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
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