What is Hanging Off of My Guppy?

If you see something hanging off the bottom of guppy fish then, it must be a parasite. This means that your fish is sick with a disease and needs urgent treatment.

You must carefully observe the color of the “thing” that is hanging at the bottom of your guppy. Normally fish eat food everyday and produce solid waste (poop) that comes out from their body from the bottom.

This poop falls down into the tank in the form of tiny strings. In normal conditions the color of the poop is brownish and falls down immediately it comes out of the body.

However if you observe the string “white” in color and hanging at the bottom of guppy but not falling down then it must an “internal parasite” that grows inside the body of your guppy and when it grows to it’s maximum limit, it leaves the fish body to find a new “host”

This phenomenon happens when the guppy fish is sick with “white spot” disease called as ICH. Ich in fish can be cured and needs a proper treatment. When guppy is sick with this disease, he rubs his body against glass, decorating stones and rocks because his skin literally ithces for scratching. The scientific name of this disease is “Ichthyophthirius multifiliis”.

How to identify if the hanging thing is Ich or not?

This is a good question because not everything that hangs off the guppy from the bottom is a parasite. When guppy gets older his poop changes color and starts turning a little whiter. Many people misinterpret this as ICH and start the necessary treatment. To conform that it’s a disease you must observe for it’s symptoms and then only move to treatments if necessary.

1. One of the most obvious symptom of ICH or “white spot disease” is the fish develops white spots on it’s outer skin.
2. The fish tries to rub his body against stones, glass walls, decorations and plants.

At this stage it is necessary to treat the fish so that the parasite that is residing inside the guppy fish gets killed permanently. Otherwise it will grow and once it’s limit gets reached it will fall out of the fish body.

This is time when you as the owner of the tank see the parasite “hanging off the guppy fish”.

How to treat ICH?

There are stages by which you can easily treat ICH in fish and the best way to go about it is to separate him in a quarantine tank and treat him there. This is necessary because if the guppy does not respond to primary treatment then advanced medications are necessary that can harm other fish in the main tank.

1. The first treatment is really simple. You raise the water temperature slightly in the quarantine tank and observe if the guppy gets treated or not. You can raise the temperature up to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and not more than that.
2. If you observe fish is not responding to this treatment then you can go for a chemical based treatment. The best practice is to buy a solution and use it’s dosage as prescribed on the bottle.

From where does ICH enter the guppy’s body?

This is a very important point to consider because when your guppy gets treated it is necessary protect him from further threats.

1. If your guppy tank has newly introduced fish then most probably this is the main source of parasites entering the tank and then to the guppy. Just like humans even guppies have strong or weak immune system depending on how happy or stressed a particular fish is.Fish that are under stress lose their immunity and are more likely to catch up ICH quickly as against this that are dominant and strong by immunity. It all depends on from where you buy new fish.Normally in a pet store most of the fish are under stress because of constant human movement happening around the tank. These fish are first living in the wild, get caught in a net and are carried to the supplier’s tank. Then the breeder or the suppliers sell them to pet shop owners and then these are finally shifted to individual owners.All this is movement is too hectic for these delicate fish and they are constantly under stress. This stress quickly leads to some kind of disease or the other causing the entire tank a threat to smaller fish.The best practice is to first put the newly bought fish in a quarantine tank and at least 15 days and observe their behavior for any visible diseases. When you are sure that they are normal and fit then only you can shift them to main tank.
2. Like the new fish carrying parasites inside their body even plants that you buy from pet stores or collected from natural world are likely to carry tiny invisible parasites on leaves and stems.The best way to avoid these from entering your main tank is to buy them from a trusted place or if you happen to collect them from natural surroundings, wash them thoroughly and then only introduce them in the main tank.
3. Like plants even gravel you buy from the pet store is likely to carry parasites and infections already. The best practice is to wash the gravel thoroughly and dry it in sun for a day and then introduce in the main tank.
4. Decorations, equipments, driftwood pieces, and any other part used as essential part of tank set up are likely to carry infections and invisible parasites. So it definitely makes sense to first make them free of contamination.

Observe color of “hanging thing” from guppy’s body

Color of the hanging part from guppy body can tell you a lot of things whether the fish is really sick or not. Fish poop drops from the bottom of the guppy body and in case of ICH the parasite that leaves body also falls from the bottom of the guppy body.

If the hanging string is brownish in color and drops immediately then probably it’s normal poop and it will happen whenever fish eats food.

If the hanging string is white in color and does not drop off the body then this is a matter of concern for you as the owner.

Will my guppy die if this “hanging string” does not fall down?

The hanging string is probably because of an internal parasite that is trying to get out of the guppy body and he will not die because of this. But when the parasite was inside guppies body it survived on the same food consume by guppy.

This makes the immunity system of the fish extremely weak leading to other deadly diseases. That is why it is advisable to act immediately the moment you see any such abnormal activities in the tank or on fish body.

A white string hanging from the bottom of a guppy is definitely not a sign of normal and healthy guppy fish and you must separate him to a quarantine or hospital tank and try to treat him there.

What if the hanging string is red in color and not white?

Then it a parasite called as “Coral Camallanus“. The treatment for these parasites includes certain medications that could be harmful for normal and healthy fish. That is why it is necessary to first separate the affected or sick fish to a new quarantine tank and then treat him there.

The medications used to treat Coral Camallanus will paralyze the parasite and finally push him out of the fish body making the host fish disease free.

Medications to treat the Coral camallanus worm /parasite are highly toxic for snails (if you have them in tank) and that’s why you must remove guppy in a quarantine tank before treating him.

What if the hanging white string falls down off the guppy?

In that case it is necessary to remove the thing from the tank immediately. In such cases if it’s a parasite, it will try to capture another fish as host and make him sick too.

Normally if it’s a parasite it only leaves the host fish body when it gets matured to find another fish. If the string falls down then you must immediately clean all the gravel and make sure the debris is removed permanently form the tank. It is strongly advisable to remove the fish from the main tank with the “string” hanging from his boy before it falls off his body in the main tank.

Many times the quarantine tank does not have any substrate at the bottom and has the minimal of equipment needed to cure the fish. In such cases even if the string falls off his body in the hospital tank, it becomes easier to clean the quarantine tank than the main tank with all the fish and decorations intact.

Can I remove the hanging string by hand?

No, you should not try to do that, because it could be toxic and can harm the guppy. First remove the fish from the main tank into the hospital tank and apply suggested treatment there. Any such harmful experiments can lead to serious injury or harm to fish and even death can occur. Fish are extremely delicate and need careful handling with scientifically proven treatments.