Problems with Guppies

[ItsADryHeat]

Little backround information. Tank has been running for a year. I had one guppy left in my tank along with two ghost shrimp so I went to Petco to get another guppy. I had never bought fish from Petco before this, I usually went to Petsmart. I added the new fish, and a couple days later my old guppy that I had had for 6 months before this, died. Then the next day, my new guppy was dead. At this point my ghost shrimp were still alive. About a week later, a ghost shrimp died randomly. Fast forward a week or two. Just this Friday I went and got three guppies from Petsmart. They all swam around fine, no problems. After a couple hours I noticed one of the guppies was swimming at the top, not moving around a lot, just like my old two guppies did before dying. The next day, that guppy was dead. I tested the water, everything was fine, but I did a 40% water change later on anyways. The next day, woke up to a dead guppy on the gravel this time. Not floating like the others. Now I have one guppy left, who's acting weird (staying a inch or so above gravel, acting lethargic, then swimming around the top of the tank chasing his reflection or something) and not eating. What is up with these guppies?
Everything is testing fine, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate with a PH of about 8. Temperature is about 82. I don't have a heater, just live in a desert. Our A/C is about 79.

 

[Mebbid]

Do you have any other fish in the tank?

 

[PockX]

Hmm..only thing I could think of is some kind of bacteria/parasite or something in the water itself. How.often do you do WCs or change out your filter media, and also..what filter?

 

[ItsADryHeat]

The one guppy that is left (don't think he's gonna make it) and a ghost shrimp is in the tank. I have a aqua-tech 5-15 running and a Hagen Elite Underwater Mini Filter that I put my carbon in. I usually do a water change every week, sometimes two weeks, about 40%. It's a 5 gallon tank, forgot to mention that in OP. The only thing I've been doing different ever since these guppies started dying is using Aqueon water conditioner... could that be it?

 

[Mebbid]

If they are dying that quickly then there might be some contaminant in your water or you are getting guppies that are on their way out already. It's strange that ghost shrimp would die too because fish illnesses don't usually infect inverts as well.

What is your acclimation method for the fish?

Have you checked to see if there are any large pH swings in the water between the day / night cycle?

How low does the temperature drop in the tank at night?

 

[ItsADryHeat]

For new fish I let them float at the top of the tank for an hour or two in their store bags. I usually take half of the store water out and replace it with mine but I didn't do it with these guppies. (I did do it with the other ones though, and they died also so I doubt that was it)

During the day it's 8, currently going to test it now. Still 8.

It's currently night and the temp is about 84-85 ish even with the light off and two filters running.

I was afraid to turn on the light because I didn't wanna see another guppy dead. If this guppy survives.. I need to buy some lottery tickets.

 

[ItsADryHeat]

The third guppy was found dead upside down on the gravel this morning.. Would like to know if there is anything I can buy at petsmart to get rid of this silent killer in my tank.

Would a guppy disease harm other types of fish?

 

[Mebbid]

If there's no problem with your water parameters then all signs point to a bacterial infection. The only problem is that it will probably still be in the tank when you put new fish in. Either sterilizing the tank or using an antibiotic would be a sure way to get rid of it, but then you lose your cycle.

 

[ItsADryHeat]

How do I sterilize a tank? It seems to be my only option at this point. I still have a ghost shrimp in the tank aswell as live plants.

 

[Mebbid]

For the tank: 10% bleach solution and let it soak for a day

For the plants: Potassium permegranate dip

For the shrimp: QT and Water changes


All the bacteria should be dead and / or gone in the plants and shrimp by the time the tank is re cycled (if doing a fishless cycle) Just don't forget to do the same to the filter. It might work to let it run while the tank is full of bleach water.

But keep in mind, a product like maracyn plus would probably kill the bacteria as well if you used that.

 

[Matt68005]

There's no point in bleaching the tank. Aeronomas pusedomas and flavobacterium as well as mold is ALWAYS present in the water and in the fishes gut. Try moving the fish to a sterile tank and treating with an antibiotic and anti-fungal and even some salt. methylene blue and kanamycin would work as would triple sulfa and malachite green. But depends on if you've got a lot of sick fish. Not worth it for just a few. But there's really no point of taking down the tank and bleaching it.

 

[Mebbid]

There's no point in bleaching the tank. Aeronomas pusedomas and flavobacterium as well as mold is ALWAYS present in the water and in the fishes gut. Try moving the fish to a sterile tank and treating with an antibiotic and anti-fungal and even some salt. methylene blue and kanamycin would work as would triple sulfa and malachite green. But depends on if you've got a lot of sick fish. Not worth it for just a few. But there's really no point of taking down the tank and bleaching it.

I agree about taking the tank down, it is a bit of an extreme measure. But there's no real way of knowing what the bacterial infection was, and with the speed that it moves with spreading and killing other fish; imho its better to be safe than sorry and take some measure to treat the tank.