My guppy has just died

[ghost knife]

Hi all,
Just asking for a bit of advice really. I noticed one of my male guppy wasn't swimming normally and would sink to the bottom and breathe very heavily. I separated him from the main tank and treated for swim bladder as this seemed the most likely of ailments as no ick etc could be seen. He sadly has now gone to fishy heaven and was wondering if this will have any effect on my other fish? Any advice would be received great fully. Many thanks.

 

[Masha]

Do you know what the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are? Do you have a test kit?

Knowing what the water quality is will help you know if the other fish are at risk

 

[Mebbid]

Agreed. We really need to know the parameters of the tank to help you out. If you don't have a test kit you can take some of your water to a local fish shop and they will test it for you.

Next questions:
How long have you had your tank?
How large is your tank?
What fish and how many of each are in it?
When was the last water change?

 

[ghost knife]

Thanks for your responses,
I now have had a ghost catfish unexplainably die today. I took a water sample to our local aquarium and they did 2 tests which both came back absolutely fine. I thoroughly examined both fishes and could find no physical reason why they died. Very worried for my other fish!!
I've had the tank since the 3rd October.
It is 200 litres.
I do an 8% water change on a weekly basis, I am running a 5 filtration built in filter and temp stabilises around 26c.
My fish are as follows:
2 Angel fish (medium size)
3 Clown loaches (small size)
1 ghost knife
1 ghost catfish
1 talking catfish
2 male guppys
1 opaline gourami
2 dwarf gourami
2 redeye
2 bristlenose plecos (small)
Any advice to keep them alive will be greatly received.

 

[Luananeko]

Thanks for your responses,
I now have had a ghost catfish unexplainably die today. I took a water sample to our local aquarium and they did 2 tests which both came back absolutely fine. I thoroughly examined both fishes and could find no physical reason why they died. Very worried for my other fish!!
I've had the tank since the 3rd October.
It is 200 litres.
I do an 8% water change on a weekly basis, I am running a 5 filtration built in filter and temp stabilises around 26c.
My fish are as follows:
2 Angel fish (medium size)
3 Clown loaches (small size)
1 ghost knife
1 ghost catfish
1 talking catfish
2 male guppys
1 opaline gourami
2 dwarf gourami
2 redeye
2 bristlenose plecos (small)
Any advice to keep them alive will be greatly received.

200 liters is around 52 gallons, yes? It looks like you've got some stocking issues... Here's the main potential problems I see:
3 clown loaches - These guys get much too large for your tank as they get older. They need at least 100g+ for a group when full grown.
1 ghost knife - These guys can get up to 18 inches, are picky eaters, and are very poor at competing for food compared to your other fish. The majority of ghost knives die early in aquariums due to starvation.
1 ghost catfish - You mean ghost glass cat? They're schooling fish that need to be kept in groups of 5+...
2 Redeye tetra - Another schooling fish that need a group of 5+.
2 bristlenose plecos - Plecos are seriously poopers that add a LOT to your bioload.


The current stock may be compatible while they're very young, but you have several there that are going to be stunted and possibly aggressively territorial if kept in there once they get bigger. Also, you have a couple schooling types that will be more prone to disease and nervousness when kept in singles and duos like you have. A stressed fish usually ends up a dead fish.

On top of that, I'd say just bio-load wise you're way overstocked... The parameters may stay ok now while everyone's small, but sooner or later you're going to have the parameters going out of whack faster than you can change the water. Poor water quality inevitably leads to sick/dead fish.

I think you need to figure out which of your fish you want most (of the ones that won't outgrow the tank), shore up the schooling numbers (if you keep them), and rehome the rest.

 

[ghost knife]

Thank you so much for your reply. Is this the reason for my fish dying now? I'm gonna need a bigger tank........

 

[rmiller]

With only an 8% water change per week on such a new tank you're likely still cycling. You will need to get a test kit of your own, one that has liquid drops for testing. Absolutely perfect to a store is apparently not perfect for your fish. Please find out what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings are. For now you should up your water changes to 50% twice weekly. You'll also want to read about cycling with fish. Understanding the effects of toxins such as ammonia and nitrite on fish is very important.

 

[Mebbid]

Thank you so much for your reply. Is this the reason for my fish dying now? I'm gonna need a bigger tank........

Right now your fish are very likely dying from nitrate poisoning. Assuming this tank is cycled and not having any issues with ammonia or nitrites then with a 8% weekly water change it's just not enough to keep the nitrates down to safe levels. Without knowing your parameters I would say you absolutely need to do at minimum 3 50% water changes with waiting 1 hour between them. Your nitrates should be below 40ppm and optimally 20ppm or below. After that a weekly 50% water change will keep tank parameters at happy levels.

Along with Luan's suggestions on switching your stock around I would also suggest rehoming 1 of the dwarf gouramis. They usually tend to get fairly territorial and will usually fight.

 

[Luananeko]

Thank you so much for your reply. Is this the reason for my fish dying now? I'm gonna need a bigger tank........

