Bent guppy struggling to swim 😢

Viviparous or Live bearing fish - Mollies, Platties, Guppies
Charchar38
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Can anyone suggest anything I can do 😢

My main man Marco has all of a sudden developed a bent spine, he's just slowly swimming round in a circle, clamped fins 💔


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Vale!
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[When I see your username I visualise a Panda! I think it was spelled 'cha-cha' - though I could be totally mistaken]

A bent spine tends to suggest muscular degeneration. Is that a white(ish) patch that I can see on his flank? If so, that would support such degeneration, too.

Look up 'Neon Tetra Disease' and see if the descriptions (read several) chime with what you're observing. Maybe start with this one.

NTD seems a reasonably possible explanation, but of course it may not be the correct one.
Charchar38
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Vale! wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 22:19 pm [When I see your username I visualise a Panda! I think it was spelled 'cha-cha' - though I could be totally mistaken]

A bent spine tends to suggest muscular degeneration. Is that a white(ish) patch that I can see on his flank? If so, that would support such degeneration, too.

Look up 'Neon Tetra Disease' and see if the descriptions (read several) chime with what you're observing. Maybe start with this one.

NTD seems a reasonably possible explanation, but of course it may not be the correct one.
Thank you for this information!

Some of this is ringing true unfortunately 😢
I think I'm going to move Marco into a breeding box overnight just incase he passes and gets eaten.

Is that a good idea?
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Vale!
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If you can't go further at the moment [see below] that would be a good idea.

It will at least give you time to steel and/or equip yourself for possible more drastic action. Do you have clove oil in your medicine chest? (it's used for euthanasia - sorry).
Charchar38
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Oh no 😢 I don't think I could bring myself to do that. Is that cruel of me?
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Vale!
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Gosh - that's too deep a question for me at this time of night!

If he is carrying parasites, is it worth the risk of allowing him to pass them on to tankmates (further than he may have done already)? Your call.
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plankton
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He just looks like mine when they get old, although his tail still looks very good - how long have you had him?
Charchar38
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plankton wrote: Mon Oct 05, 2020 9:46 am He just looks like mine when they get old, although his tail still looks very good - how long have you had him?
Only a few months. He was my first guppy. Always had a special place in my heart!
He's made it through the night in his breeding box and still looks the same!
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plankton
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The problem is you never know how old they are when you get them.
They only seem to live about 18 months nowadays anyway, and if they're quite big when you get them they will be over 6 months.
Can you get a more close-up pic of him as the light patch that @Vale! noticed may just be reflected light? (Most of my guppy pics come out like that ;) )
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Jon_D
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Using clove oil to put them to sleep is very humane I had to do that to a Danio which was egg-bound. The effect is almost instantaneous. Better do that than let the little creature suffer. BTW, the "scent" of the oil hangs around for months, it's no offensive, just omni- present!
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