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Weird feeder guppies... Safe or not for axolotl?

Isabella

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Hi! I recently bought about a dozen guppies from a local pet shop to put in the tank with my 12 cm axolotl in a 20 gallon tank. The day before I was going to put them in, I noticed that 2 of them were acting weird. The first one was curled up and swimming with a slant. Its eyes were HUGE and it was really fat. It was a female.The second one was really skinny, possibly a male, acting really inactive and breathing really hard. Its scales were pointed out like a pinecone. I separated these two from the rest of the fish and put them in a large mason jar. They always came and "kissed" each other on the lips and would do this for five minutes at a time. Later that day, the skinny guy died and the girl was acting relatively normal despite her curled tail. I decided to just place her with the rest of the fish. My question is, is it safe for me to feed these to my axolotl? I don't know if this weird disease or whatever the female has is contagious to the other fish. My axolotl grew up with feeder guppies in his tank and he actually enjoys their company and taste haha. I also like them because they help keep ammonia levels under control by eating my axie's poop and leftover food. I don't know if I should risk him getting a parasite or something from the guppies though. What do you think? Should I just get a different batch from another store? The ones I got were the last ones left at the store I went to. Maybe that's why they were messed up?
 

Skudo09

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Firstly, any feeder fish you plan on adding to your aquarium for your axolotls should be quarantined first. I would not add these fish in with the axolotls. The symptoms sound a lot like dropsy and this condition can be caused by a number of things including infestation of internal parasites. Keep them separate from the axolotls. Given that more than one of the fish are showing signs, I would say it is safe to assume that the other fish may be likely infected with whatever has affected those two fish.

In a well established and cycled tank, you really shouldn't have issues with ammonia. It is always good to remember that whilst they may feed on axolotl poo, they too produce poo. Just use a turkey baster to spot clean axolotl poo out of the tank inbetween your regular water changes.
 

Isabella

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Firstly, any feeder fish you plan on adding to your aquarium for your axolotls should be quarantined first. I would not add these fish in with the axolotls. The symptoms sound a lot like dropsy and this condition can be caused by a number of things including infestation of internal parasites. Keep them separate from the axolotls. Given that more than one of the fish are showing signs, I would say it is safe to assume that the other fish may be likely infected with whatever has affected those two fish.

In a well established and cycled tank, you really shouldn't have issues with ammonia. It is always good to remember that whilst they may feed on axolotl poo, they too produce poo. Just use a turkey baster to spot clean axolotl poo out of the tank in between your regular water changes.

I already do use a turkey baster and syphon to clean up. Thank you! I will keep them separated. But now I have a bunch of guppies XD What do you propose I do with them?
:bowl:
 

Skudo09

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Maybe see if the store will take them back? I would mention that two have shown signs of dropsy as they wouldn't want to add them to tanks with other fish given whatever is causing the dropsy could be passed on to other fish.
 
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