Chris C. Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 (edited) Hi everyone, Reaching out because one of our adult male guppies has developed a strange red spot on the tail (He has no red coloring normally). A few months ago, after bringing the tank home from school when my school shut down for CoVid, we had a different guppy (adult male, same basic coloring/type) that also developed a red spot and quickly passed. At the time, we thought it was in part due to the relocation, the poor water quality (I was uninformed and an idiot... I've since learned) and the fact that the adult females we had at the time had just given birth and WAY over-populated the tank. We've since re-homed the adult females and the babies, and moved the males into a new tank, with clean gravel, updated the filter, and gotten a heater that actually works, and the tank has been fully cycled for months (since we made all of those changes). The most recent change was the addition of some new fish almost 2 months ago (they were Qt'ed by our LFS for us and none have shown any signs of any diseases, and we medicated the tank). We had no problems until yesterday when this poor guy started hiding a lot and we spotted that spot on his tail. Tank stats: 15 gallon 5 Adult Male Guppies 12 Neon Green Tetras (We should be around 80% capacity according to the calculation website I used that showed up as a recommendation on this page at some point). Vallisneria, Cryptocoryne Parva, Java Moss, and Java Fern for live plants. Plenty of space for fish to hide when needed No Ammonia according to the test kit No/low Nitrites/Nitrates (hard to read my scribbled notes) Ph 8.4 The males, rarely, if ever fight, and this one doesn't ever even play rough (I've called him the mature one, since he doesn't get involved in petty fish squabbles). Current guess is some form of Fin Rot, we have some antibiotics that we can use to treat that, but we're hoping someone can either confirm, or inform us of what it actually is. Edited September 29, 2020 by Chris C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat_Rigel Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 I can't say I've seen this before, so I am going off of what I have heard from others. Generally, increasing temp and adding aquarium salt will help most maladies. Since bacterial infections can cause death the quickest (when compared to fungus or parasites,) you are better off treating for that first, in my opinion. Especially since the previous guppy died soon after presenting the same symptoms. I think fin rot is a good guess, the red could be blood trying to clot. I'd like to hear from someone more experienced but I saw your post was unanswered since yesterday and diseases often require a fast response. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C. Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Thanks! Glad to know that it's mysterious to not just us. We're going to start the Maracyn we have now (and I'll order some more as well so that we have it next time). Would love any more suggestions/information from anyone else. The spot is still there, though slightly faded and possibly a bit more spread. We haven't caught him hiding in the same tight spot again, but he has been a bit less out and about still than normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat_Rigel Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 I just read a post regarding a "mysterious guppy illness with red spots" on the unanswered posts list. Let me see if I can link it here to see if you are both having the same experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat_Rigel Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 @Spitzzard Is the above situation similar to the one you described? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C. Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Our current sick male is still eating, but the one we lost when I first brought the tank home stopped eating. It never progressed on that deceased one beyond the one red spot and the unusual hiding behavior and not eating. The other guppies weren't affected after the first one fell ill, this is the first time we've seen it since we lost him. The current male hasn't given us a good look at his tail recently, so we're not 100% on the status of the red spot. We've only ever seen the red spots on the tail, never on the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitzzard Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 @Kat_Rigel hard to say, in my case the red spots only appeared on the body and would slowly spread over a few days. My only guess in my case is Hemorrhagic Septicemia, but it didn't respond to any anti-bacterial meds I used (erythromycin and maracyn 2), so I never confirmed what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Ellison Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 I think salt would be my go to if its not in a planted tank. Guppies are fairly prone to all kinds of illnesses most of which are cured with salt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C. Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 It is a planted tank, but I'd gladly replant later if it keeps this guy alive. I ordered some Aquarium Salt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat_Rigel Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 27 minutes ago, Chris C. said: It is a planted tank, but I'd gladly replant later if it keeps this guy alive. I ordered some Aquarium Salt. I think you can also use pickling salt. It is only sodium chloride and doesn't have any additives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Ellison Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 Id skip the pickling seasonings though 😉 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C. Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 It seems like the red spot has gone away, but he's still lethargic and hangs out at the bottom of the tank, basically right on the gravel... He does perk up and swim up to eat during feedings. The coloration on his tail has gotten lighter and less distinct now as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat_Rigel Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 9 hours ago, Chris C. said: It seems like the red spot has gone away, but he's still lethargic and hangs out at the bottom of the tank, basically right on the gravel... He does perk up and swim up to eat during feedings. The coloration on his tail has gotten lighter and less distinct now as well. Well, I guess that seems like an improvement. Keep up the treatment I guess, perhaps increase the salt concentration (as described by the Co-op article.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo93 Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 @Chris C. This happened to one of my yellow guppies about a week ago also. But with mine, he looked like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat_Rigel Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Jo93 said: @Chris C. This happened to one of my yellow guppies about a week ago also. But with mine, he looked like this: Hm, photo isn't showing up correctly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C. Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 I can't see the picture either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C. Posted October 10, 2020 Author Share Posted October 10, 2020 (edited) Sad final update. He stayed lethargic and hidden most of the rest of his life. We completed the maracyn treatment, the red spot disappeared, and he ate during feeding yesterday, but we found his body just now. If anyone knows what this is or might be, we'd like to know, since it's now taken 2 fish about 6 months apart. Maybe he was just old, he's one of the originals that were given to me by the school district, so I don't know where he came from or how old he was. He lasted almost 2 weeks after we noticed the spot though, so clearly something we did this time worked better than for the first fish (who passed within 48 hours of us noticing the spot). Edited October 10, 2020 by Chris C. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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