sick guppy?

[Sisserydoo]

Hi guys,
On Monday night I bought two pretty yellow male guppies to go in my guppy\molly tank.
This morning, one of the new guppies was acting sluggish, and when I came home from work just now, it was dead.
The other one has developed a solid black color on half of its dorsal fin. Other than that, it seems fine. Just fed some flakes to see if it would eat, and it did, zipping around like normal.
The other two guppies seem fine, and all seven mollies seem fine.
Don't ask about water parameters...I don't have a testing kit, it's on my Christmas list
So what could cause the color change? stress? It's not raised or bumpy looking, just a different color than this morning!

 

[foster53]

Has any portion of body darkened or just the fin? If you can post some pics it would help . I have some thoughts but don't want to try diagnosing blindly

 

[Sisserydoo]

I've never posted a pic...I can try!

 

[Sisserydoo]

fish is too fast, camera too crappy!
I will try again later though, I have to take an online final now

 

[jlk]

Can you possibliy take a sample of your water to the lfs & have it tested? They usually use strips but something is better than nothing here! I would just ask specifically what the numbers they get are & let us know. I suspect adding the new fish may have caused an ammonia spike. Typically, if a fishes fins turn black in new water its cause by ammonia burns. They will heal over time with healthy water. I would really start doing daily 50% pwcs until you get your kit & can test your water for yourself. Make sure you use a good water conditioner (prime or amquel plus) & match the temp of the new water to that of your tank water so you dont shock your fish. Once you get your kit, you will be able to determine whether or not a pwc is really needed based on your readings.

 

[Sisserydoo]

Thanks for the info.
I probably should not have bought new fish during finals week! I have one more final to do, but I should be able to do a water change in the morning before I go to work.
I didn't think two little guppies would be a big deal. There have been nine other fish in there for months with no problems. I guess anything can upset the balance!

 

[Sisserydoo]

Can you possibliy take a sample of your water to the lfs & have it tested? They usually use strips but something is better than nothing here!

I might be able to do that later in the week, but my local fish store isn't so local! It's almost an hour away

 

[ejaramillo01]

I might be able to do that later in the week, but my local fish store isn't so local! It's almost an hour away

If is eating fine, could be just stress, I will give him some time before doing anything. The only suggestion for sure is to try to get the readings of your tank. But we can get a clue with the following questions:
How long your tank has been running?
How often do you do partial water changes? How much water?

 

[jlk]

Thanks for the info.
I probably should not have bought new fish during finals week! I have one more final to do, but I should be able to do a water change in the morning before I go to work.
I didn't think two little guppies would be a big deal. There have been nine other fish in there for months with no problems. I guess anything can upset the balance!

Doesnt take much to upset the balance in our little ecosystems! Do you know what you are going to do with them over your winter break?

 

[Sisserydoo]

It was an established tank given to me by a friend who didn't want it anymore. It had 7 five year old black skirt Tetras. I let it alone for about a month, then switched out all the fish. I think the water is okay, but who can know without testing, right? All the black skirts are in my other tank, and doing fine. I do about a 20% water change every two weeks. Now the new Molly looks like it has ich...grrr...no more new fish for me, this is stressful!

 

[Sisserydoo]

Jlk
I'm all grown up old actually, I've just gone back to college after many years out of school. So I will be home with my fishies for winter break. I'm looking forward to having time to get this all straightened out!

 

[jlk]

Lol, im sorry!!! Its great your going back to college! I wish i had the extra funds to do the same... keep us posted about your fish in the meantime!

 

[LyndaB]

Perhaps you should've purchased the test kit instead of more fish.....

When there is a sign of a problem in your tank, the first thing people will ask are your water params. That's the first step towards a diagnosis. You can get the test kit for $23 plus shipping on kensfish.com.

You do not quarantine your new fish, correct?

 

[Sisserydoo]

I should have got a test kit...but the guppies were cheaper! The test kit is the next thing I'm getting, I swear!!! I've got three empty 10 gallons that I could use as a quarantine tank, but I need to get a heater and filter fish. So I've always wondered, do you keep fish in the quarantine to keep the cycle going?

By the way, the guppy is still behaving normally and eating fine, so that's one bit of good news.

 

[Sisserydoo]

*filter first, not filter fish!
I'm on my phone, sorry!

 

[jlk]

Theres a couple of ways to keep a qt going. You can run the qt filters on your main (cycled) tank to seed them & keep them viable then transfer the filter to the qt tank when you want to set it up. Instantly cycled tank! Because im always using my qt tank in some fashion, i dose it with 4ppm ammonia daily (well, almost daily) when its not in use to keep it cycled & then do a big water change when i need to use it. Either way works-its just a question of what you want to do!