# Help! Sick Guppy!



## Puppylove (Jun 10, 2012)

My guppy is having trouble swimming and is very off balance. Is this swim bladder disease? What can I do? She looks like she is going to die.  Her tummy is a little bloated on one side. Thanks!


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## LTruex (Nov 8, 2012)

Welcome PuppyLove, and sorry to hear this problem. I'm not skilled with your problem, but want you to see your words are being viewed. Best of luck and I will watch for your findings to improve my knowledge. Larry


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

That's very thoughtful Larry IMP to acknowledge a poster yelling for help even though you felt you could'nt help
Puppylove,i'm sorry to say iv'e no idea either but, i hope your guppy has improved


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

This can be as simple as a blockage or it could be an internal bacterial infection.

The 1st (and easiest) thing to try is feeding your fish a shelled and boiled pea or two. Frozen peas are just fine. This is a laxetive and may flush your fish out and clear up any blockage.


Or you can try a salt bath. This is one teaspoon of salt per gallon and leave the fish in the container/bath for 1/4 hour to 1/2 hour (or until signs of stress show). Make sure you stir the salt until dissolved

If these don't work then it might be bacterial and a dose of octozin or maracyn2 might be needed.


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## Puppylove (Jun 10, 2012)

Thank you all!! I gave her the pea and that really helped. She is just about back to normal now even though she looked so bad yesterday. Thanks again.


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## LTruex (Nov 8, 2012)

PUPPYLOVE, glad for you and your fish. Larry


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

That's good news puppylove, glad to hear it too


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## GreenyFunkyMonkey (Nov 27, 2012)

Don't sweat the guppy. Most of them die due to genetic mutations since they are inbred to look the way they do. Also, the most common cause of death are caused by infections with their large ribbon tails and dorsal fins. I noticed yours had a slight rip in his dorsal fin, which can be a sign. Serious guppy breeders often trim their guppies' tails and fins to prevent infection. What they do is pretty fascinating. They drop the guppy in club soda which knocks them out in 5 seconds because of the Co2. Then they lay the guppy on a glass surface like a microscope slide and with a tiny painting brush smooth out their fin and tail fully. They take a razorblade and gently trim the edges of the fin and tail. When the are done (in less than 30 seconds) they drop the guppy back in the aquarium where after a minute or two it snaps back to life as if nothing had happened. I have tried this myself and it works pretty good. I recently had my oldest guppy die. He was the "alpha" guppy in the tank. He lived to be about 2 years old and he died by having a stroke. One day I noticed one side of body was paralyzed and he had what looked like a blood embolism on the side of his head. After a day or two of no recovery I put him down.


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

glad the hear its doing better.


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