Guppy Died, Rasbora Injured, Other Fish Might Be Sick?

[random18me]

I have my Harlequin Rasboras and Cories for about 3 months now, and a couple of weeks ago, I added a couple of Guppies (I used to have a Betta in there, but now he has his own tank.) All of my fish were fine, until one of my guppies just died today. And I don't really know why. He was fine this morning, and when I fed them, all of my guppies had the same appetite as they normally have. And then, about an hour later, one of my guppies was just lying dead on the bottom.

I checked the guppy for any signs or spots or injuries, but I didn't find anything. The only thing that might be something, is that I caught one of my guppies rubbing against the gravel yesterday, but he only did it once, so I'm not sure if it is anything, or if fish just do that sometimes. Looking at my other guppies, I've noticed some of them doing it as well, but most of the time they're just swimming around the top or middle of the aquarium.

The Guppies did change a bit in color. About 2 days after getting them, their bodies became quite a bit darker, but I assumed it's because they were stressed in the store, so they were very pale, or maybe because of different food, but now I'm just second guessing everything.

On top of that, one of my Rasboras has a damaged fin. It happened this night, he was fine yesterday evening, this morning his right fin had a big bloodred spot, and it hangs a bit limp. I'll add a picture. (The spot is really close to his gils, but his gills are fine.) I assume it's because he fought or was attacked, but I'm not sure which fish did it, since I've never caught any of them being agressive (I have online classes, which means I spend a lot of time in my room looking at my fish instead of paying attention, so I assume I would have noticed if there was fighting or chasing or nipping at fins.) He swims fine though, if I'm not close enough to see the red on his fin, I can't tell which of my Rasboras is injured just from their behavior or swimming. I'm pretty sure it's just an injury, but I do think it's strange it happened on the same day.

Water parameters are the same as they usually are, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate less than 10.

I did a partial water change sunday, and accidentaly turned the dial on my heater down 2 degrees, so I adjusted that a day later, but I don't think that's related?

I'm trying to figure out why my guppy died, and if I should be worried about my other fish as well.

 

[random18me]

Update, I guess. My Rasboras and Guppies stopped eating. They either ignore the food, or they "eat" it, and then spit it out a second later.

2 Guppies frequently just lay on the bottom of the tank, as if they're trying to swim but they can't, and then a couple minutes later they're fine.

2 Rasboras (not the one with the injury, he seems to be doing fine) lost their color and are very pale, and I'm pretty sure very small parts of their tail look a little damaged and fuzzy, one of them is now also floating upside down, so problem with the swim bladder I assume.

I'm like 99% sure it's not from constipation or overfeeding, I only feed very small amounts, I soak the food beforehand, and I've seen my Rasboras and Guppies poop plenty, so I'm pretty sure this isn't it.

It could be bacterial or a parasite, but I don't really know how to find out if it is, or if someting can be done about it.

The symptoms for chlorine poisoning fit quite well for my Rasboras (pale, loss of appetite, struggling to swim, the thing with their tail might be mucus?), but I don't know how that could be the cause, since I always treat my tap water when I do water changes, and I've been doing it the same way for 3 months now. I've added some of the water conditioner I use to the tank, because it's also kind of a stress coat and protects the fish and it's safe to give a dose if fish are stressed, and my fish did seem better for a little while, but then it just got worse again.

I've thought about other types of poisoning, but I wouldn't know what it would be if that's the case. I'm very careful about not letting any chemicals get near the tank, I do have a fake decoration, but I bought it in my fish store, and it was specificaly made for an aquarium, but at this point I'm just questioning everything.

I'm not really sure what to do. I've quarantined the Rasbora that's floating upside down, but I don't know what to do with the others.

My Cories seem just fine, so I was thinking about seperating them from the others, in case it is something contagious, but I don't have a spare tank at the moment, and I don't want to just leave them in a bucket for several days.

Any advise or help?

 

[random18me]

Okay, so, it's not even 5 minutes after I posted the previous comment, but the Rasbora that was floating upside down and that I put in quarantine, it died.

I was expecting it, but I didn't think it would happen so fast, since he only started to get troubles swimming a couple of hours ago.

Anyway, I have no idea what to do.

 

[Adler]

The symptoms for chlorine poisoning fit quite well for my Rasboras (pale, loss of appetite, struggling to swim, the thing with their tail might be mucus?), but I don't know how that could be the cause, since I always treat my tap water when I do water changes, and I've been doing it the same way for 3 months now. I've added some of the water conditioner I use to the tank, because it's also kind of a stress coat and protects the fish and it's safe to give a dose if fish are stressed, and my fish did seem better for a little while, but then it just got worse again.

I've thought about other types of poisoning, but I wouldn't know what it would be if that's the case. I'm very careful about not letting any chemicals get near the tank, I do have a fake decoration, but I bought it in my fish store, and it was specificaly made for an aquarium, but at this point I'm just questioning everything.

what water conditioner are you using?

Okay, so, it's not even 5 minutes after I posted the previous comment, but the Rasbora that was floating upside down and that I put in quarantine, it died.

