I just got 5 cobra guppies, 2 males and 3 females. One of the males has a very tattered tail, it was that way when we bought him. He may have been bullied from the other fish at the LFS.
So, his tail is tattered and he always stays at the surface of the 36 gallon tank.
The levels are fine, 0 Ammonia, 0 NitrItes and between 10-20 NitrAtes.
We have had him for a week now, and the his condition has not changed...
Should I be worried?
Should I isolate and treat? Melafix...?
Should I treat the whole tank?
Most posts that I have read and LFS people do not immediately assume tail rot.
Could someone post tattered tail from bullying and tattered tail from tail rot?
I can't tell the difference via written descriptions of the two.
I am also interested in information on setting up a small isolation tank to treat, could someone post a link to this set-up as well?
Sorry that this post has some many questions, I appreciated any and all help.

You can also try raising the heat and adding some salt to the tank to help with stress and help him heal up. If they all came from the same tank at the store and this is the only one with a tattered tail I would be inclined to assume it's not fin rot, however if any of the other fish are showing symptoms it may be fin rot.

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This is from tail rot.Hard to tell but the tips are severely ragged and black.Some of the ray tips were red,which indicates infection.


This is fin damage,from spawning.If you look the edging is tattered but no bloody or black swollen areas.Note also that if,upon removal,she was placed in bad water this can easily turn into fin rot,as fin rot is due to poor water quality.


The best treatment for fin rot is nice warm clean water,with some salt added to help soothe the wounds.Make sure you dissolve any salt fully in some water before adding as the salt itself can burn if it falls on the fish.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Hello Ben...

If your male Guppies were kept with other fish species, then fin nipping will happen. Guppies do best if kept in a "species" tank. That way other fish won't make their long fins a target.

Your options are limited to adding a teaspoon of standard aquarium salt to every 5 gallons of treated water change water and changing half the tank water every week. I would also recommend raising the temperature in the tank to 80 degrees for a week. The combination of warm, pure water and a little salt will calm the fish and stimulate their healing process. See how they respond after a week. If they improve, then keep everything the same for another week. Then, you can return to your regular routine. I would continue to keep a little salt in the tank and do the large, weekly water changes.

One other thing, I'd get some more females in the tank. I try to keep at least three to four female Guppies for every male.

Just a couple of ideas to consider or not.

B

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First of all...
Thank you all so much for the information and all the effort that you have put into this post. On other forums, posters are so quick to flame about what I they feel that I am not doing right vs. discussing the issue and/or questions that I have.
I'm nervous about adding salt do to all the other fish, plants and critters in the tank. Since this is a guppy, could I just get a golf fish bowl and isolate him for a week adding the supplementary salt? Or use melafix?
Could a guppy handle a week or so in a gold fish bowl without a filter or heater?
I could change the water daily and monitor the levels. Our water is softened, ph 7.4 from the tap. What do you think?

TBH the salt is just to soothe,if you dont want to add it,you dont have to.Like I said finrot is water issues and if it was tattered from a fuss then just keep his water clean and warm.He should start healing pretty fast if h is healthy.Look for regrowth in about a week.It will e clear,and eventually gain its colors.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

This is an image of the fish in question.
I hope I inserted the image properly.
My wife is very concerned about the fact that it stays at the top all be itself and she believes that the tail has become more tattered in the week that we have had it, I'm not certain that it is any worse, but it sure doesn't seem any better.
I believe that it might be something more psychological. I think the tail is tattered from bullying and he's learned to stay at the top to compete for food and safety.
Any ideas?

DO you have any live plants?

Planting a tank will not only help the quality of the water but also makes the fish seem more safe.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Is he mixed in with other species? Like Bradbury says they do better with just other guppies.

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90 gallon, 1 Iridescent shark, 2 Pleco, 3 Goldfish, 5 Cory cats, 2 Nerite snails
5 gallon hex, Blue Crowntail Betta, 1 nerite snail,

Yeah, there are corydoras and shrimp, but they all leave him alone.
The tank is planted with several water sprite, moneywort, and java moss.

The biggest problem for suggesting anything is the tattered tail was there when you got him. It could be from his being attacked, or he could have been born with a lousy tail. If he's hugging the surface, he's not well.
It looks like there's a chunk gone at the top, so he was probably attacked and injured. I'd keep him where he is and give him time. A bowl would be cold and stressful.
Watch what the other guppies do. The shrimp and Corys won't even notice him. Odds are, his attacker has already been sold to someone else, and you are just seeing the after-effects. The damage on the top of the tail says something hit him from above, so he's no fool. He's staying at the surface til he feels able to cope!

I have a Guppy only tank and see the same thing from time to time. This looks very minor. I never do anything special, just regular water changes, and they heal up fine. Fin Rot usually looks much different.

He died. Exactly on week after getting him. I doubt there was anything that could've been done. The other 4 fish seemed to have gotten bigger and he didn't. It's hard to tell what actually could've been wrong. My wife is very attentive with monitoring the other guppies.

Tail rot is fungal. Cotton mouth is bacterial. So i would treat with primifax and maybe leave the lid up and clean it.