Help guppies keep dying

[pettygil]

Help guppies keep dying. I have 2 which now 1 guppy for each 6.5 gallon tank. Temp is 80 degrees. No Ammonia, little Nitrate, 0 Nitrites. I had 2 guppies die already. What am I doing wrong? I also did a water change at 50 percent.

 

[Aiken Drum]

How long have you had the guppies? How did you acclimate them to your tanks water?

 

[pettygil]

I have the guppies for about a week, also same tanks my bettas died in. I acclimate for 15 minutes, then dump the bag in with the guppies into the water.

 

[pettygil]

I just had another guppy die. could my tank be contaminated? Should I do 100 per wc? Cause both my betta fish died as well, in both tanks, now my guppies and they died as well.

 

[pettygil]

I just did 100 wc in the tank with no fish, cause all my guppies died, except i have 1 guppy left. I did a 95 wc in that tank. I took all the fake plants out an put in tank water. I also have sand in those tanks, as well.

 

[Andy Sager]

I just had another guppy die. could my tank be contaminated? Should I do 100 per wc? Cause both my betta fish died as well, in both tanks, now my guppies and they died as well.

There is a possibility that the tanks are contaminated but from what? There is also the possibility that your acclimating method was not good for the Guppies and their deaths are just coincidence. 15minutes is a rather quick acclimation. At 15 minutes of floating the bag(s) to get the water temps the same, the acclimating should be starting not finished. You also don't want to add the water from the bags the fish were shipped in into the tank as that water is going to be contaminated with ammonia and possible chemicals the fish were shipped in. Please describe in detail your acclimating method.

 

[pettygil]

1. get the fish from ebay
2. place bag in tank water for 15 min
3. Add bag water to tank
4. dump the fish in the water
How long do I have to acclimating the fish for?
I will scoop the fish out with a net from now on.

 

[Andy Sager]

1. get the fish from ebay
2. place bag in tank water for 15 min
3. Add bag water to tank
4. dump the fish in the water
How long do I have to acclimating the fish for?
I will scoop the fish out with a net from now on.

Okay, as I said before, you never want to add the bag water from anywhere outside of your home into the main tank. If you are going to do the " cut and dump" acclimation ( which is what you described) you need to know what kind of water the fish are coming from. The cut and dump is only really recommended for fish purchased locally and then only when their water is similar to your water.
This has 2 ways of acclimating fish, Bag method and Drip method. ( Acclimation Procedure for Aquatic Life: Welcoming Home New Arrivals It's the same for freshwater or saltwater. ( this speaks mostly about saltwater fish. ) These methods are best for shipped fish and which one to use is based on the fragility of the specimens. Fragile fish should always be drip acclimated. Stronger fish can be bag acclimated. ( Guppies are not usually considered fragile.)

I would assume your new fish died from the poor acclimation rather than the tanks being contaminated at this point. The large water changes you did should be good enough to get rid of anything the bag water had in it. Hopefully the last Guppy survives but for the other tank, you need to have an ammonia producer or add ammonia in there to keep the nitrifying microbes alive until you get new fish for them.

 

[pettygil]

I have another question. My guppies came in the mail today. It had an extra bag around the main bag. I put bag in tank for 30 minutes, then I cut open the bag and pulled the bag out, cut it and put the guppies in bucket then scooped them out and put in the tank. I hope I did it right.

 

[Andy Sager]

I have another question. My guppies came in the mail today. It had an extra bag around the main bag. I put bag in tank for 30 minutes, then I cut open the bag and pulled the bag out, cut it and put the guppies in bucket then scooped them out and put in the tank. I hope I did it right.

So once again you did the cut and dump when I told you that fish that are shipped to you will acclimate better when they get water acclimated first? All you did was the temp acclimation. You'll know if they handled the cut and dump if they don't die in the next couple of days. So to answer your question, you did it half right. You floated the bag long enough and you emptied the fish into a bucket but as long as they were in the bucket already, you should have added some of your tank water every 4-5 minutes into the bucket as described in the article I posted the link to in my previous message.

 

[pettygil]

I see what you are talking about, sorry I did it wrong, well I will know better next time. I missed the part to add water into the bucket from the fish tank.

 

[pettygil]

I really hope my fish do not die because of my mistakes. I really whish I would of known to put tank water into the buckets. I did not read that far into it.

 

[Andy Sager]

I really hope my fish do not die because of my mistakes. I really whish I would of known to put tank water into the buckets. I did not read that far into it.

Like the old horse and water proverb goes, I can only give you what to read. I can't make you read it.

 

[pettygil]

I also seen on you-tube to keep the lights off in the tank for 24 hours, this is to reduce stress on the fish. Some people do my method and this was on you tube from fish experts, there is a few of them I watch. Every body has their own method on this subject.

 

[Andy Sager]

I also seen on you-tube to keep the lights off in the tank for 24 hours, this is to reduce stress on the fish. Some people do my method and this was on you tube from fish experts, there is a few of them I watch. Every body has their own method on this subject.

The article I gave you also said to turn the lights off. Just sayin'. There are multiple ways of acclimating fish but they don't all apply to every situation. That was my point in sending you the link to the 2 best methods for fish that were shipped to you vs fish you picked up at the local pet shop with similar water conditions to yours.