I was expecting it, but I didn't think it would happen so fast, since he only started to get troubles swimming a couple of hours ago.

Anyway, I have no idea what to do.

can you separate the fish? don't put the guppies with the betta though

i'd suggest getting some medicine for the fish but i have no idea what they have.

 

[random18me]

So, unfortunately, a lot has happened. I'm not exactly sure anymore what happened when, but I'll do my best.

So, my last message was from Friday.

The other Rasbora that was pale had died the next night, so I found it dead on Saturday morning. Only difference this time, is that his entire tail was gone. Like, completely gone. I had something like this happen to a Cory when I first got them 3 months ago, his tail was slightly damaged from the store, but I didn't notice until I was acclimating them, and after I put it in the tank, his tail started rotting away, and he was dead within a day and a half. Really bad fin rot, and halfway through, he got swim bladder problems.

Except this wasn't the only thing that had happened. All of a sudden, all my guppies, all but one of my Rasboras and one of my Cories had damaged tails with white fluffy edges. All except 5 of my fish just got fin rot at the same time. Is fin rot contagious? Is it more like a symptom of bacterial infection? I don't know.

Anyway, I decided I would do a pretty big water change, and then treat the entire tank with medecine for fin rot/ bacterial infections in general. I already had this medecine, because a couple of weeks ago, I decided I would treat my Betta for fin rot, which was progressing very slowly, but it wasn't healing on it's own. My Betta had fin rot, because his fins and tails were damaged when I got him in the store, except I didn't know at the time that that was not what his tail was supposed to look like, so he probably already was sick from the store (starting to see a pattern here?).

I think another Rasbora died right before I did the water change, and another one died right after (at this point, they both had swim bladder problems, so I quarantined them before the water change). I'm not sure, but by the time I dosed the medecine, only one Rasbora was still alive (weirdly enough, the one with the bloody injured fin).

That was saturday. Sunday, they all started eating again.

Between Sunday and Thursday, nothing happened, I think, except the guppies tails did get worse.

Thursday evening, the Cory that had a damaged tail died.

And today, one of the guppies died as well.

So, the fish that were already sick didn't get better with the medicine, but at least no healthy fish got sick since (so far, and I hope it stays that way), so I guess that's something?

To answer your questions in your reply, the water conditioner I use is Sera Aquatan. And I can't seperate any of the fish, because I don't have anything to put them in, except a bucket, and that works for a day at most, but I don't have a spare filter, and I can't get one right now, and I don't wanna put the fish I think are healthy with my betta, because they might already be sick, and then they might infect my Betta as well.

At this point I think it's some kind of bacterial infection, which my guppies probably had from the store (like I said, a pattern), and then infected the rest. My guppies are the most recent addition, I guess about a month or so? So I'm not sure if they could be sick for so long without looking sick until now.

I'll try to post another update if something happens.

 

[random18me]

It's been forever since I've posted an update on this post, but I got really sick, and after I've just been trying to catch up with work.

So, I don't remember everything perfectly, but I do remember the following.

Before I started the medicine cure, 10 fish were still alive.
The cure takes 5 days (dose medicine on days 1 and 3, and water change on day 6).
During the first of these 5 days, another 4 fish died.
After day 5, all fish that were sick started healing, and eating again, and they seemed healthy, so I assumed the medicine worked and that it was a bacterial infection/fin rot, and that it was now cured. The cories weren't visibly sick, but the guppies had about 10% of their tail left. Then, from day 5 to 6, the guppies tails healed to about 85%? 90%? Like, the edges are a bit frayed, but the guppies don't look injured/sick, so I figure that's just as far as their tails are going to regrow.

At this point, 6 fish were alive (3 guppies, 2 panda cories, 1 julii cory). It stayed like this for about 4 weeks, until all of a sudden one of my guppies just got sick and died within the span of, like, 3 hours. (I quarantined him when I saw him swimming upside down and lying on the bottom of the tank, so he didn't die in the tank.) Tail was rotted away, but I don't remember if that happened before or after he died.

No other fish got sick, so I wasn't sure how it happened that only 1 fish was still sick 4 weeks after his tail healed and I thought he was cured.

And today, my julii cory died. He was happy and active and eating well yesterday evening. He was alive and healthy when I checked this morning, I was gone for about 8 hours, I come back, he's dead and his entire tail is gone.

I'm pretty sure this fish didn't get sick the first time, so what I'm wondering now is if the infection is still somehow in the tank, or if he, and the guppy from a month ago died of something else.

How long would it take for a tail to rot away after a fish dies? Or did the fish die and did another fish eat his tail (I think this is not what happened, but I think that it technically could be possible)? Or is it just still the infection/fin rot?

Any advise/ideas/help would be grately appreciated.

I hate seeing my fish essentialy being alone (currently 2 guppies and 2 cories in a 50 liter/13 galon), because it probably stesses them out alot, but I'm not getting any new fish until I'm 100% sure none of the fish are sick.

Almost forgot. Water parameters are fine, haven't changed since I first set the tank up 5 months ago, except nitrate has gotten even lower (which makes sense, since there are less fish now). Also, the guppies tails are still at 85-90% healed, so I don't know if that means they are still sick, or if that's just as much as their tails are going to regrow. They don't seem sick, but then again, neither did the julii cory that died, so yeah, I don't know.

