Having problems with guppies

DAVIDFBT

DAVIDFBT

Extinct? Since when?
Feb 3, 2008
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Great Lakes, Illinois
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Definitely not David
About 2 weeks ago, I bought 3 fancy male guppys from Petsmart for my 20 gallon tank. In 2 days, 2 of them died. I thought that it was bad stock and the stress of shipping.

Then about 4 days ago, I bought 3 more males and 2 females. In 8 hours, the females died. So now, i said to myself, "I've had it, I'll buy guppies from a LFS" So 2 females came home with me yesterday afternoon.

Now, the females are gasping with their gills at the bottom of the tank and one of them is just floating sideways on some pennywort and only moves when My hand gets by her. And to top it all off, a male guppy from Petsmart has died tonight.

Water Parameters are perfect, reading 0/0/10 for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. The other fish are healthy and eating normally and they haven't been harrassing the guppies at all. I acclimated the guppies perfect too, doing a float for 5 minutes, putting in a cup of tank water and wait another 5 minutes, doing the previous 2 more times, and finally releasing the guppies.

Why are they dying? :help:
 
Tank temp? Guppies like it between 76 and 81... How about oxygen? Is there some current moving to put oxy into the water? How about water hardness? Neutral ph, little on the soft side is good for guppies, hard water is pretty harsh on them...
 
PH is 7.2, even with 2 pieces of driftwood in the tank. Oxygen is good, plenty of surface agitation, 78 Degrees F with variations of .8 degrees a day. I don't have a KH kit so I don't know how hard my water is.

Update: I've noticed that a male guppy has his mouth extended all the time and has a white substance on his lips. He also seems a bit lethargic.
 
Hmm...Ph is fine then, temp is good. Dunno about KH for your tank, and in oregon, I'm not going to rule out hard water.

A white substance on the guppy's mouth might be fungal. They do tend to die off easily from that kind of problem, especially if they are fancy guppies. Inbreeding to create all those amazing colors means a somewhat weaker than the norm. You might try jungle labs fungal tabs in your tank. It does take a few days to have good effect, but it does work.

Meanwhile, check under your wood, and in your substrate for any pockets of rotting food or other organic material. Sometimes you can get a dead spot of current where a patch of fungus can take hold over time. Your fish get used to it, but new introductions can often be overwhelmed by the sudden exposure. You can also try pimafix.
 
Look up guppy disease..see if that fits the symptoms you are seeing.. Its highly contagious and is a quickiller. Also know as columnaris.
 
I heard that you need a little salt for guppies am I wrong?
 
no salt, no hard water problems. I have hard water and use no salt. never lost a guppy and by goodness there breeding so much I can not keep up. ( and no they are not eating there babies :lol:
you may have gotten bad stock, I wish you were close I would give you 50 right off the bat! if there sick in there tank, then by moving them into yours they may have gotten stressed out by the move and are dying. they infect the whole tank, I do hope you had them in quarinteen first!
 
I'm sure I got good stock from the family owned LFS about 6 blocks away, they have'nt had a guppy die in their tank for 2 years. I'm positive that there is no rotting anything in the tank, because I just did a major rescape of the tank and there was no rotten food or plants or fish. (If there was, the shrimp would've eaten it) I also know it isn't that the new additions are dying, because I bought 2 Amano shrimp with the guppies from the LFS.

Update: The female who's gills were flaring, and the white lipped male have died, I found them on the bottom of the tank being picked at by shrimp.
 
DAVIDFBT said:
I'm sure I got good stock from the family owned LFS about 6 blocks away, they have'nt had a guppy die in their tank for 2 years. I'm positive that there is no rotting anything in the tank, because I just did a major rescape of the tank and there was no rotten food or plants or fish. (If there was, the shrimp would've eaten it) I also know it isn't that the new additions are dying, because I bought 2 Amano shrimp with the guppies from the LFS.

Update: The female who's gills were flaring, and the white lipped male have died, I found them on the bottom of the tank being picked at by shrimp.
Click to expand...

all of my "family owned pet store fish always died!
I got my stock from good old boys here, babies and they have done wonderful. why was your guppy white lipped? he have an infection? cotton mouth? I say something is up there. take a closer look, ick? cotton mouth, there was something wrong with them. if you can get guppies, buy from these guys here! I wish you were close, I have a ton to give free. but I can not ship I have no clue how and there for I am stuck.
 
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