SteveOH

I have two tanks set up at home: 1 x 29 gallon community tank and 1 x 20 gallon breeding / life bearer tank.  In the 20gal tank I only have platies and guppies with a little salt in the water.

So after much research I’ve come to the conclusion that my tank must have Fish TB (tuberculosis).  The research on the net confirms the sunken belly and the curved (bent) spine.  All my guppies eventually fall victim to it (their spines start bending) and then all of a sudden then die.  I’ve come to the conclusion that, whatever it is, is a communicable disease, since I’ve added new guppies to the tank and they’ve fallen victim, as well as the offspring of previous guppies who have also died.  The weirdest thing is that it does not affect the 15+ baby and adolescent platties in the tank (sun burt and red scarlet).  They seem happy and healthy.  I currently have about 4 baby guppies (the mother died 2 months ago and the father died just recently – about 3 days ago), so I’ll have to keep an eye on them and let you know what happens.  Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any defense against this bacterium and the only resolution I’ve found is to dry the tank, bleach it, and start again.  That’s a huge pain though, so I’m willing to give it some time before I go that route.