fine work. :)
Male tail problems could be an annoyed female. It could be an indicator that your have to be even more diligent about frequent water changes. It may even be that there is someone else in the tank who finds their tails just too tempting ...?
Or maybe they are about to catch fire. ;)
Gupsup007, it is not usually normal for a pinkish hue to appear in the ventral area of a gray female guppy like your who-whatta. It is probably an internal parasite, but one of the reasons we haven't really tackled it, is that it is almost as hard to speculate upon as chewed up guppy tails, even with a little more information.
If a little worm (or five) slips partway out of the anal vent and waves at you, your guppy is infested with *&^%$#@!!! Camallanus!
It is also possibly a worm which always remains inside called *&^%$#@!! Capillaria.
Another possibility is that there is an internal infection of a parasite from the Hexamita group. Is the fish showing white, stringy feces? Is the appetite only so-so? Is it taking and spitting out food?
The first two maladies can be treated (not cheaply, but effectively) with anthelmintics. It shouldn't necessarily be, but Hexamita can also sometimes be treated effectively with anthelmintics too, so one of them is probably the medication to try - first.
Flubendazole sellers: Two sources I found through killie circles are:
http://www.thefishwizards.com/
http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/
See also http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf
The Florida Tropical Fish Farmers Association is also a source of Flubendazole.
http://www.ftffa.com/
Charles Harrison (see the Camallanus article) originally worked with Levamisole. He found that Flubendazol is one of the more water soluble
- or less insoluble - of the anthelmintics and it could be especially useful because sick fish may not eat any food with a medication in it. They can absorb it through gills and maybe skin. It is also a tad less expensive. ;)
It is hard to OD the guppies adding it to the water because of the limited solubility. Some recipes exist for adding it to food. If the fish eat the food, OD-ing might be possible depending upon the mix.
Discomed from Aquatronics (pink package) contains Levamisole.
If you are from North America, gupppies' "bird de-wormer application" which he worked out with his vet, is probably not available (although another might be.)
I did write a couple of American manufactures and asked them what was in their de-wormers. Two responses haven't answered the question about anthelmintics. (Note, only two of the very small group I wrote to have responded. That is certainly not every fish medication producer out there.)
I've also been very impressed recently (and will post a dairy on) with what was said about PRAZIQUANTEL on the NANFA list. It goes by the brand name Droncit. Check the Florida Tropical Fish Farmers Association site or with your local vet.
While there are other anthelmintics, I hope that gives you a successful start.
If other news on them has been encountered by anyone on GL, I'd appreciate hearing about it too. :)
For more info do a GL search under any of those diseases or those anthelmintics? If you have time, there is a lot through www.google.com searches too.
I will not sic you on the scientific search engines unless there is also a guppy named "you-who". ;)
Good luck, good night and all the best!
u.s.
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