Guppies fins turning black - finrot?

[poppy]

I have a lightly planted 10 g tank w/ 3 male guppies, 1 otto (other one died today - go figure?), 2 ghost shrimp and 2 african dawarf frogs.

While fishing out my dead otto I noticed one of my guppies fins (the ones on the sides behind the gills) turnning black. Also the top fin has a tear in it. Other than this it is acting normaly. Is this the begining of fin rot???

When I treat for fin rot do I have to remove the filter? for how long?

Thanks!

[michael lai]

Hi Poppy,
Welcome to Aquatic Quotient. In regards to your question, whether it turns to fin rot or not depends on alot of factors. Water parameters and state of fish. I think guppies, ghost shrimp and african dwarf frogs are not the best of companies, if the guppies are stressed secondary infection is a high posibility. I suspect your shrimies are giving your guppies a hard time so I would separate them. You don't have to shut down your filter, medication nowadays are very beneficial bacterial friendly but you have to take note on your oxygen levels( side effect of medication, O2 depletion ). Any 'break' to your filtration cycle for more than 2 hours will bring your filter to ground zero. PS: Take out all charcoal filter media as they absorb your medication and render it useless.
Best of luck with your guppies.


Cheers.

[poppy]

Well, I did a 25% water change and added a little salt. The black spots (fungus?) seem to be fading and everything else looks great. Fish seem happy and no further fin problems.

So I won't medicate for now and just keep a close watch.

I'm surprized to hear your caution about the ghost shrimp. They are small now. I will keep a watch on them to be sure they don't cause any problems.

Thanks.

[jhseah]

Will the frogs snacks on the guppies and shrimps?
This is my concern

[Justikanz]

IMO, this is a bad case of choosing bad tankmates...

The frogs will hunt the shrimps and fish, if I didn't get the frog's name right...

And the ghost shrimps will happily tear away at the guppie's fins when they are small and catch them for supper when they grow bigger (when the claws start appearing...).

I would suggest having either one of the 3 and choose more appropriate tankmates for them. Take care...