Sick guppy, possible reasons?

[Thundercracker]

One of my guppies was moved to a different tank, 20 gal long with 3 African dwarf frogs and 1 other male guppy. He began to rub against the substrate a lot after this change. A few weeks later he appears to have become dull, his top fin is split vertically, a droopy tail, not eating as much as he used to, as well as lethargic. He does stop drooping to swim faster if he gets scared or another fish gets too close to him. I haven't noticed him getting attacked by the other male and I haven't seen him rub against the substrate for a while either. I'm not sure what is wrong with him as this is my first tank. The raised scales in the photo appear more like damage in-person, but I may be wrong. (The image with the thermometer is him before he was moved) 

 

• pH ~7.2-7.8 (using dipping sticks and can't really tell the colors apart)
• Nitrates ~25-50 ppm
• Hardness ~75-150 ppm
• Nitrite 1ppm
• Ammonia ~0-0.25 ppm (closer to 0 ppm than 0.25 ppm)
• KH/Buffer 80-120 ppm
• Water Temperature 78°F

 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Thundercracker
Cropping annoying marks in the photos and editing grammar errors as well as adding tank parameters

[Colu]

What are your water parameters ammonia nitrite nitrate pH KH GH temperature 

[Thundercracker]

Just added them! I'm doing ammonia rn

Edited September 18, 2023 by Thundercracker

[Colu]

Looking at your water parameters nitrite of 1ppm and possible low level of ammonia is the cause of what your seeing what I would do is test daily if your detect any ammonia or nitrite than I would do a 50% water change and add a double dose of prime to help detoxify any ammonia and nitrite till it constantly stays at zero @Thundercracker

[Thundercracker]

On 9/18/2023 at 3:44 PM, Colu said:

G

[Thundercracker]

@Colu Would you say that it is ammonia/nitrite poisoning? (Sorry about the above single letter, I couldn't figure out how to exit out of the quote option). https://imgur.com/a/6v6bPPW

[Colu]

On 9/20/2023 at 6:46 AM, Thundercracker said:

@Colu Would you say that it is ammonia/nitrite poisoning? (Sorry about the above single letter, I couldn't figure out how to exit out of the quote option). https://imgur.com/a/6v6bPPW

Could be ammonia burn to the Gill's that why it's hanging at the surface keep up with the water changes and add extra air stones to increase level's of desloved oxygen if you don't have live plant aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 1 gallon will help with nitrite poisoning it will  help to block nitrite uptake though the Gill's 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Colu
Stupid autocorrect

[Cinnebuns]

I agree with Colu on his assessment but I wanted to add something. All male guppy groups do work but under specific setups. 2 males is asking for trouble. There is always going to be cases of it working but most likely what ends up happening is one will pick on the other. Even 3 doesn't work well because 2 will gang up on one of them. I 100% think the nitrite is the major issue, but you should also br aware of the risks with all male guppy tanks. Here's some things that help them be successful:

1.  Minimum of 6 and more is better. This is to spread out aggression. This way they aren't all targeting 1 to death. 

2.  Plenty of space. They need room to move and get away from each other when needed. I don't know what size tank you have, but smaller tanks will be more likely to fail. 

3.  Hiding places and line of sight breaks. Again, they need to be able to get away from each other. Plants, either live or fake, do this best but other decor pieces can work as well. Keep in mind guppies prefer the top 1/3 of the tank. 

4.  Remove any bully. Sometimes there is just one jerk that even if you do everything right, he's gonna be a jerk. If this happens you need to be ready to be able to pull him out. You can give him a time out for a few weeks and reintroduce him. This doesn't always work but often does. 

5.  As always, keep water healthy. Higher stress will increase their likelihood of picking on each other. 

[Thundercracker]

On 9/20/2023 at 4:06 AM, Colu said:

Could be ammonia burn to the Gill's that why it's hanging at the surface keep up with the water changes and add extra air stones to increase level's of desloved oxygen if you don't have live plant aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 1 gallon will help with nitrite poisoning it will  help to block nitrite uptake though the Gill's 

Would it be alright to do a methylene blue dip with aquarium salt in a separate bucket? Or just the aquarium salt in the tank to avoid stressing him out?

[Colu]

On 9/22/2023 at 11:30 PM, Thundercracker said:

Would it be alright to do a methylene blue dip with aquarium salt in a separate bucket? Or just the aquarium salt in the tank to avoid stressing him out?

If you don't have live plants I would dose the tank with salt I would never add methylene blue to your tank it will kill your beneficial bacteria