Skinny Miny Guppies

[discuskrazy2]

I just bought 2 trios of guppies last week. they are in a 20 gal cycled tank. ph 74, water tests good in every way. The fish do not look good they are long an skinny, for 3 and a half month old fish I know something is wrong with them. The problem is what is wrong ,what kind of medication do they need. Some of them hang around the heater, which is not a good sign, I always believed. Only one female looks pretty good she eats, the others do only alittle.

[CrazieEddie]

I would have to think that you may have bought the runt of the group. I breed guppies and the experience I have is that they just never stop eating. Eating food, scraps on the bottom of the tank, eating stuff growing on plants, etc. Since you just bought them, I would return the ones having the problem. Otherwise, if you really want to take care of them, buy some garlic guard for fish and soak some of your food in there prior to feeding it. Garlic is supposed to enhance the fishes appetite. But since they're just new, I would avoid the trouble.

What do you feed your fish?

[discuskrazy2]

I bought these guppies off a fish auction web site. The fish keeper who sent me these fish knew what they were doing. So now I have learned not to buy off the auction. I was just hoping to save the fish. I have garlic extreem, I'll try that on their food, I got it to use on my discus.

Thank you for the help

[CrazieEddie]

I was a bit rushed earlier. One think I didn't include was that...since your fish are eating a bit & are skinny, they maybe just the runt of the group, as I stated. Otherwise, if they have stopped eating, they it may have been due to stress (being caught, shipped, new tank, etc.). The garlic should help.

They may have been stressed and stopped eating during the transfer, but once they got acclimated to your tank, they felt a bit more at ease and that is when they started eating.

Good luck with them.

[Lucy]

what's the temperature in your tank? Maybe they're used to it being warmer?

[discuskrazy2]

I was told to keep them at 80 to 81% and the ph is the same as they were in. I have had alot of guppies. I have never seen such long skinny guppies as these. I think they sent me sick fish.
I have never had sick guppies before, I am pondering on what to treat them with, and wondering what is wrong with them.

[vjvl51]

If the stomach's are concave, then it just means that they haven't been fed enough. If they were the runt of the group (like Crazie Eddie said), they would just get the left overs as the bigger and stronger fish would eat first. All you can do is feed them well (maybe using garlic to help stimulate thier appetite) and they will fatten up. Being skinny usually is not a sign of illness unless there are other factors to go with it - ie swimming abnormal, sores, rapid breathing.

I would say relax and feed them really well for a few days. Then see what happens. If you try to dose them with medicine, it just adds more stress and they have had enough stress already. Many fish get sick (ich, fungus and/or bacterial infection) due to the stress of transporation and shipping to the store and then moving to their new home. Most of these recover without a problem as long as your water quality is good and you remove all the stress factors that you can.

Let us know how you make out

Vickie