Flashing guppies, No other symptom

[Trigger1985]

Live bearers do best with a M:F ratio of 1:2-3 or all female. Males may get teritorial. High nutriet levels and high light promote algae growth. Unless your water is very green, you shouldn't be having low O2 issues when the lights go off- algae will create O2 when the lights are on, but will use it at night- adding an airstone or two, or otherwise increasing your surface agitation will help that.

As far as cleaning your tank, a scrubbing the algae and vacuming the gravel with a siphon should be all you need to do. Any more may set your cycle back.



If new fish are dying, chances are it's a water quality issue- fish that lived in the water as it got worse and worse will do better than new introductions that didn't adjust as the water changed.

 

[RDTigger]

forgive me for not reading through your first post. the quote above sounds like a camallanus worm or something similar maybe? http://images.google.com/images?hl=...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQsAQwAw

i wouldn't feed any starch products from now on either. guppies are prone to constipation and bloat. if that happens you can feed them the soft insides of a pea or two to get them to poop and relieve pressure.

also... 2 males to 1 female often is a death sentence for the female. the males will chase and stress her to death for some nookie. at least 2 females to each male is best to spread sexual aggression from the males.

What is this "nookie" you speak of?....:shakehead:

But it sounds like bloat/constipation....you might try more organic foods like real veggies for the next few days...

If one is constipated you can guess they all are if they are fed together. zucchini, squash, cucumber, peas, spinach, etc.. Try a few things and see what they like.

 

[Ayson]

Thank you for the replies. A few more clarifications:

Live bearers do best with a M:F ratio of 1:2-3 or all female. Males may get teritorial.

I already have 3 males, my tank is only 23l. So ill have to keep it all male right?

As far as cleaning your tank, a scrubbing the algae and vacuming the gravel with a siphon should be all you need to do. Any more may set your cycle back.

We dont really get Gravel Vacuums here.

If new fish are dying, chances are it's a water quality issue- fish that lived in the water as it got worse and worse will do better than new introductions that didn't adjust as the water changed.

Because of lack of testing kits, i change my water atleast once in two days, if not more frequently. So the water cannot get worse, right? And the new male is doing fine. Its the females!

Finaly i have some a rubberband tying down some plants, could this be the culprit? Just making sure.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

Thank you for the replies. A few more clarifications:



I already have 3 males, my tank is only 23l. So ill have to keep it all male right?

if you don't plan on breeding the guppies then i would advise keeping all males. if you are new to fishkeeping i wouldn't suggest venturing into breeding quite yet. plus, your tank is fairly small (29 litres equals only 7 gallons or so) so it's really not suitable for breeding.



We dont really get Gravel Vacuums here.

you can order a gravel vac online and have it shipped to you. but most pet stores would carry them. get one with a self starting syphon, then you won't have to do any hose sucking, lol.


Because of lack of testing kits, i change my water atleast once in two days, if not more frequently. So the water cannot get worse, right? And the new male is doing fine. Its the females!

if your tank is not cycled then daily water changes are necessary to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels as close to zero as possible. i would strongly suggest ordering a testing kit online if you don't have any stores locally that sell one. get the API freshwater master kit, it's the best.

Finaly i have some a rubberband tying down some plants, could this be the culprit? Just making sure.

rubber bands will not affect the fish.

white stringy poop is sometimes an indicator of an internal parasite. did all the guppies you've bought come from the same store and the same tank?

 

[Ayson]

did all the guppies you've bought come from the same store and the same tank?

All but one female, came from one store, but from different tanks. Thank fully the three remaining males are not showing any symptoms, other than the occational flashing.

I am not interested in breeding. I do not have the equipment or time. I'll stick to all males.

To convey the problem, I live i India, in a non urban area. Pet care products are generally rare. These kits are very costly even if found, because they are usualy imported.

And finaly, (i always forget to ask this)
Whenever there is food on the bottom of my tank, (like food that sinks, or a flake the sinks after some time) just after a day, they get enveloped in fine white-translucent, hair like things, about 5mm long. Another day later the food along with this floats to the top. What is this, and is it normal?

 

[kevinb120]

No offense, but this sounds like a 'tank' completely incapable of keeping fish. No cycling, bacteria issues, some sort of infestation, untested source water, random rubber band in the tank, no consistent maintenance/cleaning, is the water going in even treated? Temperature checked? Filtration? Random doses of medicine(apparently one not even sure what it was)? I can't believe anything is still alive in there. You can't even use the word 'aquarium' for it.

