Ill Guppy

Question
Hi Ron,

I will try to be as descriptive as possible. Three weeks ago I purchased two female guppies to add to my aquarium. In the aquarium already were 5 long-fin leopard danios a female betta and a golden apple snail. Size of tank is 10 gallons. The water parameters as of one minute ago stand as follows:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 30
Nitrite - 0
General Hardness (GH) - 100
Chlorine - 0
Ph - 7.2

Most of the other fish are exhibiting no signs of stress, illness, or even discomfort, except for one of the female guppies. When I first purchased her, she was smaller than the other guppy, but not worryingly so, she was also a bit slower and a less aggressive feeder. In the last two weeks, however, she's deteriorated quite severely and I have never seen the kind of symptoms she's displaying in all my 10 years of fish ownership.

I first noticed that her overall body color paled quite noticably, she was a darker gray color and now she's almost just a dirty white coloration. She also became disinterested in food and sluggish. Now it's to the point that she shows moderate interest in the flakes themselves, but will immediately spit every single one back out, she also does this with the blood worms I feed them as a treat, I feed two brands of flake food, Aqueon and Tetra. She will occasionally scratch herself against things in the tank, but there are no externally visible parasites and she doesn't frantically and continuously do it like she really itches, more like discomfort. Her gills have turned quite a bright red color, I can clearly see them because her gill covers are pretty clear due to her pale coloring now. She's become very emaciated and weak, swimming around listlessly. I know I should have done something sooner, but to be honest I have absolutely no idea what this could be and I can't find a definitive answer online about what needs to be done with her. Any advice you could give about this malady would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Kristy,
  Sorry for not answering sooner... I am out of the country and email is sporadic.  

  Sadly it is difficult to know what exactly is wrong. There are many possible explanations. Should could have some sort of infection, or it could simply be that the other fish are bullying her.  You could try separating her to see if things improve.  

  

-- Ron C.
   rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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