Pink spots on a guppy tail - and another one looking unwell

[Vlowman]

Hi all,

I thought the most serious problem I had in my tank was algae, and have in the last few weeks added CO2 into the mix, as well as a little spot dosing with Excel. As far as I can tell I'm not overdoing it with either. I've just tested my water too, and no ammonia or nitrite, with nitrate at normal levels for where I live.

Anyway, I just noticed one of my guppies sitting on the substrate which I know not to be a good sign.



Then I noticed my blue guppy has some pink spots on his tail. His tail's always looked a bit raggedy (I think) so although I'm guessing this is fin rot, I'm not sure where the pink spots fit in.





I'd be grateful for treatment advice. I do have something I can use as a hospital tank - but no media to add to it to insta-cycle, so I guess that would mean daily water changes? Not sure how that would work with any medicines but perhaps someone can advise?

Thanks!

[black ghost]

Could they be baby fish lice (Argulus)??
You wouldn’t see much detail especially at that size. The colour’s making me think of them, that’s all. Are they all exactly the same shape?

[plankton]

How hard is the water?
What are you feeding? They could be from diet if they aren't lice or similar.
The "raggy" tail is fine, most of my guppies are like that.
The one on the bottom could just be age. Unless you breed them and can take note of which is which (I usually have an average of 50 in the tank) you don't know how old they are from shops.

[Vlowman]

How hard is the water?
What are you feeding? They could be from diet if they aren't lice or similar.
The "raggy" tail is fine, most of my guppies are like that.
The one on the bottom could just be age. Unless you breed them and can take note of which is which (I usually have an average of 50 in the tank) you don't know how old they are from shops.

Thanks for you reply. I'm feeding just a mix of the regular fluval bug bites and the spirulina version of the same.

My water is pretty hard

KH = 12dKh (213ppm)
GH = 15dGh (267ppm)

I think the fish are young, having only had them for a few months.

Any further thoughts you have would be great!

[Vlowman]

Could they be baby fish lice (Argulus)??
You wouldn’t see much detail especially at that size. The colour’s making me think of them, that’s all. Are they all exactly the same shape?

Thanks for the thoughts. I can't quite tell - the tail just flutters around so much - but I will have another look later when the lights come on. What would I need to do if it is lice?

[black ghost]

If they’re lice I would treat with Waterlife Parazin. You could catch a fish and see if the spots reacted (moved) to being interfered with... if so you could remove them with tweezers...

[plankton]

Are the pink spots raised, or are they pigmentation?
I keep looking at the pics and really can't tell.....

[Vlowman]

Thanks all. Took a bunch of photos to the LFS and they were baffled until one of the photos appeared to catch the spots at an angle that illustrated it was fungal in nature, so I'm treating for that in a hospital tank.

[Vlowman]

Hi again, I've been treating with Interpret Anti-Fungus and Fin Rot medicine in a hospital tank for nearly two weeks and these spots haven't gone away - so I'm losing faith a bit and don't know what to do next... I'd be grateful for suggestions.

[black ghost]

That Interpet stuff is very broad range…. treating fungi and bacteria. I would have used something better. But two weeks should have seen a difference of some sort. Not sure where to go from that. I would probably try Myxazin, or Protozin. I guess it could be the start of lymphocystis, which is incurable but not dangerous.