guppy crisis

[longhorn]

I have been consistently loosing guppies in my small 5 g tank. This tank started as a breeding tank for the new born guppies. I used to have 20 of the guppy babies. But one after another they all died (except the last lucky one) in the last 2 month. Then I bought 4 more grown-up guppies a week ago. Today after giving birth to 5 guppy babies yesterday one of the female grown-up guppies died. I have been testing water consitently since this crisis started all the parameters looked fine (I don't have the exact reading but all within safe range). I also did a few large water change but the sadness just keep going. Can someone suggest what might be going on here?

[OrionGirl]

A 5 gallon tank is pretty small for that many fish, even juveniles. What, exactly, are the parameters? Because anything other than 0 for ammonia and nitrites is not fine--it indicates an imbalance in the tank, and inadequate biological filtration. More frequent water changes will help, but ultimately, I don't think a 5 is a big enough tank to raise guppies. Tanks for raising fry should be very stable, and with such a small volume of water, it's going to take a lot of effort to keep it from fluctuating.

[longhorn]

Thanks for replying quickly. I will get the parameters tonight but I know the PH is 7.2. How often do you think I need to change the water to keep them healthy in a 5 gallon tank? By the way, the tank has been up and running for about 3 years.

[750t]

I raise some fry in a 5 gal, theres probally 15 to 20 in there at one time. I use a small sponge filter and a box filter, alternating cleanings. I do a very quick bottom vac maybe 1&1/2 gals. The big factor is feedings its real easy to over feed fry. They eat a very small amount.
I started out with alot of store bought guppy deaths. I was luckey enough to get fry from 10 different females. now after the 3rd and 4th generation I have fat females and great looking males. All very hearty. It just takes time.
Good luck :cool:

[longhorn]

now after the 3rd and 4th generation I have fat females and great looking males. All very hearty. It just takes time.


I saw you mentioned fat females and great looking males, and this is the problem I had even when my "home born" guppies were alive. The females were really thin and the the males do not look too colorful. Was this your experience with your first generation "home grown" guppies?

Thanks!

[750t]

Do you have the adults in the 5 gal? Once my fry are big enough to be sexed they go to a bigger tank. I still have 3 first gen females. They are in a 29 gal. They are 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches ard are a well over a year old.
What do you feed?

[longhorn]

I just feed them the regular flakes. Although I also have Guppy food (smaller flakes) at home but they do not seem to be interested in the guppy food. Plus, most of smaller flakes will sink to the bottom and get wasted.

[tricksterpup]

I keep most of my live bearers for breeding in larger tanks, except for my dwarf livebearers. I have done well keeping my guppies in a species only 15 and 20 gal tanks. If you try larger tank, plant life and regular water changes; you will notice a much better improvement with your fish.


jim

[750t]

And dont forget... Guppies go crazy over bloodworms.

[longhorn]

Lost another Guppy yesterday. I tested my water quiet a few times in the last few week. Amonia, Nitrate, Nitrite are all in safe level according to my water tester. PH level is 7.2 to 7.4, but my guppies just keep dying. Here are my observations and question:

1. Some fishes got symptom of fin and tail rot. My question is since my water quality is good, how did they get the disease. I treated the water with anti-bateria but it does not seem to work.

2. I noticed at least in three instances before female guppies died, their body shape change. From flat to curve downward from their dorsal fins, and they started to swim strangely, and then they start hiding, and then they died. Is the curving of body indicate some sort of disease?

[750t]

Ok so exactly how many fish are in this tank? The way your post reads you have 4 adults and some fry. Are you losing the adults and how long have they been in the tank? Are the fry doing ok? I ask this because when I first got started in guppies every fish that I got from 3 different stores died with the exact same symptons. But I did get some fry before the deaths.

[longhorn]

well, at the very beginning I had 20 fry in the tank. Some of then grew up and some died. So at one point I had about 8 juvenile (5 male and 3 female) and they give birth to the next generation. I moved the fry to a large tank and fries are doing OK. However, after giving birth the juvenile started dying. So i have to buy some adults from the store. Some female came back preganant and give birth and the dead and showing some combination of fin rot and body shape change. the males die also with some sort of fin rot symptom (although I have used anti-bacteria to treat the water). Overall, none of the adult lasted more than 5 weeks in my tank. Did this happen to you when you first started? How did you solve the problem?

[750t]

Yes it did. Like I stated before I went to 3 different stores all of the guppies died within a month. I tried every thing from triple sulfa to salt nothing helped. But I did get some fry and thats what I raised. So you have some fry I would just let them grow up.
If you can try to keep more females than males. The males will harrass the females to death. I try to keep them seperate, I have a 20 gal group tank, a 10 with 1 red male and and 15 females, a 29 gal female only,a 20 gal male only, a 10 gal breeding and a 10 and 5 fry tanks. This all started from the 10 to 15 fry I got from the fish that died.
I talked to alot of people when I first got started and no one could come up with a reason why so many deaths. The answers I got were stress from being moved, weaker strains and a bunch more. I hoped Ive helped you. If you would like to talk more email me. Tim

[longhorn]

Tim,

Thanks so much for your help! I guess we had experienced the same situation with guppies. I've tried pretty much everything to get the guppies pass the critical first months. Hopefully, the future generations will do better than their ancestors. I am sure I will talk to you more down the road. Hopefully I can breed some colorful guppies just as you did.

Best,

Frank

[johnnyxxl]

I have been reading in other boards and at the local fish shop that the guppies are not as strong as they were only 5 years ago. If thats true it could be like you said stress, also I look but don't buy at your dept. store pet sections the fish nor at the super pet stores, the fish never have looked healthy to start with and they are kept with a central filtering system so disease flys through the entire system. I would suspect over crowding is also possible. Something to try would be airating the water to see if the health improves also.

[johnnyxxl]

my five gallon tank must be a death tank or something I have lost all the fish now in it was doing 20 percent water changes to keep one little guppy alive in it as the others had died

I am wondering if I should clean it out again recycle the tank, retest params and try a diff. fish or try guppies again maybe buy feeder fish

[Lazersniper]

you know I have been having the same problems... new fry and new store bought ones... fancy or plain jane still havn't found out the source of the problem... for some reason I think it may be due to lack of calcium... if your symptoms are anywhere like mine, they seem to lose mobility in their back half of the body... then the back half just seems to start to 'rot' then they die, it seems like they're back half just all of a sudden seems to lose everything from energy, to stablilty