth. Is this caused by some water parameter, or is it about the light level in the aquarium? I have also noticed that my snail has been more active since the introduction of the cuttlebone, just a side note. Maybe it's working to supply the snail with calcium.

I added the cuttlebone into my HOB. I don't think it had any smell at all. I rinsed it out at first, and then put it in a cup of aquarium water. I made sure all of it had got a good dip in the water, and here we are now. I will post back later with updates. Was this the forum post about the unprepared cuttlebone?

Okay, thanks. I will add the cuttlebone in this afternoon and post how it goes. So I just put it in the HOB, and watch it? Edit: I was researching if cuttlebone raises pH. Turns out, it only raises GH, which is what I want, and doesn't change the KH or pH much. Again, thank you for your help.

Is that a "Yes, I should use it just in case" or a "No, but here is some future reference"? I noticed while doing a water change that one of my other guppies' tail was bareley smaller than it used to be. Nothing serious, but something to mention, because it is probably caused by soft water, too. Also, how do I use the cuttlebone without raising pH as well? Again, thank you for all the help you have given me. I greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for all the help you have given me. I got the cuttlebone, but unfortunately, it was too late to save the fish.😢 Should I still add the cuttlebone, or should I save it for another emergency like this one? If so, how should I use it? (Dosing instructions, specifications, etc.) If I do a water change, I will no longer be able to give accurate results for the water test.

The fin clamp has been getting worse. Is there some sort of emergency action I could take? I don't have any crushed coral on hand right now. I might be able to get cuttlebone from my local pet store, will that work? It will make pH higher, so can I use pH down to let it work better?

@Tony s Found this on their website: Medicinal ingredient (in each chewable tablet) 750 mg Calcium carbonate/tablet Non-medicinal ingredients (alpha): adipic acid, artificial and natural flavours, corn starch, FD&C blue #1 Al. lake, FD&C red #40 Al. lake, FD&C yellow #5 Al. lake, FD&C yellow #6 Al. lake, mineral oil, sodium hexametaphosphate, sucrose, talc.

Thank you for your advice. I started to add another tablespoon of salt today, because it didn't seem to be getting better, with another 0.5 ml dose of Stress Coat. I also fed a little more than usual, in case my sick fish needed extra nutrients for the strength. (Food also contains calcium, right?) Is there some other substitute to raise the GH I could try first before buying anything? There are some people that say that Tums can be used in a fish tank for snails and shrimp (Also good because my snail has minor shell damage), and there are a few websites talking about it. 2021 Forum Thread Website There also used to be an Aquarium Co Op video over this, but it got removed. Most of them are just mentioning snails, so I am wondering if it can be used to alter the whole ecosystem's KH, pH, and GH, rather than just having a snail eat it. Another thing is, when I drop in some kind of tablet (e.g. Algae Wafers, Feeding Blocks) my guppies always go after it, even if it wasn't intended for them. If you know anything about this, could you inform me on the dosing quantities, risks, and benefits? That would be great. Thank you in advance.

After my water change this weekend, my guppy has been experiencing clamped fins, and maybe with a little bit of finrot. I tested the water, and most of the water was okay, except for the pH was a little high. 5 gallon tank with 3 male adult guppies and one Black Racer nerite snail Ammonia: 0-0.5 Nitrate: 20 Nitrite: 0 GH: 75 KH: 120 pH: 7.8-8.4 ____________________ With a recent water change, I noticed some brown stuff (possibly mulm) stuck to the filter intake, and when I moved it to scrub the glass, the mulm went all over the tank. I removed a lot of it through the gravel vacuuming, though. The day after the water change, I noticed some black edges, so I added salt (about 1 tbsp per 5 gallons) and he got a little more active. I have also been using some stress coat. That has been all I was able to do, and I can't think of any other actions to take. I have Tetra Lifeguard tablets, but I can't use that because it will hurt my snail. I am skeptical about want using pH down, because the two times I have used it, a fish soon died after. My fish has still had a good appetite, and is active, but sort of shimmies to get around, due to his clamped tail fin. He has this weird behavior of being very energetic in the day, but worn out and weak when it's close to nighttime. I noticed tonight that it got kind of triangular at the end, worse than it usually is. Based on the given information, could someone identify the cause of stress and determine the right actions I should take? I know there have been mentions of guppy fin clamp on this forum (from 2020), but I couldn't find anything too useful in there, so I would like to bring it up again. There are also not many websites talking about fin clamp in general, most of them were forums.

Do Black Racer Nerites also behave like this? When I first got mine, he was very active, eating algae and exploring the tank every day, and had a weird sleep cycle. Soon, after he settled down, the snail started hiding in this log decoration sometimes, and other times, he would bury himself. However, at night, the snail is just as active as ever. Basically, he would start having a nocturnal sleep cycle. Could this be normal for all nocturnal snails? Also, my guppies sometimes peck at my snail's shell out of curiosity, so if your snail is stressed that could be a cause. Keep an eye on the guppies.

I agree with what @Ken Burke said about not burying the rhizomes. I have owned a java fern before (I don't think it was a Windelov variety, but still a java fern), and I unfortunately didn't know this, so it rotted, and died. Mine also experienced something similar to your plant, the roots went up the leaves turning them brown, and there were lots of plantlets growing. I'm not sure what the "normal growth" is supposed to look like, but tying or gluing the rhizomes to a rock or some other decoration sounds like a good idea to me. My Anubias Congensis (another no-burying plant) is tied to an unused decoration, and it's growing pretty well. If you have any rocks or unused decoration, that's something you could try. By the way, welcome to the forum!

I use API stress coat, because I found it to be helpful in calming my fish down, so it kind of counts as a multipurpose tool.