My Guppy Fish

Question
One of my male guppies gills looks like it is puffed up around his face,any idea what is happening?
Info:
1.I have a 2 gallon tank
2.i have a hang on filter
3.And the tank has been set up for about 6 days.
4.I have 2 male fancy guppies.
5.the temp of the tank is around 73 degrees
6.Today as i went to feed my fish this evening,i noticed something differnt about one of my guppies.He looks like his gills might be puffed up around his face,i am very worried.I bought the fish about a week ago. Thanks

Answer
Hi Nicole,

We have quite a few issues here.  First, your 2 gallon tank is not large enough to support any aquaria.  There simply is not enough water to support the bioload for your fish.  I would recommend that you upgrade immediately to, at the very least, a 5 gallon tank with a built in filter and equipped with a heater.  You can get a 5 gallon hex at Walmart with a built in filter for under $30.  All you need to do is add a small heater.

While guppies can live at lower temps they thrive at a tropical temp of 76-78 F.  And a stable temp is the most important.  If you do not have a heater the temp is likely dropping dramatically at night and any 4 degree change in temp is stressing your fish out.

If the tank has only been set up for 6 days then it was not nitrogen cycled before you added the fish.  This too, is a big no-no.  The nitrogen cycle is always recommended to be done before you add fish because adding fish during the cycle will stress them, disease them and likely kill them.  The cycling process is when the beneficial bacteria in your tank build up to eat the harmful ammonia and nitrites produced by the fish.  When there is not enough beneficial bacteria built up yet, as is in your case, the ammonia and nitrites build up and these are lethally toxic to fish.  Your ammonia and nitrites should always be 0 and nitrates 5-20 ppm but in a cycling tank the ammonia and nitrites get out of control, hence, why fish should not be in there yet.

Your guppy is likely inflamed from one of two reasons.  First, you have high ammonia in the tank from the cycling process.  This will cause gills to get red and inflamed.  This is because ammonia burns and suffocates fish.  The only way to know how much ammonia you have in the tank is to test for it.  I don't recommend strips, but rather liquid drop kits, as they are more accurate.  If it's high, this is likely the issue and you'll need to do one emergency 50% water change and double dose a product called Seachem's Prime.  You will need to do 25% water changes every 2-3 days to keep the fish alive during the cycling process.  Cycling without fish normally takes about 2 weeks.  With fish it can take 8-12 weeks because all of the water changes slows it down but if you don't do the water changes the fish will die.  Only feed them an eyeball's amount of food every 2-3 days while there is ammonia or nitrites present.

If your ammonia is not far out of control it could be gill flukes, a parasite.  This could be caused from the water quality being off and the cycling stressing him out too.  If this is the case he needs to be treated with gill fluke tablets, which can be found at most pet stores.  However, I think it's very likely that it's the high ammonia at this point and not the flukes.

You really need to upgrade to a larger tank immediately and test your water before we'll know for sure which it is.

Good luck: ) April M.