Yes, poor stocking choices (either wrong types, too many fish, or both) are usually the #1 root cause of fish deaths, and you have quite a few potential problem areas with that stock... Combine that with probably not being fully cycled and a light water change routine and you're bound to have problems sooner or later.

To keep all of the fish you currently have you'd need a BIG tank (like in the 200+ GALLONS range, or 760+ liters), and even then species compatibility-wise you may still have problems. Once you figure out which fish you're willing to rehome, try plugging in your stocking list at aqadvisor.com. It's not 100% accurate, but it at least gives a sanity check on how heavy your bioload is and any potential aggression or water chemistry compatibility issues you may have. I like to plug my plans in there and then do more research/ask on forums afterwards once I've got a stocking list that looks workable on paper.

 

[ghost knife]

Thanks again for your responses, it seems as a naïve first time freshwater keeper I have been duped by my local aquarium supplier. I have purchased each and every one of my fish from there and they are fully aware of my tank parameters. Not once have they ebbed towards caution on buying any of the fish I have listed below as to which I have become very attached to!. Obviously the health and wellbeing of the fish are the first thing I take into consideration so if any changes are to be made then it will happen. The aquarium I buy fish off are very professional and will not sell fish without a water sample and a previous tank history. Am I wrong to trust them and bring this up in my next visit?

 

[Masha]

Thanks again for your responses, it seems as a naïve first time freshwater keeper I have been duped by my local aquarium supplier. I have purchased each and every one of my fish from there and they are fully aware of my tank parameters. Not once have they ebbed towards caution on buying any of the fish I have listed below as to which I have become very attached to!. Obviously the health and wellbeing of the fish are the first thing I take into consideration so if any changes are to be made then it will happen. The aquarium I buy fish off are very professional and will not sell fish without a water sample and a previous tank history. Am I wrong to trust them and bring this up in my next visit?

It sucks that people you trust to be experts, and advise you on your fish-choices, should have steered you so wrong! Unfortunately this happens all the time. I think that you would be perfectly in your rights to bring this up on your next visit.

I would not be able to do it in a diplomatic way myself, but maybe you are nicer than me!

 

[Luananeko]

It sucks that people you trust to be experts, and advise you on your fish-choices, should have steered you so wrong! Unfortunately this happens all the time. I think that you would be perfectly in your rights to bring this up on your next visit.

I would not be able to do it in a diplomatic way myself, but maybe you are nicer than me!

^x2. Confronting store employees is a tough proposition and takes a fair bit of diplomacy since you're basically calling them out as not knowing their job. Kudos to you if you can pull it off!

As a general rule it is a good idea to take ANY LFS employee's advice (especially the big box stores, you can usually feel a little safer with the more specialty ones) with a grain of salt. Their job is to sell stuff, and having you come back to buy tank upgrades when fish get too big, or more fish to replace ones that die, is better business for them. Some of them unintentionally give bad advice because they're just going off the false advertising that's fed to them during the job training. Some of them just aren't up to date on current information (fish keepers 20 years ago didn't know as much as we do today).

Unfortunately there's two possible reactions to being called out, no matter the reason for them giving the bad advice initially. One is a positive reaction, where they thank you for the updated info. The other is usually the more common one... They tend to get defensive and claim that "the internet is full of elitists" and that our recommendations are "overkill" because "they've been keeping fish like this for ages just fine"... Unfortunately if you look at the average lifespan of their fish it tends to be much less than the species natural lifespan... Also take into account that just because you CAN keep a fish alive in one setting doesn't mean it's necessarily happy... Fish can be amazingly durable and will fight to live even in non-ideal situations. It's like sticking a person into a closet and making them live their entire life there. It's been done, but no one would argue that they're healthy or happy doing so.

Okay, so that was longer than intended TLDR: Masha is spot on!

 

[Mebbid]

In your situation I just wouldn't go back. When I go to a new lfs I always ask a few feeler questions that I know the answer to without any doubts and use that to judge the store.

There's one lfs I go to that has great tanks and healthy fish but is really outdated on their information because he's been in the hobby forever. I don't go to him for information but I can generally trust that his fish are healthy.

 

[fishyd]

In your situation I just wouldn't go back. When I go to a new lfs I always ask a few feeler questions that I know the answer to without any doubts and use that to judge the store.

There's one lfs I go to that has great tanks and healthy fish but is really outdated on their information because he's been in the hobby forever. I don't go to him for information but I can generally trust that his fish are healthy.

That's the same with the LFS that I go to. All my information has come from my father in-law (used to breed green terrors), and now here. When I talk to the owner of the store, he has good basics down and maintenance (as well as the best fish I've seen in this area), but his knowledge is a little outdated after doing more research.

 

[ghost knife]

I have entered all my details into aqadvisor (which took an obscene amount of time!). Using the exact sizes of fish that I own it shows that my bio load is ok at the moment but will be compromised when the fish get bigger. My stock level at the moment is at 52% and the website suggested what fish I could benefit re-homing. I have took this advice and found a suitable home for my larger fish friends to go to when they reach a certain length. It will be like giving up on my babies but I understand the consequences if this doesn't happen. Thanks again for all your help. Very much appreciated.