 

[Sprinkle]

You talk about their fins rotting? This is usually caused by poor water quality and bacteria attacking fish’s fins.

And through the entire thread you didn’t mention, or I missed, the key things that will help us help you like if the tank is cycled?

is the tank cycled or you just put the fish in the tank?
What are your water parameters for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
We will need the exact numbers of your tests and not just ‚they are fine’.

do you do water changes? How much %?
do you use a water conditioner? Which one?

T TwoTankAmin
F fishorama
T the loach
FreshyFresh

 

[random18me]

Thank you for replying! I'll try to answer everything as clearly as I can. I have mentioned some of this in the previous posts, but I'll just answer everything in this reply, so it's more clear.

I've set up this tank (50 liter/13 gallon) in the beginning of July. I cycled the tank with only Harlequin Rasboras in it. In the first or second week, there was a nitrite spike, but it went down after about a week and several water changes.
After that, parameters have been the following, and have not changed:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: less than 10 (it was a bit higher the first month, but then I got a gravel vacuum, and then my water changes became more efficient, and I've managed to keep nitrate below 10)
GH: between 6 and 10
KH: between 6 and 10
pH: 7.2
Cl2: 0

I check water parameters 2 times a week, and do 25% water changes 2 times a week. The water conditioner I use is Sera Aquatan.

I have done everything the same way since july. The tank first had rasboras, then I added cories, then a male betta. I got the betta a seperate tank a while later, because he kept stealing food from the cories and I was worried about him overeating.

After the betta was in a different tank, I added some guppies to have more color now that the betta was gone. With the guppies added, the tank was still slightly understocked, and I always make sure to not overfeed.

For a bit of a time-frame, I moved the betta around the end of August, and added the guppies around mid to late september.

After adding the guppies (not sure if it was a couple of days later, or a week), the rasboras stopped eating, and a couple days later almost all fish stopped eating, and their tails started fraying, white fluffy edges, what I assumed was fin rot. Fish started dying, I treated with medicine for fin rot/bacterial infection in general (the medicine is Sera Baktopur), fish stopped dying and the ones that had damaged tails started healing. At this point, 6 fish were still alive.

End of October, a guppy died.

Now, end of November, a cory died.

Now, my assumption at this point is that the guppies were sick from the store, and they infected the others.

When I first got my cories, one had half his tail missing when he was still in the plastic bag, so I'm 100% sure that happened in the store. He died within a day. Went to the store, showed photos, they said it probably was the fault of the employee who netted the fish, they gave me a cory for free. The new cory also died within a day.
When I got my betta, his tail was frayed in the store, but I asked, and the employee said his tail was supposed to look like that. I have another thread detailing this, but point is, he had fin rot from the store. (This is also why I already had the medicine.)

So, I hope this answers all your questions, and I hope you or someone can help me figure this out.

Feel free to ask if I forgot something or if something is not clear.

 

[Sprinkle]

So your tank size is 50L? How many fish is in the tank altogether?
I’d recommend you doing larger, 75% ish water changes daily until you see a difference in your fish. Rasboras are auite active fish so I’d recommend a 20 gallon tank for them, especially the cories.

There is no need to do chlorine tests if you use a conditioner

Yes, it is possible that guppies were ill all the way from the store and infected other, but other fish could already have been ill and the spike in ill fish was caused by this.
I am concerned about stocking issues, small tank and lots of fish in such small tank can cause overstocking and health issues as well as water quality issues so I would recommend a bigger thank, like 20-30 gallon to house all the fish and watch them for more issues.

If you suspect the issues are bacterial or fungal, Microbe Lift Artemiss is the best.
It saved my fancy guppy from finrot.

 

[random18me]

Hey, thank you for replying so fast!

I probably didn't mention this clearly, but the Rasboras all died in September, so did a couple guppies and a couple cories. 6 fish survived after the medicine, and then 1 died end of October, and 1 died yesterday.
So, currently, there are only 4 fish in the tank (2 guppies, 2 panda cories), so, currently, overstocking certainly isn't an issue.

The problem is that my fish don't seem sick. The guppy that died a month ago was eating well, active, looked healthy, and then, within maybe 3 hours, his tail started rotting, he had problems swimming, and then he died.
The cory that died yesterday was healthy in the morning, I was gone for the day, and when I got back 8 hours later, he was lying dead on the bottom of the tank, tail completely gone.
All the fish that died in September were sick for several days before they died. The guppies that are still alive now were sick in September, but they healed after I gave the medicine.

I'm nervous about doing big water changes, because I'm worried it will stress the fish out. The problem also is that, since none of the fish look sick, I don't know when they would be better, or if any of them are sick at the moment.
If you think 75% water changes, or even 50%, are the best thing to do right now, I'll certainly do it, but I just don't kow how long I should keep doing them for.

Also, I don't test for Chlorine regularly, I did it in the beginning, and now I only test for it when a fish dies, just to make sure. But I figured I'd mention it anyway.