Sick guppies

[Vedrick]

I recently purchased 2 guppies from my lfs. I noticed one had torn fin was looking skinny and his gills are red the other has clamped fins and red gills I dosed my whole tank with maracyn and paracleanse today. The tank has been established  since July. My question is should I expect these medications to completely crash my cycle. I do not have a quarantine tank or I would have used it I know I should have one but don't have room for one I learned my lesson on buying fish without doing a proper inspection of them before hand. Also if my cycle does crash I would need to perform water changes or can I add prime in not feeding during this time to prevent a spike in nitrite or ammonia.

[JE47]

@Colu @nabokovfan87 @Chick-In-Of-TheSea should be able to help you

Edited November 27, 2023 by JE47

[Vedrick]

I will try and post a picture of her when I get home tonight.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2023 at 11:27 AM, Vedrick said:

My question is should I expect these medications to completely crash my cycle. I do not have a quarantine tank or I would have used it I know I should have one but don't have room for one I learned my lesson on buying fish without doing a proper inspection of them before hand.

I wouldn't expect it to automatically crash the tank if you have robust filtration and a good cycle with strong bacteria in the tank.  Whenever you add meds, add in the air stone, which also helps out get oxygenation to the fish and that strong bacteria.

On 11/26/2023 at 11:27 AM, Vedrick said:

Also if my cycle does crash I would need to perform water changes or can I add prime in not feeding during this time to prevent a spike in nitrite or ammonia.

Test daily, or twice daily for ammonia-nitrite-nitrate if you can at this time.  If you run into ammonia or nitrite, the best thing would be to do a water change followed by prime and a bacterial starter like seachem stability or fritz zyme 7.  At that point, tag me, let's review filtration and go from there. 

On 11/26/2023 at 4:44 PM, Vedrick said:

I will try and post a picture of her when I get home tonight.

Test for everything you can as well and let us know water parameters.  If one of the mods can, please move this one to disease section for us. 🙂

On 11/26/2023 at 11:27 AM, Vedrick said:

I noticed one had torn fin was looking skinny and his gills are red the other has clamped fins and red gills I dosed my whole tank with maracyn and paracleanse today.

Do you have aquarium salt on hand?

[Vedrick]

Thank you for your help I will be home at around 8pm after work I plan on testing my water to make sure. I will also add an extra airstone and take pics of the fish and let you know what my parameters are. 

[Vedrick]

I do have aquarium salt but I have corydoras I hear they can't tolerate salt 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2023 at 5:09 PM, Vedrick said:

I do have aquarium salt but I have corydoras I hear they can't tolerate salt 

Corydoras do just fine with salt. I can send you research studies if you would like that verification.  1 TBSP per 2G is the dose I use. 1 TBSP per 5G is the recommended dose for sensitive fish and shrimp.

[Vedrick]

Hmm okay maybe I will try this but for now I will see how these meds work I think. 

[Vedrick]

On 11/26/2023 at 4:46 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I wouldn't expect it to automatically crash the tank if you have robust filtration and a good cycle with strong bacteria in the tank.  Whenever you add meds, add in the air stone, which also helps out get oxygenation to the fish and that strong bacteria.

Test daily, or twice daily for ammonia-nitrite-nitrate if you can at this time.  If you run into ammonia or nitrite, the best thing would be to do a water change followed by prime and a bacterial starter like seachem stability or fritz zyme 7.  At that point, tag me, let's review filtration and go from there. 

Test for everything you can as well and let us know water parameters.  If one of the mods can, please move this one to disease section for us. 🙂

Do you have aquarium salt on hand?

Ammonia 0ppm

Nitrite 0ppm

Nitrate 20ppm

As of right now 

[nabokovfan87]

Looks like some fin rot going on. You'd want to use something like kanaplex and aquarium salt.

The black one also seems to have some sort of sunken belly, this seems like it would also indicate that paracleanse is a good one to treat with as well. Minimum 3-4 treatments to thoroughly treat for internal parasites.

Edited November 27, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Vedrick]

Thank you that's what I thought as well

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Maracyn almost always crashes my cycle. Not immediately but like halfway through the course. Paracleanse does not. Just test daily, have some Seachem Prime dechlorinator on hand. Water change with the Prime to reduce ammonia and nitrite levels if any exist.  Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for 24 hrs.

Also if you can pick up a good bottled bacteria (ie: Fritz Zyme 7), to rebuild your bacteria colony if/when necessary, that would be a good tool to have in your fish room.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[quikv6]

Forgive me if this was posted....but what is the GH / KH? Livebearers like guppies generally thrive in harder water.

[Vedrick]

On 11/27/2023 at 3:12 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Maracyn almost always crashes my cycle. Not immediately but like halfway through the course. Paracleanse does not. Just test daily, have some Seachem Prime dechlorinator on hand. Water change with the Prime to reduce ammonia and nitrite levels if any exist.  Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for 24 hrs.

Also if you can pick up a good bottled bacteria (ie: Fritz Zyme 7), to rebuild your bacteria colony if/when necessary, that would be a good tool to have in your fish room.

Will do thank you

On 11/27/2023 at 4:03 AM, quikv6 said:

Forgive me if this was posted....but what is the GH / KH? Livebearers like guppies generally thrive in harder water.

I am not sure but I've only have had these 2 guppies since Friday my other 2 guppies are good. 

[Vedrick]

Update: 

The black guppy did not make it but the white one is doing 10 times better. Thank you everyone