Sore on guppy?

[Sunny]

Hi guys! I’m new to guppies, and I saw two beautiful yellow males at the store on Saturday and bought them (no ladies- going back next week to see if any come in).

I put them in my QT tank, a 10 gallon with some random plants and pothos. I just finished using it as a QT tank for some cherry barbs and prior to that, it was a holding tank for my corys for a few months. I immediately dosed the med trio and put in 3 tbsp salt.

One of the males has been sitting on the little pile of crushed coral in the corner. He eats, and he comes up to greet me whenever I look at the tank, but he does keep retreating there. I turned the temp up a little. Today he seems to have a red sore forming and is gasping for breath. He is still eating. The other guppy seems fine.

My water has ph 6.8, and I put crushed coral to keep it from going lower, but I’ve never been able to get it higher. My water is 150-300 GH on the Coop test kit. I just took a reading on this tank and it’s at 10 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 150ish GH, 80KH (despite the crushed coral, that never really goes up either, and I’ve got 2 cups in there). 
 

I know my ph runs low for guppies, but I thought my hard water could make up for it. Is my thought process flawed, or is the sore an indication of something else?

 Thanks!

[Colu]

I think you KH and pH are the problem guppys like a KH 140 and a pH of 7.5 I would add  more crushed coral  to bing up your KH and pH  

[Sunny]

Thanks Colu- how long before I should see changes in the kh? (This tank has a sponge filter, no hob to add the coral to)

[Colu]

I Put all my crushed coral in my filters it will probably take a couple of weeks as it not getting as much flow thought it before notice any difference

Edited October 14, 2021 by Colu

[Sunny]

I added two more cups of it last night. Anything I can do to make him more comfortable in the meantime? He’s just sitting there breathing heavy and I feel bad for him…

[Colu]

I would add an extra air stone and add some aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 3 gallons it help with Gill function and adds essential electrolytes to help reduce stress in your fish

[Sunny]

Now he’s getting a red spot on the edge of his fin? 

[Colu]

The low KH and pH could have weaken his immune system making him more susceptible to illness this could be the start of a bacterial infection I would do a course of maracyn or kanaplex as well as adding the aquarium salt 

[CalmedByFish]

I'm definitely not the guru of the conversation, but I can at least tell you that Equilibrium brings GH up immediately instead of slowly. For what it's worth.

[Sunny]

How much stuff is too much in the water? I’ve currently got:

-4 cups crushed coral

-3 tbsp salt; going to add two more

-api med cure, dosed Saturday 

-paraclense, dosed Saturday

-maracyn, dosed Saturday and today

Would adding equilibrium be overdoing it at this point? Or think it’ll go fine?

[Colu]

On 10/14/2021 at 11:22 PM, Sunny said:

How much stuff is too much in the water? I’ve currently got:

-4 cups crushed coral

-3 tbsp salt; going to add two more

-api med cure, dosed Saturday 

-paraclense, dosed Saturday

-maracyn, dosed Saturday and today

Would adding equilibrium be overdoing it at this point? Or think it’ll go fine?

I would just treat with maracyn and salt for now I have never used equilibrium so maybe some one else can chime in what is API med cure

[Sunny]

On 10/14/2021 at 6:59 PM, Colu said:

I would just treat with maracyn and salt for now I have never used equilibrium so maybe some one else can chime in what is API med cure

Sorry- API ick cure, not med cure 

[Guppysnail]

250 gh is good for guppies struggling. I use equilibrium it gives you measurements based on how much you want to increase. It also adds valuable minerals they can use. I did not see a temperature but 78-80 is also good for struggling guppies.  It raises their metabolism helping them fight whatever ails them. Just increase aeration.  

[CalmedByFish]

On 10/15/2021 at 7:02 AM, Guppysnail said:

250 gh is good for guppies 

Lingo question. I've noticed that some people use "GH [low number]", while others use "[high number] ppm GH." 

Would "GH 25," and "250 ppm GH" be the same thing?

[Guppysnail]

On 10/15/2021 at 11:35 AM, CalmedByFish said:

Lingo question. I've noticed that some people use "GH [low number]", while others use "[high number] ppm GH." 

Would "GH 25," and "250 ppm GH" be the same thing?

🤣🤣🤣🤣you are asking the wrong totally unscientific person. The best I understand which I could be way wrong about the lingo folks use is dgh small number is how many drops of api go in the tube and the high number is ppm parts per million the paper that comes with the test reads. I just did my tanks today and they were between 15-19 drops which there is no corresponding number on the paper so I say 250 because the paper goes up to 12/214.8 and 250 is a guess at what13 drops would be.  I would love to hear from folks an actual real explanation 😁

[Sunny]

I finally got the hardness up to 300 ppm (I also have no idea the difference between lingo). I’ll track down some equilibrium because my buffer is sitting at 40 lol. I guess the coral takes a while…

Update: the fin is looking better but the sore on his tail definitely got worse.

 

[Sunny]

Update: he didn’t make it. 😞 I’m finishing the round of antibiotics hoping that the other guppy doesn’t get sick with whatever this was.

[lindabee53]

@Sunny I'm so sorry.  You certainly did so much to help him.

[Sunny]

Thanks. PetSmart had two one-day old guppy fry in the tank that they gave me for free, and I’ve got them in a different tank that’s my normal water so hopefully they grow up adjusted. I’ve been consoling myself by watching their antics. 😍

[Sunny]

Now my other guppy is acting lethargic and not eating. I poked him and he just rolled over. 😭 I really didn’t understand my water as well as I thought I did. Poor things. 

[Torrey]

On 10/14/2021 at 4:22 PM, Sunny said:

How much stuff is too much in the water? I’ve currently got:

-4 cups crushed coral

-3 tbsp salt; going to add two more

-api med cure, dosed Saturday 

-paraclense, dosed Saturday

-maracyn, dosed Saturday and today

Would adding equilibrium be overdoing it at this point? Or think it’ll go fine?

I have hard water, and a pH that ranges from 7.4 to 8.4, depending on what is in the tank. 

Equlibrium will raise your pH much faster, plus it's easier to control.

High calcium rocks and coral can help keep the higher pH the guppies need (so help keep the tank water stable, as fluctuations are stressful, too). You can add the Equilibrium to water outside of the tank, and keep doing water changes so you increase a bit with each water change until you get to where you want the pH to stay. (Like fill 2 - 5 gallon buckets, dechlorinate the water and add Equilibrium to the buckets, and then do your water changes, a little at a time).

Frequently, just salt, proper pH, and getting the water hard enough, along with feeding high quality food more often but in smaller amounts, is sufficient to allow them to heal.

[In other words, I have calcium based rocks completely covering the bottom in most of my live bearer tanks, to maintain stability in pH and hardness]

[Sunny]

Thank you! These two didn’t make it but I’ve got two babies that seem to be doing well. Depending on what sex they are I’ll try again with the store guppies. I have equilibrium ready to go!