my son has a small aquarium in his room, we noticed that 2 of them had become rather large( out of 6) i read up a little and thought they must be pregnant so i tranceferd them to my planted tank away from the males they got bigger and bigger and after about a week both died within 2 days of each other, now i think they might have had bloat any other suggestions?
big fat dead guppies x 2
- Thread starter othy
- Start date
Dropsy is a clinical sign in fish and not a specific diagnosis. It signifies that the water balance is off resulting in accumulation of fluid both under the scales (causing the scales to stick out) and the abdomen/coelom (resulting in abdominal distension). I have seen fish slowly progress with this condition over many months. The most common cause for these signs in guppies would be a mycobacterium infection in the kidneys resulting in fluid imbalance (basically kidney failure from the mycobacterial infection).
If it happens again, try a brackish bath to draw fluids out of the fish as temporary relief. Guppies love brackish water anyway, so if that's all you have in the tank, might as well just run it brack.
As for curing a symptom like dropsy, you'd have to get a positive ID on the ailment. And good luck with that one unless you have a microscope and experience in aquatic pathology. Some aquarists have had luck with sudden high dosing of powerful antibiotics like nitrofurazone and the like. Sounds like a waste of time to me, though. By the time you see dropsy, organs have begun to shut down.
I just euthanize dropsical fish these days. Thankfully, that only means bettas. Nothing else I have gets dropsy, which implies a latent pathogen that targets bettas. But, again, without a degree in microbiology, I've got nothing.
As for curing a symptom like dropsy, you'd have to get a positive ID on the ailment. And good luck with that one unless you have a microscope and experience in aquatic pathology. Some aquarists have had luck with sudden high dosing of powerful antibiotics like nitrofurazone and the like. Sounds like a waste of time to me, though. By the time you see dropsy, organs have begun to shut down.
I just euthanize dropsical fish these days. Thankfully, that only means bettas. Nothing else I have gets dropsy, which implies a latent pathogen that targets bettas. But, again, without a degree in microbiology, I've got nothing.
the other problem here could have been a couple of preggo guppies that never birthed thus killing them. happened to mine. Cause is stress.