# Sick guppies



## danilykins (Dec 22, 2010)

I have a little under 2 dozen guppies along with a swordtail balloon molly and some cory's. My gups have been getting sick. I thought it was internal parasites (clear stringy poo) so I treated with general cure. Then they started showing up with these red "lesions" (for the lack of a better word) on their body, one had on the head and the side of its body and was very thin, it died last night  now this morning one has a squiggly (?) patern on its belly and it's red like blood, but it's not open (like under it's scales but the scales are not raised). I treated the tank again last night with general cure. Am I treating properly?


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

danilykins said:


> I have a little under 2 dozen guppies along with a swordtail balloon molly and some cory's. My gups have been getting sick. I thought it was internal parasites (clear stringy poo) so I treated with general cure. Then they started showing up with these red "lesions" (for the lack of a better word) on their body, one had on the head and the side of its body and was very thin, it died last night  now this morning one has a squiggly (?) patern on its belly and it's red like blood, but it's not open (like under it's scales but the scales are not raised). I treated the tank again last night with general cure. Am I treating properly?


Hello dani...

Without the benefit of a microscope and a background in fish biology, it's hard to tell what's wrong with your fish. I wouldn't use chemicals in the tank and help your fish over the next couple of weeks by raising the water temperature to 80 degrees. Start an aggressive water change routine by removing and replacing half the tank water every three to four days. I would add a teaspoon of standard aquarium salt to every 5 gallons of your new water. It's best to make the new, treated, tap water a little warmer.

The combination of flushing a lot of pure, treated water through the tank along with warmth and a little salt should help. Do this for a couple of weeks and see how the fish do. 

B


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Sounds like septicemia. Anti-biotics work on it, but usually if the fish have already lost a lot of weight its just a matter of time, IME. Salt does help but will not treat the problem. 

Guppies seem to be very susceptible to stuff like that. they have been overbred so much. You can also cause issues in your own tank by not introducing new fish every so often to strengthen the line. New borns will evntually have very little color. Over time of course.


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## danilykins (Dec 22, 2010)

Thank you for the help. I looked up septicemia and found a picture and that is exactly what they have!


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