Guppies keep dying

[AmberP]

Ok so, let me preface this with the fact that ALL of my readings have been zero for the life of this tank. I've had it tested at 4 different stores, chains & lfs.

I have a 10 gallon, heavily planted, 80 degree, airstone equipped, cycled tank with thriving spawning ghost shrimp everywhere. I started with 4 neons & 3 guppies, all males. The neons were not shoaling well so I added one. Still fighting so, a chain store talked me into another. I know this is overstocked so, I have an aquaclear 20 & as I said, my numbers are always fine.

1 male guppy got dropsy so, I did Maracyn 2 & he made it. The other two got dropsy & died. I replaced with 2 more males. Once the original male got comfortable, he got EXTREMELY aggressive & chased the other 2 males to death. So, I bought 3 females & a male. I kept a close eye on water parameters because I know I'm over the line with stocking.

The the rubbing began. Furious swimming & rubbing. I did a Maracyn 2 & Pimafix treatment. Salt killed my plants & I can't use copper due to my shrimp. I lost all the females. One during birth. I managed to get 4 fry out of her. I bought one female because the male guppy was chasing the neons around bullying them. This was before I saw the fry.

So now ALL of my fish are frantically swimming around & rubbing on everything. Water parameters are fine. I can't vacuum the gravel due to dozens of baby shrimp everywhere. I do weekly 25% water changes. Feed minimal food 2x daily.

It now looks like I'm losing the female & my neons are nonstop fighting. If something was wrong, why are the fry fine? Why are ghost shrimp, which are supposed to be delicate, fine? I'm lost as what to do. I've lost 10 guppies so far.

 

[Plecolover18]

Try this, get a ratio of a small male and three larger females this might work

 

[Matt68005]

Well, if you want guppies and neons get another tank......their like 12 bucks for a ten. I don't think primifax or maracyn is gonna do much good. I raise guppies for years and years, and I sell purebred healthy tuxeudos to my fish store and give THEM advice. I think you should read this post I did. You need an anti fungal, not always jump the gun on the bacterial problems.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ve-heard-alot-of-questions-lately-290640.html
Guppies are playful and often get hurt if their kept too many or improper ratio. Never overstock a tank and always try to keep 2:1 or 3:1 female to male ratio so the females get some rest....as you probably know. Males tales will often get nipped and start to rot......this is "tail rot" or fungus....not bacteria. True bacterial tail rot will be Brown. White on a tail is always fungus. Its very easy to treat if you read my above post. Females will often get woulds and get stressed and yes they can and do get bacterial infections as a result of this. SO giving them hiding places or keeping a 1:3 ratio is the best solution, especially if you want babies.