HausMaus
Aquarium Advice Regular
1~ My latest ill fish is a metallic yellow male guppy. During the day he was happy and swimming with the others and feeding etc. By the evening he was hanging in the plants. I noticed he liked to sleep on the gravel and thought this was a bit unusual. Next morning he didn't eat, not interested, just hung back and low and he was gasping. So I removed him into a hospital tank (which is just a 3litre bare bottom with some java moss and a fake fern, and an airstone).
My last fatality was last Monday, another male. He had the major shimmies and his tail was disappearing. He would eat a bit but he just wobbled from side to side, non stop, even when stationary. It got to the point it looked like he was having a fit. I treated him with salt and tri sulfa for the finrot, but he just got worse and worse so I put him out of his misery.
Before that I lost a female. She was bullied a bit by a dominant female and would not come out of hiding. She got so weak I found her stuck to the filter intake so I put her in the hospital tank. She didn't eat and barely floated around. I also euthanased her and when I did, a red worm popped out of her bottom. It looked like a blood worm, but it wasn't soft a squishy like one, it was quite wirey. No wonder the poor guppy must have been in agony to have that inside her. There was another poking out but I didn't bother to see how many more there were. I tried to dose the main tank with worming tabs but my corys reacted so I had to do a 50% water change, so not sure how effective the meds were on the other fish, if they had parasites.
All this time, my water parameters were as below. Maybe the KH was a little low but I had been slowly and gradually raising it from KH 2.
2~ Recent tank parameters (wednesday): 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, Ph 7.4, KH 5, GH 5
3~ My tank is 35lt/9gallon. Been set up since early May, had my ammonia spike in June. Fine gravel with live plants (vall, micro indo which is like a java fern, java moss), river stones and 3 pieces of drift wood.
4~ I have an internal pump, and have two different types of sponges plus ceramic media.
5~ There are 4 pygmy corydoras (which I've had sine May) and currently 6 guppies (2 males, 4 females).
6~ Did a 50% water change 10 days ago, because I had put some worming meds in the main tank but the corydoras reacted negatively so had to do the water change.
7~ I've had the corys since May (about 2 weeks after I set the tank up) and they've survived 8 other guppies and a huge ammonia spike. Tough little things.
The current guppies I've had about two weeks.
8~ Last week I replaced a struggling plant with a water sprite and some java moss.
9~ I feed the fish Dupla Rin (for small ornamental fish) and the corys Dupla Rin Tabs (for herbivorous substrate dwellers), brine shrimp and peas on occasion.
So despite my water being "good", my guppies keep getting sick. What's going on???
I'm so frustrated. And I don't think my 5yo can handle any more death. We're still waiting for the fry for the whole life cycle lesson!
I'm doing a 1/3 water change tomorrow even though there is no ammonia or nitrates. I guess my gravel needs a vac at the very least.
The yellow male has not eaten at all and I've medicated him with the worm tabs and salt. All he's doing is sitting on the bottom of the tank, gasping. I don't think I could watch him struggle for much longer.
My last fatality was last Monday, another male. He had the major shimmies and his tail was disappearing. He would eat a bit but he just wobbled from side to side, non stop, even when stationary. It got to the point it looked like he was having a fit. I treated him with salt and tri sulfa for the finrot, but he just got worse and worse so I put him out of his misery.
Before that I lost a female. She was bullied a bit by a dominant female and would not come out of hiding. She got so weak I found her stuck to the filter intake so I put her in the hospital tank. She didn't eat and barely floated around. I also euthanased her and when I did, a red worm popped out of her bottom. It looked like a blood worm, but it wasn't soft a squishy like one, it was quite wirey. No wonder the poor guppy must have been in agony to have that inside her. There was another poking out but I didn't bother to see how many more there were. I tried to dose the main tank with worming tabs but my corys reacted so I had to do a 50% water change, so not sure how effective the meds were on the other fish, if they had parasites.
All this time, my water parameters were as below. Maybe the KH was a little low but I had been slowly and gradually raising it from KH 2.
2~ Recent tank parameters (wednesday): 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, Ph 7.4, KH 5, GH 5
3~ My tank is 35lt/9gallon. Been set up since early May, had my ammonia spike in June. Fine gravel with live plants (vall, micro indo which is like a java fern, java moss), river stones and 3 pieces of drift wood.
4~ I have an internal pump, and have two different types of sponges plus ceramic media.
5~ There are 4 pygmy corydoras (which I've had sine May) and currently 6 guppies (2 males, 4 females).
6~ Did a 50% water change 10 days ago, because I had put some worming meds in the main tank but the corydoras reacted negatively so had to do the water change.
7~ I've had the corys since May (about 2 weeks after I set the tank up) and they've survived 8 other guppies and a huge ammonia spike. Tough little things.
The current guppies I've had about two weeks.
8~ Last week I replaced a struggling plant with a water sprite and some java moss.
9~ I feed the fish Dupla Rin (for small ornamental fish) and the corys Dupla Rin Tabs (for herbivorous substrate dwellers), brine shrimp and peas on occasion.
So despite my water being "good", my guppies keep getting sick. What's going on???
I'm so frustrated. And I don't think my 5yo can handle any more death. We're still waiting for the fry for the whole life cycle lesson!
I'm doing a 1/3 water change tomorrow even though there is no ammonia or nitrates. I guess my gravel needs a vac at the very least.
The yellow male has not eaten at all and I've medicated him with the worm tabs and salt. All he's doing is sitting on the bottom of the tank, gasping. I don't think I could watch him struggle for much longer.
