War Zone... What happened?

Dustin83

Dustin83

AC Members
Nov 17, 2005
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Orange County, CA
Hello Everyone. I have just witnessed the most horrific scene in my once peaceful 29 gallon community tank.

29 gallon planted tank:
6 neon tetras
2 platies
1 white skirt tetra
2 female bettas
2 fancy male guppies
2 ghost shrimps
1 otto cat

So I have had this setup for quite a while ( few months) without a single problem. Just like any other day, I left the house this morning after making sure that every fish was well. 8 hours later, I came home and what I've found was basically..... a War Zone aftermath.

1. One female betta floating with most of its fins missing.

2. The other female betta lying dead on a plant with most of fins missing and with unidentifiable white suds all around the body (just as if a spider has wrapped its prey)

3. Both male guppies with all of its tales missing, unable to swim and nearly dead. So helplessly weak that they were stuck to filter intake. (They soon died within few hours).

I cannot possibly figure out what might have happened, especially since they got along without any noticible problems for few months.

What a sad day! Those guppies have been with me for over a year since when I first got into this hobby. Does anyone have any idea what may have happened?

Thank you, everyone.
 
Have you checked your water parameters(ammonia, nitrite,nitrate)? Have any chemicals/poisons possibly been used around your tank?
 
as fast as that happened I would suspect something amiss with the water.
check your waater parameters
 
normally i think it would take alot longer for something such as water problem to cause this ( the missing fins ) and especially since this didnt happen right after a water change (or did it? ) May sound weird but it sounds like your platies or tetras went crazy or somethin, but we should wait until we figure out what the water perameters are. Do you have any kids?, ive heard some storys about young kids pouring stuff into tanks and whatnot. Also have you noticed any huge behavoir difference in the platies or tetra's?
 
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Maybe the two female bettas mistakened the male guppies as male bettas and tried to fight over them and at the same time since the male "bettas" refused to mate the females shredded their fins too. Male bettas mistaken male guppies as bettas all the time.
 
Haha. No, I do not have kids. But that could be the perfect explanation if I did.

No, I did not do water change right before this happened. In fact, after the incident, I tested the water and ammonia and nitrite were both showing 0. (Not sure about Nitrate though...) I've had the platies and tetras for few months and they never showed any sorts of unusual behaviors. In fact, after I posted the entry, I realized that one of the neon tetra also had a chunk of battle scar (I won't be too graphic) and it looks like it won't make it for very long.

I think that last reply by Onikun sounds pretty convincing though. For now, I can't seem to find any better explanation.

Thank you all for your reply. I guess this may remain as an unsolved mystery.

By the way, what could possibly be that white "stuff" around one of the bettas? I didn't want to touch it for too long, but it was slimy and "disappeared" (or maybe disolved) eventually.

Once again. Thank you, everyone.
 
I always tell people not to mix guppies and bettas. Here is a perfect example why, for all of you people of the "fish have different personalities and sometimes it works" stripe.

Sometimes it works (granted)
Sometime it works for awhile (like this case)
Sometimes it won't work at all

Having a tank that has weird stocking myself, I appreciate that sometimes a tank that has an original cast is fun to watch. However there are species that should not be housed with other specific species.

Putting ANY betta (much less two of the same sex) in a tank with similar looking long finned fish (fancy guppies) is a disaster waiting to happen. When inevitably one of those bettas became territorial about something, POW. They're called fighting fish for a reason.

It's like putting a large angelfish in with a bunch of tetras and then saying you don't understand why the tetras got eaten.

I regret your loss, but I won't be sympathetic. You should not have had that mix of fish in your tank and I hope in the future you are more careful with your stocking choices.
 
sorry for your loss. female bettas should always be placed together with a fair amount of caution. it seems like they can get along fine for months and then something happens to cause them to turn on each other.
 
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