Dead and sick guppies, need help!!!!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
rock.jpg is the rock. It may very well be this tufa stuff. Know anything about it? The brown spots are the brown algae I mentioned earlier.

guppy.jpg is my attempt at getting a picture of the 'mold' on my guppies. It is a lousy picture, and I couldn't get the camera to focus properly. All you can really tell is that she's darker than she should be...

Measured ammonia the pH via test strips just now. My tap water registers .25 PPM. My tank water registers around 1 PPM. for pH my tap and tank water register the same, low 6s (6.2, 6.3). I will get liquid test for NO2, NO3, NH4, and pH in the next couple days. Also planning on 75% water change when I have time later tonight.
 

Attachments

  • guppy.jpg
    guppy.jpg
    60.8 KB · Views: 79
  • rock.jpg
    rock.jpg
    58.9 KB · Views: 58
It looks to be the same type rock that I had in my tank a couple years ago. It was fine, didn't seem to mess with my parameters at all.

The darkness on the fish could be due to stress from the new home and ammonia levels as well. I think at this point monitoring the levels and changing the water as needed is about all you can due along with getting the ph up if possible. Guppies aren't as hardy as they used to be.
 
Just did about an 80% water change. Everybody looks happy (including the dark lazy guppy; she's swimming around playing with the other guppies). Now ammonia is down from maybe a little over 1ppm to around .5ppm. I'll do another water change tomorrow, maybe 50% (though it's a pain to keep netting the babies in and out... and i seem to only have 14 now... maybe another one escaped...). And i'll test with a better liquid test kit.

Not sure what to do about the pH. As I mentioned it comes out of the tap below 6.5 :mad:

Maybe I'll try the crushed coral suggestion. Do they sell stuff like that at pet supply stores? Thanks again for all the help... I really didn't know what to do, and the guy at the pet store the other day was ZERO help. He actually said to STOP changing the water because I'm throwing the baby out with the bathwater most likely... Loser.
 
You should be able to find the cc at the pet store. You may have to get a large bag of it. Where are you located?
 
I'm in southwest CT; several stores within a 10 mile radius that I know of... don't recall ever having seen crushed coral in the stores, but was never looking. I'll check it out when I go to get liquid test kit.

If guppies hate the low pH, I'm surpised the now-deceased female even bothered to drop her fry. The high GH is no concern? Don't need a softener pillow or anything?
 
No softener pillow needed.

Your guppies may be OK with that PH. If you want to ride it out and see, you can do that as well while leaving open the option to raise the ph later. It's really not an exact science.. Trial and error, and experience gained will help you more than anything.
 
I had guppies in a low Ph blackwater tank when it transitioned to a guppy love nest. the Ph when they went in was a 4.8, now its a 6.7 clear blackwater tank and they are doing fine, if anything growing larger and living longer. Ive also had guppies in 8.4 Ph and they did fine, the Ph number matters to an extent but fish will adapt just like every other creature to what they got to work with, as long as it doesnt swing it will be fine and they will be fine, less some finicky species.

Just let it run its course and keep up on a regular maintenance schedule and it will be fine. I set my tanks up and forget about them for 4-6 weeks. in that time its done what it needs to do then I go from there. It work for me and many others before me.
 
Something else to add.. the ammonia is less harmful to the fish at lower ph levels.

I'd go with what Whitedevil suggested and see what works for you..
 
Pregnant female especially lazy this morning... laying on the bottom when i turned the light on. All other fish were swimming around. After I turned the light on she raised up and hovered .25 inch from the gravel. She is not yet doing any of the cockeyed swimming that the one that died was doing before death, but may be following along the same road. Hope not. We shall see.
 
As I mentioned in another thread, lost my red tail black shark last night after I came home to find him sucked up against filter intake. Died an hour and a half later.

Now the aforementioned lazy guppy is just laying there breathing; didn't even raise up from gravel when I turned the light on... I'm now afraid she may be a goner too...

NH4 is now around .25ppm, which is the same as my tap water apparently. Still waiting for liquid test kit so that I can get more accurate results.
 
If it were me I would probably be doing 50% water changes daily, if not more. Getting the liquid reagent test kit will probably shed some light on the situation.
 
These fish are such big wimps, heh. I have a betta in a 1 gallon bowl, no heat, no filter. I've gone two months between water changes at times (not typically) because i'm a lazy sack of garbage every now and then.

I've had him for four years, and he's as frisky as ever.

But these guppies can't handle a little ammonia. And the shark gets sucked into the filter that didn't even suck in any guppy fry (that I know of). I should stand in front of the tank and belittle them all for it. Call them a bunch of wimps.

If this continues, somebody may need to talk me off the ledge, convince me not to toss the entire aquarium out the window. We shall see.
 
Like you said, even guppy fry can swim out of the intake of a filter. So if a fish gets sucked into one it is most likely sick/weak.

I had the same thing happen to me with a peppered corydoras. It is tough to watch our finned friends suffer!
 
Last edited:
I got a liquid test kit today. Results were as follows:

pH: 6.6 (better than the strips were telling me)
Ammonia: .25
NO2: 0
NO3: 0

tap water ammonia: 0 (strips were wrong)

Recent water changes:
Monday: NONE
Tuesday: 80%
Wednesday: 60%
Thursday: 60%
Friday: NONE
Saturday: ?

So I guess this means I'm still not fully cycled? Should I do a water change today? How much? Thanks! Remaining fish (3 red eye tetras, 3 'painted' tetras, 2 guppies, 10 guppy fry in breeder net) are looking happy and healthy for the time being.
 
That's great that they are looking good :).

I personally would keep up with the water change schedule daily. You won't remove all the ammonia from the tank, this way it will keep it from sneaking up on you and you will have a head start when nitrites start to spike. If you keep can your ammonia and nitrite at .25 or below, this would be great. As you can see, your fishh are greatly benefiting from what you are doing.
 
I know how frustrating it can be losing fish, especially when you're starting... The "Cycling" Period is the longest, and the period that requires the most attention...
You mentioned that you had a 1gal betta Bowl? Do you have any Decorations in it at all? Gravel?
If you're confident that the bowl is healthy, you could always take a bit of gravel or decoration and place it in your cycling tank, to help kickstart the bacteria colony...
Also, with all these water changes you have been doing, I am assuming you are using a water conditioner?
Well, good luck with the tank :)
Happy fish keeping.
 
I'm using API stress coat conditioner, the recommended amount, for each change.

Yeah, as I said, I stocked too much too fast, because I didn't do my homework, and the pet store(s) proved absolutely worthless as far as advice.

The betta bowl is unfiltered, not sure how healthy it is, but my guy has been living in there for nearly 4 years happily.
 
Back
Top Bottom