guppy trouble

[Addison]

Two days ago one of my guppys dies randomly then today I wake up to find that another one may be on the same path. I noticed him lying on the bottom upside down. when he tries to swim he uses only one fin and the other stays immobile. he also seems to be breathing rapidly. His tail also appears to be niped. Is he sick or injured by other fish??? his tank mates are three wild darters not even an inch long, a common pleco, another guppy, and three ghost shrimp. Please help

 

[Wiggles24]

How long has your tank been set up?

 

[vance1013]

Two days ago one of my guppys dies randomly then today I wake up to find that another one may be on the same path. I noticed him lying on the bottom upside down. when he tries to swim he uses only one fin and the other stays immobile. he also seems to be breathing rapidly. His tail also appears to be niped. Is he sick or injured by other fish??? his tank mates are three wild darters not even an inch long, a common pleco, another guppy, and three ghost shrimp. Please help

How big is your tank how long has it been setup did you cycle your tank what are the parameters?

 

[Addison]

30G. Almost a year and my parameters were fine the last time I checked, I ran out so I'm going to have to pick some more up before I can test again. Any ideas? Are darters aggressive?

 

[emerald76]

30G. Almost a year and my parameters were fine the last time I checked, I ran out so I'm going to have to pick some more up before I can test again. Any ideas? Are darters aggressive?

Well first off you are overstocked. That common pleco needs a 125 gal tank, which may be the cause of the deaths, ammonia poisoning and fin rot

 

[vance1013]

Well first off you are overstocked. That common pleco needs a 125 gal tank, which may be the cause of the deaths, ammonia poisoning and fin rot

+1 i agree

 

[Addison]

Excuse me but I'm a novice. While I know what overstocked means I fail to understand how three darters, not even an inch long, a pleco, three guppies and thee ghost shrimp are considered overstocked... How is overstocked? Second question is how does a peaceful and docile pleco, while not made for my tank, result in deaths? And my finally question is then, according to you all, what am I allowed to have in my tank?

 

[Wiggles24]

Whoa there! First the pleco, commons get HUGE i wouldn't really say u are overstocked u just have one fish that gets waaaay to big for the tank u have. Plecos also have large bio loads aka they poop a lot so depending on how big yours currently is the amount of waste he is depositing could be messing with your water parameters and killing your fish. I have a question for u though what exactly are "darters"?

 

[Addison]

The pleco is between one and two inches. And they're a type of freshwater fish. Just google them and they should come up

 

[Addison]

Are there any plecos that would fit in my tank? Also what's a good but reasonably priced water tester to get?

 

[vance1013]

Are there any plecos that would fit in my tank? Also what's a good but reasonably priced water tester to get?

On ebay the api master test kit has decent prices then in most most stores

 

[Wiggles24]

There are plenty of smaller plecos to get. Some on here would still probably say a 30 is pushing it size wise because of their bio loads but as long as you keep up on regular water changes and vacuuming you should be fine. Bristle noses are popular there's also clowns, rubber lips, super reds, medusa, albinos, zebras, and the list goes on and on!!! Most on here recommend the API master test kit. If you order it online you can get it for a little under 20 dollars there's enough for like 500 tests in it though!

 

[Wiggles24]

Also you said your darters are wild? How long have u had them? Is it possible they could of introduced something? Come to think of it how long have you had the guppies?

 

[Addison]

Here's how it all began about a month ago I purchased two new fish from a different pet store. After they were added I believe they exposed the tank to something and it wiped it out. Roughly a week and a half ago I went to the family creek and caught the three darters. About four days ago I went to petsmart and got the pleco three ghost shrimp and three guppies. Two days ago a guppy passed and today so did another. But they all seemed very normal until death occurred. So now here I am trying to save what I can of my tank......yes Ik I may have done something terribly wrong but I need advice not a lecture

 

[Wiggles24]

Oh wow OK. So a few things......first what is your tank temp at? Guppies ate tropical and I can imagine the fish coming from the stream live un Relatively cool water. So as far as the rest adding the amount of fish u did in a quick period could of overwhelmed your Bio filter and sent your parameters out of whack. Second whatever it was that killed your fish originally could still be in the tank. Third Since you haven't had the guppies for long they could of just been from bad stock n weren't well to begin with. But I would probably guess either adding a bunch of fish at once through off your parameters and or a disease lurking in you tank is probably the cause. Really need to do good water changes daily until you can get a test kit to see what your parameters are for sure. If it turns out to be an illness there's different things to do depending on what it is.

 

[Addison]

Around 69. So tank a good amount of it out and just refill with new water???

 

[emerald76]

Around 69. So tank a good amount of it out and just refill with new water???

Waay too cold for guppies. They need 75-80 degrees

 

[Amy87]

I was told by my lfs that guppy r cold and tropical fish they can survive in both

 

[Amy87]

http://www.guppyhobby.com/water-temperature-for-guppies/

 

[emerald76]

The preferred temperature for all guppies is 78 degrees. They are tropical fish