Guppies rubbing on plants

[SFawcett]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 25 gallon tank of guppies with red cherry shrimp and a pair of L471 plecos. It's planted with Java fern, Cryptocoryne undulatus 'Red', Anubais Minima, a red flame sword that is struggling, amazon frogbit, and java moss. I used local granite as the hardscape. I have an aqua sky 2.0 light on it and am dosing about a third of a cap of Seachem flourish weekly along with tropica root tabs occasionally. The tank was set up at my last apartment for 6 months before I moved. It's now been set up for a month and I've noticed a few of my guppies are aggressively brushing against plants and sometimes substrate.

I've lost 2 males in the last 3 months to fin rot. I quarantined each of them and treated with salt (1 tbsp/3 gallons). They each died the first week in quarantine. I assume I acted to late.

While watching my tank this week I noticed one guppy that was brushing had some lighter spots on her. I dosed the entire tank salt last Saturday (1 tbsp/2 gallons) and performed a 30% water change yesterday. I've included pictures of the tank below and 2 photos of the female guppy that has the lighter spots. I'm in Canada so I don't have access to any meds without vet prescription. I'm looking to identify potential problems and determine next steps. Thank you.

 

Water Parameters:

• pH  7.4
• Nitrates  40
• Hardness  GH: unknown
• Nitrite 0    
• Ammonia  0
• KH/Buffer   4
• Water Temperature 79
   

   

[Cory]

It does look like there may be some infection going on. The salt should take care of it over time, however it most likely will knock your plants back as well 😞

[SFawcett]

Thanks Cory, is there a maximum amount of time that you would use the salt treatment, or just until they are no longer showing symptoms?