Strange acting guppy - suspect constipation

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AquaNewb

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
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anybody have good guess what is wrong with fish?
3rd day in tank, first day was the most active zipping around tank up and down corners. Now, swims in one spot mostly, occasionally changing spirit. Doesn't eat.

When it was first put in it ate ravenously and I suspect I put too much food in.
The other guppy seems fine, but spits food back out.
Also noticed long stringy poop at first too. Now, nothing. It's mouth maybe is going fast too

Ammonia reads 0.1 or 0.2but I suspect the kit is misreading. What once read 0 from the tap now reads 0.2 as well. nitrite and nitrate are both zero and I must dose nitrate to keep any in the tank at all.
 

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If you suspect constipation, try fasting 2days. On the third day, feed boiled, shelled peas

That will clear out the digestive tract :)

Long, stringy poo could indicate parasites

API general cure works great for this
 
Now it's hanging out at the top, occasionally diving down and coming up fast as if to jump. To me this suggests water quality now. But everything is fine. This is the fullest bodied fish in the tank, so could it be oxygen? HOB filter is turned up to max and its full of plants. I am stumped
 
Is it possible that a toxin was introduced? Fumes from perfumes? Unclean hands? New decorations? Ferts?

You could try a water change and see how it behaves afterwards
 
What size is tank? Does not sound cycled.
Just guppies how many?
Ph gh/kh?
How did you acclimate and the duration?
Are you using liquid test kit?
What conditioner are you using?
 
I did a partial water change

The tank is certainly cycled, It has been up for months and I have been dosing pure ammonia nightly. Went through every normal thing with fishless cycle. Ammonia spike, then reduction, nitrite spike for a very long time, then reduction, then water changes to bring down nitrate. Yes, all numbers were 0 before introduction of fish, but I had kept up with dosing ammonia even though the cycle had finished. Maybe this was more bioload than usual.

Tank is 10g. 10 CPDs, 2 guppies.

pH 7.2, kH from tap is 2-3 raised to 5 with baking soda. gH is 6. I had suspected this was maybe too soft for guppies? but multiple fish store owners told me there is absolutely no way my water is too soft.

Acclimation was done by floating for 20 minutes, then putting them in another container to make the next step easier. I added half cups of tank water every 5 minutes for 45 minutes. I did just pour this water into the tank.

I dose seachem ferts.

I don't know of any toxins that could be in tank. Maybe something on my hands, i do stick my hands in tank to deal with the plants. Maybe there was soap that had not been washed off... but I find this to be a stretch.

While I was typing this, the fish died. Wow, that was fast. I'll keep an eye on everything else. I don't see any signs of disease on the fish. No raised scales, red marks. Her coloration did deteriorate very quickly though.

Everything else still looks fine. CPD coloration actually looks much better than upon introduction.

Using liquid API test
 
To have zero trates with a dozen fish in a 10g is rare.

I wouldn't call it hard almost neutral . But most are tank raised so probably not the issue. I like longer acclimation but....hard to say. Guppies can be hit or miss these days. Not as tough as they were 30 yrs ago imo. Osmotic shock could been at play.
 
Thanks,
You were right. Something did crash the cycle...I assume I did not dose enough prime to get rid of chloramines. I had ran out of the old conditioner a while before adding fish. I had increased ammonia with no trites or trates yesterday morning. I added prime yesterday, which is supposed to detoxify the ammonia, but the other guppy died today.

Hopefully, everything else will be OK. I think I am going to get the tetra-cycle starter bacteria to hurry this up. When dosing ammonia, the cycle took a little over a month. It's too much of a pain to do again
 
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