outspoken Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Hello beautiful community! This is my first foray into a sick fish situation so I'm hoping for a bit of guidance. This is a female guppy that was part of my original tank setup. She started exhibiting a strange swimming pattern about 3 days ago and then I realized it was her back fin that wasn't opening up. Yesterday I noticed the back half of her body developed a slight discoloration. Water Parameters: pH: 7.6 Nitrates: 15 Hardness: ?? Nitrite: 0 Ammonia: 0 KH/Buffer: ?? Water Temperature: 80F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 usaully this will happen if there is a bacterial infection or if she is stressed. I would add aquarium salt to their tank and see if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outspoken Posted December 8, 2020 Author Share Posted December 8, 2020 (edited) I just added an assassin snail and a mystery snail. Maybe they brought something with them from their home, or it stressed her out? All the other fish are happy though. I'll get some aquarium salt and see if that helps. EDIT: going to watch this video before giving it a try - Edited December 8, 2020 by outspoken adding helpful video for aquarium salt use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outspoken Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 After reading some more and watching videos I've decided to setup a quarantine tank for her to recover in. I have a few snails and plants in my main tank and do not want to compromise their health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outspoken Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 Setup a "quarantine tank", I put that in quotes as I'll be swapping this one out as my main in the future. Water parameters match my main tank and I added 3 tablespoons of salt to start. Also added an air line to help get oxygen flowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outspoken Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 Wow, what a difference a day makes! Overnight she already looks like her old self again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 I would agree with what you are doing, salt works miracles and can pretty much fix anything that is external. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outspoken Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 47 minutes ago, James Black said: I would agree with what you are doing, salt works miracles and can pretty much fix anything that is external. Thanks! Should I wait a certain amount of time before re-introducing her to the main tank? Also wondering if I should dose the quarantine tank again today (every 24hrs) and how many times. Since she looks back to normal I am guessing no more salt is required? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 5 minutes ago, outspoken said: Thanks! Should I wait a certain amount of time before re-introducing her to the main tank? Also wondering if I should dose the quarantine tank again today (every 24hrs) and how many times. Since she looks back to normal I am guessing no more salt is required? If she looks back to her regular self, I would dose one more time. No, clamped fin cannot be spread from fish to fish, so after the last treatmet of salt, you can put her in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outspoken Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 Well, I did dose one more time then waited overnight. Everything looked fine so I transferred her back to the main tank today. In under 4 hours she went back to having a clamped fin. So maybe it is stress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakotascott71 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 I have an identical situation. My female gave birth and the next morning had clamped fin and hangs out in the corner. I'm curious to what I can do to help her. Moved back to main tank and right back to clamped fin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outspoken Posted December 20, 2020 Author Share Posted December 20, 2020 If it helps, Fanny (my female guppy in question) eventually went back to normal for a few days. Then right back again to clamped fin. So maybe she will eventually cope with the stress. Not sure what else to do for her except maybe get a bigger tank and change some things in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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