Bad eBay guppies - salvageable?

[Danio Janet]

Hello all. I was a little too trusting when setting up my outdoor tubs and ordered “24K gold” guppies from eBay. They were gold as juveniles, but I noticed one had a red spot on its tail fin upon arrival.  I read that a red spot could be caused by ammonia poisoning and hoped that was the cause and simple good water quality would heal it. What I did not expect was that the fish would turn black/grey as they aged. They do NOT look stunning gold to me! ☹️ I’m not sure if they’ve produced fry - my tub is heavily planted and they share the space with rice fish. I see rice fish fry, but no confirmed guppie fry yet. My goal was to breed the guppies and sell them. Do 24k guppies require heavy culling or did I just get ripped off? I don’t want to sell the good looking offspring if the line is trash and they will end up looking like this as adults. I contacted the seller on eBay and he suggested aquarium salt. 🙄 Ideas? 

[Patrick_G]

@Wildflowergraham, is this the before or after pic? I’m not trying to be snarky but I think they look really nice. I’d buy some of those. 

[Guppysnail]

I agree with @Patrick_G  however those red spots look like an issue. You may want to ask someone in the disease section what it is and how to treat it.  

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

First, I am sorry this is happening to you. I know how distressing this can be when online sales go sideways. 

The red spots are hemorrhages, can be due to ammonia poisoning, viral hemorrhagic septicemia, severe stress or trauma.

In terms of the guppies quality those are 24 kt gold guppies. Are they the best I’ve ever seen? No but they are what you paid for. 

I can’t say there aren’t other stories like this online about eBay sellers. If you’re looking for quality guppies GT guppies on Facebook has been mentioned in the past by @Coryand they are old school- you call them and tell them what you want. RedFishBlueFish sells @Bentley PascoeBlue Hawaiian guppies and some other really nice strains. You can always go with an Aquabid seller with anyone of good reviews and feedback. 

[Danio Janet]

Glad to hear that this coloration is normal for 24K guppies. It’s not what I pictured in my head - but maybe I can work the line to make them what I imagined. 🤷‍♀️ But I am very happy to hear that this coloration is normal. Thanks for the input! I will defiantly look deeper into the red spots. One showed up with a spot, but I only noticed the other one’s spots when I pulled them for photos. They act healthy and eat well. I will text for ammonia, monitor temperature closely tomorrow, and test anything else I can think of. If that does not give me any insight into the cause of the spots - I have a cycled 100 gallon I can move them into and we will see if they improve. Thanks again y’all. I will let you know what happens. 

[Bentley Pascoe]

Usually orange/red streaks or spots are indications of deeper wild genes in some guppies - it can sometimes point to a line bred guppy reverting some as the line starts to lose it's purity - this is not always the case, just a little interesting tid-bit I picked up.

[CalmedByFish]

@Wildflowergraham I know it's not a direct answer, but I think they're beautiful! The bright yellow is a cheerful color, and the long-ish fins are nice. 

If the red spots are boo-boos, I hope you can get them healed up. If it turns out to only be color, I kinda think it adds interest. 

[Taco Playz]

I had a guppy with a red spot before and I did a Fritz A+ salt bath then the next day it was gone. Those guppies are beautiful!