I think my guppy is sick.. HELP?

Question

I just bought a male guppy yesterday along with a female guppy and two mollies.. I don't know the gender of the mollies but I think one is a boy and one is a girl.. They are all in the same tank.. It's a 2.5 gallon tank, if that's any help..

I think my guppy is really sick.. Ever since I bought him he has been swimming at the surface of the water.. I thought that was normal so I didn't pay too much attention to it.. Today, he has been swimming very slowly and doesn't swim away if I tap the glass like he usually did.. I took him out of the tank and put him separate from the others.. But after like 10 minutes I put him back in the tank and decided to watch him.. I noticed that one of the mollies(the one that I think is a male) was trying to bite his tail.. So I separated the guppy again.. Now he is swimming sort of horizontally, like slanted to the left.. And he won't really eat anything.. Also, he lies horizontally on the floor of the tank he's in and whenever someone gets near him, he gets up and starts swimming in circles on his left side again.. But like 3 minutes later, he lies back down..

I'm really worried.. Please help me.. What do you think is wrong with him and what can I do to treat him?

P.S. can someone please tell me how to tell the difference between a male and female molly.. Pictures would really help..

Thanks!!

Answer 1

1st of all never ever put guppies in a 2.5 gallon tank  i would keep them in a 20 gallon tank or more. the reason hes doing that is because you didnt cycle the tank. the fishes are probably stressed so they intend to nip on each others fins. when he lies on the floor horizontilly he probably has swim bladder disease cook a pea then peel it, mash it into tiny pieces then feed it to him. a male molly will have a mohawk and he'll have a bottom fin that has a white dot on it. a female will have oval shaped fins and will have a white ring around her anal. you clean the tank every week with a gravel vacuum. and use tap water that has been dechlorainated with a dechloranator like tetra aquasafe.

Answer 2

I worked at a Fish Hatchery for 9 yrs I had the wonderful job of separating males and females so they can be sold and the best way to tell the difference between Male Mollies and Female is the Male has a big long top fin on the top of his body . The female has a small top fin.

Sorry but there is no way your going to be able to save ur guppy he'll probably die soon. I seen it a lot where I worked and no matter how much meds. my boss would use they always died. Guppies are very sensitive fish. If you use city water then no it would kill ur fish I think u would have to treat the water to get out all the chemicals in it before putting it in ur tank and if u have well water then it's ok.

Answer 3

You have way too many fish in way too small of a tank.  At most you should keep a single betta in a 2.5 gallon tank.  For the fish you have you should get a 10 gallon tank.  Frankly, with a female guppy, you're going to need a lot more space because you'll be having a lot of little guppies soon .  Even if the male guppy dies, which seems likely, as female guppies can hold sperm from a single mating for up to 6 months.  

Your male guppy may have a swim bladder problem since he can't remain upright, but your water is also probably full of ammonia because your tank is probably not cycled yet.  You need to learn about the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium and cycle your tank.  Here's a link to help you with that:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biolog...

In the meantime, do an immediate 30% water change.

As far as sexing mollies, here is a site that has a diagram and details on how to tell the difference.

http://groups.msn.com/MollyFish/breeding...

*Additional*  Tap water is fine as long as you use a water conditioner.  You should be doing weekly 20-25% water changes and using some sort of suction device (air hose, turkey baster, gravel vacuum, etc.) to suck up the debris from the bottom of the tank along with the dirty water.  You may need to do more frequent water changes while your tank is cycling in order to help keep your fish from getting sick or dying from ammonia or nitrite poisoning.

Answer 4

Sounds like a swim bladder type thing, my guppies are in a heated 5 gallon tank, I also put a tbsp of salt in the tank. Try getting some stress coat and putting some aquarium salt in the tank, even if its a pinch it will help gill flow and stress levels as well.

I can help you with the sexing of your male and female mollies.

Male mollies have a tube shaped ventral fin(located on the belly before the a**s)

Female mollies have a triangle shaped ventral fin(located in the same spot)