Curved Spine in guppy fry.
From Austria show. Picture from Dr.
Loch's presentation.
What started out as a lively discussion concerning curvatures of the spine and the root causes, with several pieces of input from fellow guppy breeders, I managed to recreate the problem that most in the hobby except as "Law".
About (remember not so scientific) the middle of December I removed several newly born fry from a tank of b/g's and with 4 Snake fry placed them in a 2.5 gallon tank with a constant temp of 86f supplied by a clip on tank heater. Most of the descriptions of the pictures are from memory. Not much more I can say about that.
Newly added "Support".
Day One was not a good start. The tank I used was one of the 2.5's that I make by cutting Plexiglas pieces to size, gluing them with a methylene chloride paste and sealing the inside edges with a silicone sealer.
Not for-seeing that the slight water pressure inside the tank near the center top or the fact that Plexiglas has a tendency to soften a bit when it gets warm caused me several start up problems but the most noticeable was for this experiment the guppies need to be in water. The heater needs to be in water. The floor did not need washing.
The picture above is my new design with a center support installed to help stop the bowing of the Plexiglas.
Newly set up tank, with 10 fry.
Day Two. The tank is resealed, and the fry
were added again. I am using an electronic meter and have the clip on
heater set as close to, but not over 86f as I can get it. The water I
started with was aged one week or more with no additives. The tank is bare
bottom with one sponge filter. I have turned up the air supply fearing
that the higher than normal temperature would cause the oxygen level to
drop.
I have a feeling that I have just invented the worlds first "guppy hot tub". I should have glued a small drink holder on the edge for them.
The hot tub in action-with fish in there someplace.
Week One. Not of lot of change although the extreme water turbulence has made a mess of the area around this tank. Its easy to see how a disease could spread quickly from tank to tank if not covered. At this point I am not sure which fish is from which strain. Placing them all in one tank may not have been my best idea this year. Usually at one month I can see the b/g's developing a darker area in the caudal peduncle. Both male and female show this.
In the red snakeskin line at one month the females will have very little color anywhere. Some of the males will start to show a red tint in the caudal.
If they die because of the high heat or get smashed to a pulp against the side of the tank by the turbulent water, both strains will look the same no matter what their age.
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Week Two.
Well more like week two and half. Christmas is over, I have not been in the fish room for a few days.
I had to turn off the air supply to get a pic.When I did that I found that the heater had cracked and had water inside. The tank was back down to 79.5f. That takes me back to the days when I was just a young-un and finding out the heater malfunctioned after sticking my fingers in the tank. That was a much simpler time. Not so many tanks, and all had hanging heaters on them. Other fish besides guppies and not so much work either. I used to get a charge out of that....No pun intended.
Any way, in the picture to the right, everything looks normal as far as the fry go. I put a different heater in and brought it back up close to 86f.
Notice the female in the center of the pic?
The End. I noticed yesterday, about 3 or so weeks from the start of this, that 2 fish show something that none of the others have. I'm not sure. It may be a bent spine. It could also be wasting disease. This is never shown up in this strain of b/g's before. At any rate. This is over. The unaffected fry will go back to join their brothers and sisters in becoming winners at an IFGA show. The two females will go to the cull tank. The fishy hot tub will be shut down indefently.
I know that the guppies in this hot tub were sad when I turned the heater off. I think I saw a tear come from one of their eyes.
©Magicael