# Male Tequila Sunrise Guppy - curved spine?



## MSG (Jul 16, 2012)

I would remove that guppy immediately. I hate the sight of curved spines in any fish & it could be a sign of disease. Remove it before it dies in the back of your tank.

How long did you own this guppy? 

I had some that looked perfectly healthy for about 30 days then all of a sudden they started showing weird symptoms. Never got a answer to what might have been the cause of death. Still have all the photos though.

The plants in your tank look extremely HEALTHY so I suspect your fish was sick before.


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

It is just in there with one other fish which is the same kind and they have been together since day 1 which was early September 2012.

I don't really have anywhere to put it?!?


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

How are your water parameters? Do you have any ammonia? How often do you do water changes? Co2 in this tank?


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

The tank is fully cycled, 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, and no CO2.


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

Oh and I do about 20% water change every week to 10 days.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

Maybe the fish is old and on its way out.

Since the fish is sick I'd toss it in the toilet or freeze it since that seems to be more humane. I don't normally have sick fish but when I do, I generally toss them. The longer you keep him around the greater chance you have of the other fish catching the same disease.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

it could have to do with anything from food quality (something they might be lacking ) to a disease to an injury as a young fry to birth defect. ive had some fry i smashed with a net trying to catch and they got bent spines and were healthy other than that, ive had females get really big and have huge drops and over time slowly start to bend. ive seen them born with bent spines and those get used as feeders so they dont pass on that trait. could be all kinds of things. ive even talked to people who have done water changes where the temp was way different than what was in the tank and it caused a bend but got better later.


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

so basically I have no real way of knowing it its sick or just genetically different?


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

and he still acts pretty normal...swimming around chasing each other....coming to the glass when I am up at the tank.....just sometimes seems lethargic


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

what kind of food are you feeding? and what is the temp in the tank. from the pic he does not look ill to me, body size looks good not skinny, not red in the gills, fins look good so could be genetic or an old injury.


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## byork (Sep 28, 2012)

Do you add a vitamin supplement and serve a well rounded diet? What is the carbonate hardness?


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

Hardness is about 7 (never sure how to measure it....its 7 drops with the API test kit).

The food is Aqueon tropical flakes.

He looks the same (color wise) and is even a bit bigger than his buddy in the tank. Only difference is one is straight and one is curved. 

As I mentioned in my post though, he used to be straight as well.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

its the other a male or female? i wouldnt let it breed but its probably ok just a genetic thing so as long as it is not breeding i think it will be ok. might try different foods i like food from kensfish.com lots of good things there


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

yea he is with another male fish....just the two of them

it is crazy to me to think that food could do that to a fish


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

think about what happens to people when they dont get the stuff they need from food, same thing really. it seems fine other wise so i say just leave it be if it starts showing stress then might put it down. i know some gups can do that due to weight from tail but that does not look to be that big of a tails so i say just go with it unless it gets worse


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

ok thanks for the advice

much appreciated!


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

And I woke up today and he is dying....barely moving along the bottom and over on his side struggling for breathes it would seem.

Time to go to fishy heaven and strangely enough for whatever reason, I feel bad about it.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

never fun to lose any pet, no real way to know what happened to it might have got stuck to filter intake and caused damage who knows, sorry about the loss but is better for the fish


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