u/CarSoggy7883

I don’t know much about fish keeping. I brought this guppy home from work because he was in a 3.5g with another male and had already killed a third (not my tank or stocking choice). He’s been solo in my 5g for ~4 months now, except for my snails, and he’s been doing well for being in a tank so small.

I first noticed his fins looking rough last week, and the pineconing and red spot on his tail showed up a few days ago. I’ve been sick with the flu so I’ve not been able to give this the attention it deserves. Now I’m having a lucid moment between meds, realizing I leave for a trip in two days, and I have no idea what to do with him.

My parameters have been consistent for a long time now, nothing new being added to the tank, no ferts, etc. Usual routine is a 20% water change weekly and vacuum/top-off midweek. He’s still eating and exploring, but noticeably less active.

From what I have read, if this is dropsy, the best option is to euthanize, but I’m hoping someone tells me I’m wrong since it doesn’t look as severe as what I’ve seen online. Little guy is just a couple months away from having a 50g tank so I’d hate for him to go out this way.

Any chance this is treatable, or ideas on what’s causing it?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5
Gh: 140
Kh: 80
Ph: 7.6
Temp: 79°

I’m not active in this sub, so apologies if this isn’t appropriate or if it’s been discussed before.

I’m going to an event tonight where I’m going to see a lot of friends/acquaintances that I’ve not seen in over a year. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight in that timeframe (more than a third of my starting weight). I’ve always been a large person, so when I run into people lately I am bombarded with questions about my weight/diet/exercise routine. My least favorites are “what’s your secret?” or the suspicious “are you trying to lose weight?”.

The truth is, the economy sucks and I had to cut my food budget back to $20/week just to survive, which escalated to me having a screwed up relationship with food. You can’t say that though so I usually lie, say I cut out sugar or some other bs but I feel like it’s obvious I’m making something up. I didn’t even realize how much weight I’d lost until it was all gone and it happened so fast I’m still in shock, so these kinds of questions really throw me off. Even being told “you look great” makes me have a mini identity crisis.

I wish people weren’t so comfortable discussing others’ weight/appearance, but that’s the culture we’re in I guess. So, is there a polite way to shut these questions down? Or an answer you give that doesn’t sound like an outright lie?

Is this dropsy? Leaving for a trip in two days

If you’ve lost a significant amount of weight from an ed, what do you tell people when they ask “how you did it”?