Poorly guppies

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maestromad

Aquarium Advice Addict
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Sep 14, 2011
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WALES, UK
Well I was just hoping that my guppies were a little stressed after their move however this morning two of them were very droopy with clamped fins.
My water tests are ammonium 0.25 nitrats and nitrites showing 0 my oh is now 6.
I've done a pwc with conditioner in, I can't see any obvious signs of fungus etc any advice??
I've had to leave them now whilst I come to work and hopefully they'll be ok until i get home
 
Why is the ammonia at 0.25? Is the tank cycled? The high ammonia reading is why they are droopy and have clamped fins. Anything above 0 will start to effect fish, so .25 is plenty to get them feeling a bit sickly. You need to keep doing PWC's to keep the ammonia down.
 
Its a new tank with old filter etc the reading is the next one up from 0 on the api test kit. The results were fine yesterday! I'll keep testing and changing and hopefully all wil be ok
 
Recommended pH for guppies is 7-8. A little aquarium salt would be great. And slightly moderate to hard water. I think the pH being 6 aswell as the ammonia will be a problem.
 
If the pH is 6 and the ammonia is .25, that's not a good sign. If pH is super low like that I believe that nitrification (conversion of ammo to trItes and trAtes) stops, reference to this thread: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

I would try (if possible) to add some buffers.

As for aquarium salt, I would not add any unless you see any visible disease that needs to be treated for salt. Freshwater fish should stay just that, fresh.
 
Ok how do I raise the ph? It's only since I changed into m the new tank with sand that the ph had changed! Oh dear
 
Start slowly by adding crushed coral. Only add a pinch though, and add it gradually over a week. It can raise the pH pretty quick and quite high if you add too much, and you don't want to shock your fish with fluctuating pH.
 
I would say that you are going through a mini-cycle. Since it is a new tank with an established filter, it may take a few days for you to show nitrates and have 0 ammonia. Just try to raise the ph with the cc and keep an eye on the parameters. After I upgraded from a 10g to a 20g, even though I kept the gravel and filter media, I still had a mini-cycle like you. Within a week I think everything should be fine. (y)
 
If it is a guppy only tank salt will do no harm. Some Livebearers such as guppies and mollies do prefer a slight bit of salt, they are not 100% freshwater. It is not essential though so as mentioned don't bother if it complicates things.

Failing the CC you may be able to get bottled treatment specifically designed to raise pH.
 
While the bottled treatments "work", be especially careful. They contain harmful chemicals that will hurt your fish when you add it to the tank. They also sometimes have little to know affect on pH, and when they do, they cause massive pH swings.

I still vote for CC, it should never fail you.
 
Ok cc it is then I have two peppered corys in there at the moment and will be adding more once i get this problem sorted! Gosh it can be quite stressful!!
 
I would definitely not add any salt if you have corys in there. Just try to get your pH up to about 7 and try to keep it stable.
 
Well this is odd I've retested my water to tonight and my ph is 7.6! I think I may put the ammo in instead of ph! Doh! My ammo is i between 0-0.25 my nitrite is 0 and nitrate 0. My two sick guppies are still alive but fins clamped shut and lying on bottom in corner together. All other fish are great!
I'm torn with hat to do next do I euthanise and if so how? I'm worried they are sick and will affect my other fish?
 
Have you done any water changes? A water change can help raise the PH and remove the ammonia. I'd do at least a 50% water change with dechlorinator and see how they do. What is your normal water change schedule? A 50% water change weekly (once the tank is fully cycled) can do wonders for keeping fish healthy. Until then though do a pwc any time you see an ammonia and/or nitrite reading.

You should also test your tap water's PH. Letting a glass of water sit out for 24 hours and testing it's PH will let you know what the normal PH is as sometimes it can drop or rise after the water gasses out (for example my tap PH is 8.4 but after a few hours it settles down to about 7.2 which is what my tank's PH is). The PH may be dropping if your water is very soft and also if you aren't doing regular water changes the fish can use up the minerals and buffers in the water. Monitor the tank's PH for a few days after your pwc; if it starts dropping significantly you may need to increase your water change schedule and/or add a small amount of crushed coral to your filter. I wouldn't bother with other additives as messing with PH and causing fluctuations can be harmful to fish.
 
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+1 librarygirl, you need to see if your water is changing in pH over time. I wouldn't euthanize them yet, they may just need some time to recover from this little accident. Give 'em a few days and see if they show any signs of improvement.
 
Thanks for that, I did do a pwc after the first reading so maybe that's what it was. I am concerned though as my corys seem to have white circles on them trying to get a pic but they swim off (they may have always had it and only just noticed through paranoia!) and or of my 'heathly' guppy appears to have white poop! It's one thing after the other please help!!
On the positive my juv guppies are swimming round like mad!
 
I don't see anything wrong with your cory. Granted I am not extremely familiar with them, this one seems to be fairly normal looking. I would say the guppy may have some type of parasite(?).
 
Ok shall I get some meds just incase? He's one of my newer ones had him about a week or so - sometimes I wish I hadn't tried to get them a nicer bigger home!
 
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