Crooked, Emaciated Guppy?

[GalenGrey]

Hey everyone, my fish need help!

I can't figure out what they've got but something is very wrong. I've got 6 guppies in a 20 gallon right now, I'd noticed my adult male was starting to get a little thin so I've been keeping an eye on him. Today when I got home from work and was cleaning the tank I saw him almost listless sitting on the driftwood. He looks emaciated but has a huge apatite, his spine looks curved in an S from above. I don't know what it is but I just saw one of my females looks a little bit strange too, not thinning at all yet though.

I do weekly water changes, I feed them a small amount twice a day. They get about 12hrs of light and 12hrs of darkness. All the levels are testing within range...

I took the male out and put him in quarantine, I'm thinking about doing the same with the other female now too. Can anyone help me figure this out?

Thanks!

Edit: Is this Rickets? I try to feed them all high quality so they shouldn't be vitamin deficient...

Edited August 26, 2014 by GalenGrey

[Brenda4]

Hi, i sometimes think it is in genetics, out of 50-100 there maybe 1 or 2. i have lots of guppies too..

[GalenGrey]

Thanks, Brenda. I've seen it in some guppy fry before but this happened suddenly. Maybe it's just reoccurring now that he's getting older. Oh well, I gave him a nice little quarantine home to rest for now.

[SomethingIsFishy]

My betta developed an S curve in his back that Pisces said itblooked like he had picked up a bacterial virus. He hung on for a few months poor little guy.

[Jt_737]

I can give you a biologically sound path of reasoning as to why your fishes exhibit said spinal curve:

1. If the fish is young, and its spine has been curved from birth, then yes I would agree with Brenda.

2. If the fish is older (how old are your guppies? As you know, their life spans are fairly short, so what I'm about to suppose may be feasible if they are 16 months or older), then it is plausible that they have suffered from a stroke. Defined below:

"A stroke is a sudden loss of brain function. It is caused by the interruption of flow of blood to the brain (ischemic stroke) or the rupture of blood vessels in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke). The interruption of blood flow or the rupture of blood vessels causes brain cells (neurons) in the affected area to die."

Now, supposing this did happen, a curved spine would be a direct affect of either instance. Since the brain and spinal cord are connected, an interruption would cause the spine to pinch in certain areas, causing the S shape - which also relates to the fishes acoustic-lateralis (lateral line) system.

Haha, yeah there's a spelling mistake in the image above. Just ignore it.

Anyway, GalenGrey, my point is that, your guppies are most likely not suffering from any vitamin deficiency - in fact, you've done a great job caring for them if they're old enough to get a stroke at this point. Sorry, but there's probably nothing you can do to help them. I had an old neon tetra that suffered from the same thing. They can still function, and will continue to eat, usually until they pass away from old age.

P.s. I know this was originally posted in august, so my providing this information may or may not be useful.

[joeysgreen]

In such tiny little fish it can be difficult to do anything but guess, but it is quite a large leap from stroke to spinal curve. The spine is held straight and in place by tendons, muscles, cartilaginous disks etc. Strokes cause paralysis, paresis, impaired mental and/or motor control etc. It all depends on what area of the body is affected. Many times death is in short order. Further, strokes more often than not are unpredictable. There are no preliminary symptoms like weight loss. However with that said, some conditions can put an animal at a higher risk of stroke... and yes, it is possible that the body system that is affected is the musculature affecting body posture, but... see how it becomes a bit of a stretch.

[duh duh duh]

Is there anything else in the tank that could have tried eating him, albeit unsuccessfully? Is there a large pleco or catfish that could have had a go if he was lying a little too still one night?