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lanasfishies96

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Feb 5, 2017
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54
Hi everyone I'm just wanting to tell you about my recent troubles with my big box store fish. I had a Betta kevin and I decided I would buy a 10G tank and some tank mates for him. Which worked amazingly because he had no interest in them whatsoever and that had no interest in him. So I bought some guppies and tetras a few ghost shrimp and a snail. Well the fish I bought apparently had fin rot kevin got it and I treated it. Then he got a parasite from them and I treated that while doing water changes and everything I could to save my little buddy. I came home tonight to 12 of my 6 day old guppy fry, 1 ghost shrimp and Kevin dead. My guppies are acting funny and I'm so upset about Kevin. Sorry about the depressing info I just needed to get that out. Also the other day my red/blonde guppy died and before that a candy cane tetra died about a week after i got it. All my water tests are perfect IMG_0154.jpgIMG_0053.jpgIMG_0027.JPGIMG_0070.JPGIMG_9715.jpg
 
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Same, everytime I bought a guppy from them the fish would die in not even a day. My water was at perfect levels too. They don't care for their animals there.
 
I've gotten guppies from big box store and they've done well, but a lot of fish can come in with parasites or illness from a lot of stores, this is why a lot of people recommend quarantines with new fish.

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I don't have the space for another tank and I was informed by petsmart that they were quarantined
 
Very sorry to hear about Kevin. He was a beautiful Betta.
 
This is why I avoid big stores all together. I only buy from my lfs now as I trust them and they quarantine their fish. I once saw a dead fish in a tank at PetSmart and I told the employee working in that department about it and she did nothing.
 
The key is finding a good lfs which is one who doesn't try to sell you everything and actually advises you not to, and makes sure your stock is compatible and not over
 
I want you to see my new addition. I'm not trying to replace Kevin nor could I he was one of a kind and he was the best fish ever. But my tank seemed empty without a Betta so I bought another today he was $4.99 and came in the tiniest cup imaginable that was dirty I just grabbed a cup and hoped he was pretty and he is. They did have one that looked identical to Kevin and I wanted him so bad but my BF talked me out of it. He told me where Kevin was so perfect I should give him the respect by not replacing him which is true but I just want Kevin back. This is my new Betta His name is Richard. IMG_0172.JPGIMG_0171.JPG
 
I want you to see my new addition. I'm not trying to replace Kevin nor could I he was one of a kind and he was the best fish ever. But my tank seemed empty without a Betta so I bought another today he was $4.99 and came in the tiniest cup imaginable that was dirty I just grabbed a cup and hoped he was pretty and he is. They did have one that looked identical to Kevin and I wanted him so bad but my BF talked me out of it. He told me where Kevin was so perfect I should give him the respect by not replacing him which is true but I just want Kevin back. This is my new Betta His name is Richard. View attachment 295226View attachment 295227
You named your fish after me... How nice lol... Pretty betta
 
First off sorry about your loss. The secondly my question is how do you test your water. Since it is a new tank it would have to cycle causing ammonia and nitrate spikes that would easily kill fish. If it's the test strips and not the API master drop kit then I would Say that's the problem. I have used test strips and they DO NOT work until it's to late. Sorry if that sounds harsh but being informed helps us learn.
 
I have it tested by the local pet store and it's been running about a month +



The deadly time frame of a nitrogen cycle can take up to two months. Many fish from box store do come with parasite. But it is more likely when multiple fish die that the water was toxic. There is a lot of reading material here on the nitrogen cycle. There is a lot of misinformation on proper maintenance and such out there. So the best suggestion I can give is fully study the nitrogen cycle. Then you will understand about proper water quality.
 
The key is finding a good lfs which is one who doesn't try to sell you everything and actually advises you not to, and makes sure your stock is compatible and not over
Agreed. My lfs refused to sell me fish last week. We did a water test and she wanted to wait a week and instead sent me home with an action list.

I've seen her turn others away for the same reason. I respect that
 
9 years guppy experience, havent lost one from a pet store in a long time (maybe one or two out of ten)
Some things that may help a little.
First and foremost, find out the day they get their trucks full of fish in. It may seem to some that it "increases" stress to go from farm, to wholesaler, to fish store, to your house. But in my opinion, going from petstore to house in a bag for 5 minutes and directly into water that is almost identical to the store (same city, same water) is not stressful on them. Most importantly, it dosent give whatever nasty bugs are floating around their community tanks a chance to attack the new guppies.

If you plan on getting serious about raising guppies, some things will help.

Dont overfeed new fish. They only need food 1x a day, 2 at most. Only a tiny pinch. In nature they graze on low quality food that is mostly moisture, the rich protein vitamin food that we feed them would be like eating a steak dinner with veggies 3 times a day. That is not necessary, even tho they can eat and clear their bowls quite alot. Pregnant females and growing babies are the only fish that need lots of food. I suggest just keeping males, all of good quality. Mine are all the same color. It makes a good display in a nicely setup planted aquarium.

Salt. If you don't have live plants, go ahead heap in the AQ salt. Many Guppies and molies are raised with some salinity, or at least they use to be.
Turning up the heat to 82 and adding a good deal of aquarium salt can help them build up a slime coat. You can use marine salt, which will work even better, but has to be dissolved first in a bucket then top off the tank.

Quarantine if possible, especially if you have several diffrent tanks.
If you have a bare bottom ten gallon tank,you could try a product like methylene blue, very cheap stuff, to make sure there are no bacterial infections or fungus/ick for a few days or a week.
You can also use something like prazipro to de-worm and de-internal parasite the fish.

The worst types of bugs are the kind that attack the stomach, eventually destroying the gut so much the fish dies, while no outward symptoms are ovbious. These worms called "callamanus" are the scourage of the guppy raiser, will quickly go thru and wipe out an entire fishroom if not noticed. Read up on them, and fear them. Early on, they can be stopped by de-worming a fish, but once they have grown and spread, they are impacted to the stomach so much that the fish cannot pass, and dies. A few drops of water or a dirty net, or bucket, or siphon tube, with one tank of guppies or mollies infected with callamanus, can wipe out hundreds of guppies. Its very contagious, and practially unstoppable given enough time passes before you notice them.

In my experience, guppies are not very suseptible to ick.

So if you see what im doing here, putting into a bare bottom tank with just a heater and airstone, using medication like a methylene blue, and using heaps of AQ salt, extra slime coat medication, and setting the heater to 82f degrees,starving them for a day....Basically your cranking up their metabolizm and immune system turning them into overdrive mode and they will usually quickly perk up act healthy and get over whatever minor problems they will have gotten from the long journey

API makes a meciation called "general cure" which is a internal paracide mixed with a dewormer. Should clean them out.
This also should be seriously considered in the Q. tank, since worms and internal problems are the worst thing you have to worry about
Just make sure you dont combine medications that are not suppose to be combined.
Matching PH is also important. Tho not that much. Tanks that have low buffering capacity and high bioload such as a planted tank that has not had a water change in awhile, can drop the PH quite abit.
I do not worry about the drip acclimation method, you dont have to baby fish so much. I dont even worry about floating the bag, just come home cut it open and dump them in. Whatever. If you want to pour the bag over a bowl and let them fall into a big net, go for it. I just dont worry about it.
Most guys that send guppies to shows de-worm them on a regular basis.
 
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