Why do all my guppies die?

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redragon

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Feb 10, 2008
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Wales, UK
I've been keeping coldwater fish for quite a few years but several months ago I set up a small tropical tank with a couple of danio's to cycle it and then gradually added a few neons and a few guppies. All was well for a while, i keep an eye on my parameters and do weekly water changes. I lost 2 guppies but put it down to them being quite fragile anyway. These were replaced by a few more guppies (who produced 2 babies) and a couple of bumblebee gobies.

I dont think the filter was good enough though and my nitrates went up to 40. I used nitrazorb and managed to get it down to 10 quite quickly but I lost a guppy and a neon. Then my filter packed up and the light unit stopped working the next day so I bought a new tank (more than twice the size) but the fish were without a filter for 3 days. The nitrates etc remained the same though but my fish were dropping like flies. I lost both gobies, most of my guppies (including my 2 babies) and another neon. I put this loss down to the stress of moving tanks.

I used established filter media in the new tank and all the water from the small one when I transfered so my parameters stayed stable but i cannot get nitrates below 10. Is this ok?

This was weeks ago now and I have since bought several more guppies at various intervals but they just die, some the next day, some a week or two later. As i write I have a guppy/endler floating upside down in a net suspended in my tank about to die any minute!

Can someone tell me why I have so much trouble with guppies as I'd really like to be able to keep them without them dying every few days. My parents have a tropical tank thats been set up for over a year and they can keep everything but guppies too. Can anyone spot an obvious problem?

Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, ph 7.0, nitrates 10, temp 78
 
Malefic23

Malefic23

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Nov 7, 2006
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You might try drip acclimation to cushion the shock of guppies going into the tank... A different vendor for guppies might not be a bad idea either, if you've been getting gups from the same place. Try a less fancy guppy, the bigger the tail display, the more fragile and inbred they tend to be.
 
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redragon

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Feb 10, 2008
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I get my fish from 3 different places and have had all sorts of colour guppies some big tails, some not. even the plain greyish females with no big tail or colour die!
 
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Danyal

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May 20, 2007
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try doing water changes to get nitrates down instead of using nitrazorb and adding some salt, guppies perfer hard water however they can do ok at lower ph but salt helps a lot, same with bumble bee gobies.
 
wataugachicken

wataugachicken

The Dancing Banana
Jul 14, 2005
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redragon said:
I've been keeping coldwater fish for quite a few years but several months ago I set up a small tropical tank with a couple of danio's to cycle it and then gradually added a few neons and a few guppies. All was well for a while, i keep an eye on my parameters and do weekly water changes. what size are these water changes?I lost 2 guppies but put it down to them being quite fragile anyway. These were replaced by a few more guppies (who produced 2 babies) and a couple of bumblebee gobies. guppies do not actually need salt in the water, but as far as the gobies - most species of bb gobies are brackish, not freshwater. this means they need MARINE salt in the tank, not just aquarium salt. completely different needs.

I dont think the filter was good enough though and my nitrates went up to 40. I used nitrazorb and managed to get it down to 10 quite quickly but I lost a guppy and a neon. Did you do any water changes to reduce the amount od nitrates? how quickly did they rise to 40?Then my filter packed up and the light unit stopped working the next day so I bought a new tank (more than twice the size) but the fish were without a filter for 3 days. The nitrates etc remained the same though but my fish were dropping like flies. The nitrates stayed the same because there was no biological filtration in the tanks - ammonia was building up in there. did you do any water changes while the fish were without a filter? I lost both gobies, most of my guppies (including my 2 babies) and another neon. I put this loss down to the stress of moving tanks. moving tanks properly should never stress a fish to death

I used established filter media in the new tank and all the water from the small one when I transfered so my parameters stayed stable but i cannot get nitrates below 10. Is this ok? if the filter wasn't running for three days then that means the media stopped being established and started being dead. have you ever tested the tap water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

This was weeks ago now and I have since bought several more guppies at various intervals but they just die, some the next day, some a week or two later. As i write I have a guppy/endler floating upside down in a net suspended in my tank about to die any minute! how do you acclimate new fish to the tank? do you just float the bad for 10 minutes so the temp is the same or fo you allow the fish to graducally get used to the tank water? do you get all the guppies from the same store? how many different places have you bought them?

Can someone tell me why I have so much trouble with guppies as I'd really like to be able to keep them without them dying every few days. My parents have a tropical tank thats been set up for over a year and they can keep everything but guppies too. Can anyone spot an obvious problem?

Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, ph 7.0, nitrates 10, temp 78
Click to expand...
my comments in green
 
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OldMan47

I love my endlers
Jan 1, 2008
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Wataugachicken is going down the same basic path that I would as far as what might be the problem areas. One place more that I would go is that the fish that have been doing OK are very tolerant of low solids in the water, what people will call soft water. Guppies like somewhat hard water and may be getting stressed by low hardness numbers. You might try testing your tap water and your tank water for hardness and find out if it soft. If it is quite soft, you can bring it back to where your guppies will like it by adding something like RO right. It is made for people who have removed most of the hardness by using an RO unit but should help anyone with very soft water.
 
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leighasnana

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May 10, 2005
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Are the zebras still in the tank with the guppies? Are the zebras stressing out the guppies?

You don't mention any symptoms. Do the guppies look fine and just die?

Do you maintain the filter? With each water change empty the water out from the filter. Take out the media and swish it around in the pail of tank water. If the flow from the filter doesn't look right check the impeller. Plants and hair can get wound around it and need to be removed.

Do you have live plants in the tank? They'll help keep your water clean.

How much do you feed? Too much will increase the nitrates. Feed a variety. A good flake - spirulina - protein foods (just suggestions).

Proper acclimation is important. I empty the bag into a container I keep just for fish. I take some water out and add back tank water. I keep doing this until the water in the container is mainly tank water.

You don't mention your male to female ratio. Get 2 females for each male so that the male doesn't harass the lone female to death. Give them hiding spots - plants - java moss is good because the babies can hide in it. There's also a plant called guppie grass. Speaking of babies. Let the female deliver the fry in the tank. Guppy breeders are stressful.

I've found that many of the guppies from a store are weak. If you can get one generation born in your tank you should see a big difference.

Good luck.
 
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leighasnana

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May 10, 2005
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About the nitrates. 10 is fine and I wouldn't worry about that. If it suddenly jumped from 10 to 40 I'd be looking for a dead fish in the tank. As long as the tank isn't over stocked and you vaccum the gravel with water changes and maintain the filter properly I wouldn't be concerned about the nitrates.
 
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redragon

AC Members
Feb 10, 2008
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Wales, UK
Thanks everyone. I do acclimate fish with tank water, clean filter media in tank water & vac gravel. I have more females than males (well I did, all I have left of my guppies is one male but he seems to be ok at the moment) They look fine and then just die, i have noticed one or two have 'lost their balance' first though but no sign of anything on the outside. The danios are a bit lively but dont harrass any of the other fish, they just tend to play together. As for food, they have mostly good quality flakes, and sometimes some dried stuff like tubifex & daphnia and frozen bloodworms. And I have lots of real plants, hiding places and am growing a small patch of java moss on a little cave.
 
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