 

[djdestructo]

I have had the same sort of issues with my fish last year. (Before I knew how to cycle) The laying at the bottom, the long white poop and the fuzzy fungus on the food. The best thing you can do is to buy a test kit and if you have to, build your own gravel vac.

The test kit will allow you to see if your levels are off and will be a lot easier to find the problem then just changing the water.

As far as the water, try boiling it and letting it cool before ya add it to the tank. This may kill off whatever is in the well water, that may be causing the issue.

The white fuzzy food is a sign that there is too much at the bottom, so a gavel vac would really help, or just use a net to fish it out. Taking out the food source for the fungus and you will be free of it.

Buying medicated food is another option, I find it helps with internal parasites. White poop is a sign of that.

As far as the tank, you may even want to take the fish out, empty out the water, and add boiling water, and a bit of vinegar and wash out the whole tank and gravel, this will kill the bacteria both good and bad, but at least you will know that whatever is in there will be gone. Rinse the tank out very well and add fresh water back into it and let the filter run with it for a bit before you put the fish back in.

What kind of filter do you have with the tank?

 

[Ayson]

Thanks for the replies.

@djdestructo

Test kits found here are imported and cost around $100. The per capita income (yearly) of my country is ~$1000. So you see how buying it is not an option. :grinno:

I think i have found a major source of my problems. The well water i was using wasn't well water. It was municipal water with chlorine. Two people gave me wrong info. about the source. Now i use a mix of de-chlorinated tap water and bore well water. I put this in a candle filter and it takes more than 24 hours to filter water needed for a 25% change. Again boiling all that water is not economicaly feasible.

I remove the fungus-ed food during water changes. The fish that i am left with now, show no signs of disease, except the occational flashing. The flashing is very peculiar. They flash only on a particular leaf of a particular plant, and they seem to mimic each other.:screwy:

I did do a full tank clean, emptied the water, removed the gravel, rinsed it, scrubbed the tank, etc.... Now im waiting for the tank to cycle. I have an under gravel filter. Any other type would be too big for my small tank.

@kevinb120
Saying whatever you want, and just adding the two words "No offense" at the begining doesn't help. I know what my problems are. I don't need a person sitting 14,000km away to point them out to me. :nono: What i need are solutions. Most people who replied in this thread are providing that and thank you all.

 

[djdestructo]

Thanks for the replies.

@djdestructo

Test kits found here are imported and cost around $100. The per capita income (yearly) of my country is ~$1000. So you see how buying it is not an option. :grinno:

I think i have found a major source of my problems. The well water i was using wasn't well water. It was municipal water with chlorine. Two people gave me wrong info. about the source. Now i use a mix of de-chlorinated tap water and bore well water. I put this in a candle filter and it takes more than 24 hours to filter water needed for a 25% change. Again boiling all that water is not economicaly feasible.

I remove the fungus-ed food during water changes. The fish that i am left with now, show no signs of disease, except the occational flashing. The flashing is very peculiar. They flash only on a particular leaf of a particular plant, and they seem to mimic each other.:screwy:

I did do a full tank clean, emptied the water, removed the gravel, rinsed it, scrubbed the tank, etc.... Now im waiting for the tank to cycle. I have an under gravel filter. Any other type would be too big for my small tank.

@kevinb120
Saying whatever you want, and just adding the two words "No offense" at the begining doesn't help. I know what my problems are. I don't need a person sitting 14,000km away to point them out to me. :nono: What i need are solutions. Most people who replied in this thread are providing that and thank you all.

Ya that could be the problem there. Just keep up with the water changes, even try making your own gravel vac. Your tank would cycle in a couple weeks or maybe even a month. Its hard to tell when ya dont have a test kit. Have you looked into ordering a test kit online? Also what is a candle filter? You could look into getting a small plant to help improve the water as well.

 

[Ayson]

I think ill make a gravel vac. Well the ambient temperature around here is 30C so i guess the tank should cycle fast. I have 6 small plants in the tank.

The more accurate term is "ceramic water filter". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_water_filter

About the test kit, ordering it online, plus shipping, duty, taxes etc.... will cost me even more. But i think i can get some Nessler's Reagent for cheap. AFAIK thats what is used in the kits for the ammonia test. I won't have a colour card but i can know the relative amounts of ammonia. I won't know the NO2- and NO3- amounts though.