# Female Guppy with "dissolving scales" stomach protrusion



## GuppyNGoldfish (Mar 28, 2011)

Hi all, today when I changed the water in my guppy tank I noticed that one of the females had an odd protrusion coming out of the right side of her body, near her stomach. I don't think she's pregnant, but she could be, its hard to tell. But where the protrusion is it also looks like her scales are clear/dissolving/fuzzy, I don't know how to describe it very well, and its really hard to get a picture of her. It look like her right fin could have been smacking against her body too hard and agitated her scales, or she was scratching her body against the gravel floor. If anybody knows what this is please help.


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## Sravis (Mar 29, 2011)

Theres only two things i can think of. 1 another fish may be attacking her and pulling scales off. 2 have you checked your ph? i had a sunburst platty with something like that and i was told it was ph burn, so maybe do a partial water change and toss in some nuetrel regulator. Hope this helps


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## GuppyNGoldfish (Mar 28, 2011)

My red male is somewhat aggressive, he is always chasing down the females trying to reproduce, and I did notice him trying to peck at her stomach. So I'm thinking about taking her out for a couple days and putting her by herself and seeing if she heals.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Too hard to tell without a pic. I know it may be hard, but you need to get a pic in order for someone to provide good advice.


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## GuppyNGoldfish (Mar 28, 2011)

Also, I just got 2 albino cories yesterday, and they are in the guppy tank. They are about twice the size of the gups and they have rammed into both males when they where swimming around the tank.


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## GuppyNGoldfish (Mar 28, 2011)




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## Ajax (Feb 22, 2011)

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but worst case scenario is that it could be dropsy. One of my zebra danios started looking like that, with the fuzzy scales etc. and I had to put her under constant watch just to make sure. Needless to say, I had to put her down within the next two days because dropsy signs were apparent and I didn't want her infecting my other fish. Hope it works out for you. If it looks like her scales are beginning to pinecone, then you might have to do the same.


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

That looks like an infection - it could have started with an injury (would not have been her fin hitting her, more likely if she was netted roughly or something like that) could also have been just an infection. I would be inclined to isolate her and try a broad spectrum antibiotic medication (things like this are rarely fungal). I'd also check water parameters in the tank and make sure the water was perfect, no ammonia and such, just because if she's been sick in there the chances that there's disease pathogens around waiting to infect somebody are good, but if the water is perfect, the chances of the healthy fish fighting it off are much better.


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## Sravis (Mar 29, 2011)

I have never dealt with dropsy but i do agree with Ajax and Chris you should isolate and medicate her, do a PWC on your tank and record your paramaters. The combination on the stress and damage from the new cory's may also be attributing to her bad health so isolation would be best. Hope the best for your fish.


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