Sudden Guppy Deaths!

[memehuffer]

Hi there,

I seem to be having a spate of dead guppies on my hands, and could use some advice.

Firstly, tank is fully cycled and water parameters are good. Regular PWC (recently, very regular, keeping Nitrate below 5-10) and gravel vacs (although I will admit that I hadn't been going as deep as I should have, but I picked up and remedied that rookie error a couple weeks ago)

First guppy died a month or so ago after a couple of days of bottom-dwelling followed by a bit of a curved spine kinda thing... she'd only been with us for two weeks, and had never been very active, so I assumed she arrived ill.

Then all was well for a few weeks.

Then another adult was found dead on the bottom -he'd been fine the previous night.

A couple weeks later, our heavily pregnant female dropped a couple of fry (her third litter), then stopped birthing... her vent seemed a bit red, but I assumed it was part of the birthing process... anyway, two days later, dead. Upon extraction, I noticed a small red mark on her side, near tail. Not a wound, but kinda a thin red line-shaped red bruise...

This morning (a week later), a two month old juvenile was found dead, having been fine last night. And another guppy the same age is completely missing (I've taken all decor out and poked through gravel, but no sign!!)

The tankmates (4 cory habrosus and a newly-introduced dwarf gourami along with five 3-4 week old guppy fry) all seem fine and dandy.

Any ideas? Septicemia? Columnaris?

My big question: Should I dose the tank with antibiotics as a prophylactic, in case the remaining fish are harbouring anything? If so, what?
Maracyn? 1, 2 or Plus?
Will that kill the good bacteria, kicking off a new cycle? (arghh!)

Is the depth of substrate a problem -harbouring bad bacteria? (it's 1-2 inches of small smooth gravel in a planted 40 litre tank)

All help and advice appreciated!!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Hi there,



I seem to be having a spate of dead guppies on my hands, and could use some advice.



Firstly, tank is fully cycled and water parameters are good. Regular PWC (recently, very regular, keeping Nitrate below 5-10) and gravel vacs (although I will admit that I hadn't been going as deep as I should have, but I picked up and remedied that rookie error a couple weeks ago)



First guppy died a month or so ago after a couple of days of bottom-dwelling followed by a bit of a curved spine kinda thing... she'd only been with us for two weeks, and had never been very active, so I assumed she arrived ill.



Then all was well for a few weeks.



Then another adult was found dead on the bottom -he'd been fine the previous night.



A couple weeks later, our heavily pregnant female dropped a couple of fry (her third litter), then stopped birthing... her vent seemed a bit red, but I assumed it was part of the birthing process... anyway, two days later, dead. Upon extraction, I noticed a small red mark on her side, near tail. Not a wound, but kinda a thin red line-shaped red bruise...



This morning (a week later), a two month old juvenile was found dead, having been fine last night. And another guppy the same age is completely missing (I've taken all decor out and poked through gravel, but no sign!!)



The tankmates (4 cory habrosus and a newly-introduced dwarf gourami along with five 3-4 week old guppy fry) all seem fine and dandy.



Any ideas? Septicemia? Columnaris?



My big question: Should I dose the tank with antibiotics as a prophylactic, in case the remaining fish are harbouring anything? If so, what?

Maracyn? 1, 2 or Plus?

Will that kill the good bacteria, kicking off a new cycle? (arghh!)



Is the depth of substrate a problem -harbouring bad bacteria? (it's 1-2 inches of small smooth gravel in a planted 40 litre tank)



All help and advice appreciated!!

Hello, sorry to hear about your bad experience.

I would say the first one was likely I'll when you got him.

What test kit do you have?

The third is not all that surprising. After birth, the mother is very weak and is prone to death. It's not uncommon.

Have you checked around the tank for the missing guppy? My brother had a goldfish that was a jumper and it tried to jump out many times when the lid was open.

Also, your bioload is pretty big for only a little 10g. If I'm reading correctly I'm getting that you have:

-1 dwarf gourami
-4 corys
-guppy fry
- however many adult guppies are left

That's way too much bioload for just a 10g. My money is on stress and ammonia levels.

One of the first thing you will be asked in the unhealthy fish section is your parameters.
pH:
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
Answer those and we can help narrow down the problem.

Just noticed its small gravel-- do you use a gravel vacuum? If not, all that waste can slide down in the rocks and unless you stir it up during a water change is going to remain there, shooting up your ammonia level.


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

 

[fish wrangler]

The bent spine in the first death is a symptom of neon tetra disease. If affects more fish than just neons though. Highly contagious. Where any of the bodies eaten?

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[Delapool]

It would be handy to get more details on the tank as well. How long cycled, filtration, pwc amount and schedule, if anything changed in tank at all or just before they died.

Temp, ph and ammonia as above and if strips or liquid test kit.

If tank is always stable (not near a window or anything) as each death you could explain away but taken together there seems to be something stressing them too much or stressing and fast tracking an infection. I'd hold off on meds until we get a better idea.

Did any of the other fish have any marks when they died? Were they eating and schooling well or going off and hiding / fins down?

 

[memehuffer]

Thanks -the parameters are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-20 (measured with API kit... I've been testing every few days, and doing 25-40% water changes to keep nitrates low). ph is 7.6. Temp at 26 degrees (79F). Filtration is a top-bar trickle type filter with biomedia and floss). Also have an airstone bubbling away.

Tank was set up new 3 months ago, and is fully cycled (unfortunately cycled with the first three adult guppies in, owing to poor advice from my LPS, and I was a complete novice... that being said, I read up within first two days and monitored daily and did water changes as and when needed, then borrowed filter media from a friend, which ensured a swift cycle with no noticeable spikes).

I'd been doing gravel vacuums, but hadn't known to go deep until a week or so back... could this have been the problem? some bad bacteria festering away in the substrate?

No, no bodies have been eaten (except possibly for the one that went missing a few days back -still no idea where he is, looked everywhere, including in filter)

Prior to death, they all seemed perfectly ok (apart from the first bent-spine death).

To the bio-load, current occupancy is 4 small fry, the dwarf gourami and 4 cory habrosus, which I've been advised is not excessive.

 

[memehuffer]

Tank is super stable (in quiet room, not near window)

Also -the tank has a lid, so no way for the missing guppy to have jumped out...

 

[fish wrangler]

When you did the deeper gravel vacuums did you stir up a lot of the bottom debris? Where the fish that died gasping at the surface?

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[memehuffer]

Nope, nothing major stirred up (ie what was stirred up was simultaneously sucked up and out)

And no gasping for air either... maybe they were acting a little quiet, but nothing abnormal...

 

[memehuffer]

Sad update: one of the corys was dead when I got home... He seemed to have a red internal wound of some kind - not a wound per se, but there was pink blood on the paper towel, and you see the redness coming through his belly (will post image when I get back home)

Parasite? Infection??

Help, I'm very worried, and have nowhere to put the remaining fish.