New Guppies Keep Dying - is it me or LFS??

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callycal

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 6, 2014
Messages
19
Location
London, UK
Hello!!

I have a 60l biorb and did a fish in cycle around April ish! I started off with 4 male guppies from LFS, one of which died pretty quickly (which was more upsetting than I'd imagined!). The other 3 have flourished and get on very well, no fighting etc.

About a month later I added another 2 males, one died within 24 hours (did have a bit of fin rot although did not notice when bought) and the other died within a week.

I left it for a while and bought 2 more males yesterday, which was a treat for my daughter as she got a certificate at nursery (proud mummy moment). Given past experience I examined both in the bag before leaving the shop and both seemed healthy looking. Now this was only at about 4pm yesterday, and both were dead when i checked at 7am this morning!!

I am petty neurotic about water testing, I have the API master kit, and test before and after every water change. I do 2 pwc every week, between 20% and 50% depending on how much muck is visible!

I tested the water before buying the fish yesterday and then again this morning after I had taken out the dead newbies, and results were the same both times:

Ph: 7.6
Amm: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm

So my long winded question is, is it me or the LFS??? They're advice in the past has been pretty questionable but I'd assumed that fish from a LFS would be healthier than say pets at home? Should I perhaps be getting my fish elsewhere??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! ?


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I would take some of your water to the fish shop and the dead fish and ask for replacements. I have fish die on me within 24hrs as well and all water parameters we great. So I take a bit of tank water to the store, they test it and if it comes back okay, they replace the fish. I think sometimes it's just shock, they've been netted into a bag, then put into a new tank...oh the drama of it all.
Did you float the bag to get it to tank temp and put a little, here and there of the tank water in the bag over a period of time, so that the fish adjust to the parameters? Sorry that you are losing fish, can be very frustrating and upsetting...good luck


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Hi, thanks for the quick reply!

Yes the way I normally do it is float the bag for about 30mins then add a cup of water, float for another 30mins, repeat a few times so it's usually about 1.5 hours before they actually go in the tank!

I have already thrown the fish out! The last time I went in to the LFS and said the new fish had died they just said 'oh well, it happens'. I'm not sure how happy they'd be to replace. These are the same guys that said I could put 4 parrot fish in a 60l biorb tank!! Starting to think maybe it's more about the money with them.


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I've actually got some of my strongest fish from Pets At Home. (God forbid you buy from a big chain)

Some of my weakest from Dobbies (99% of the time you'll find a dead fish in there)

Haven't really tried ALL small family run shops but the ones I have never really worked out either.

I'd have to say, without a shadow of doubt, the best fish I've purchased have been from Maidenhead Aquatics.

They are scattered all over the UK, you should google them and see if there's one close by.


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Thank you so much that is excellent advice!! I've just googled it and the closest to me is Enfield, so I'm going to head over there today!

Thanks again ?


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