lost my first guppy - need ideas

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guppygal

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Jun 30, 2006
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Hi - I am now 3 weeks into my new tank cycle. I have a small 5 gal Hex with now 2 male guppies. My third just died last night. He had small red spots near his tail. Is that ammonia poisoning? I have been changing my water 1x a day!! (sometimes twice) I get 0 readings.

Here are my current water parameters:
temp: 80/81 (with no heater - just in a warm room)
ammonia - 0
ph - 6.8 to 7.0 (I can't tell which!)
Nitrate 0

My fish are just sitting near the surface - they really don't seem happy any more.

When I change the water, I make sure it sits 24 hours, I put in stress coat and aquarium salt.

What else can I do? If my other fish die - how long do I just let the tank just cycle before I add more fish?

I have little kids and I hate telling them their fish have died.
 
well first they don't need aquarium salt. you only need salt for medicinal purposes, and only on a temporary basis.

since you're 3 weeks into a cycle, I would recommend getting a nitrite test kit and testing for that. it's hard to beleive nitrites are the problem if you're changing water every day, but it could happen I suppose. but, you're at the time when i had nitrites, which are much more toxic than nitrates, and since you didn't show that test result I'll assume you don't have that particular kit yet. they could be high enough to cause problems.

how much of the water are you changing out? you shouldn't change out all of it, as your bacteria living in your substrate need some moisture to survive. when I cycl;ed my tank I stuck to 50% changes.
 
What is your NitrIte reading? It sounds like the second part of your cycle is kicking in and that is when your NitrIte spikes. It can cause similar symptoms to ammonia poisoning where you see gasping at the surface and clamped fins.
guppygal said:
When I change the water, I make sure it sits 24 hours, I put in stress coat and aquarium salt.
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No need to wait 24 hours as long as you are adding a decorticator to the water when you switch it out and match the water temps as best as you can. So if you need to do an emergency water change you can do it at any time.
 
Sorry - I meant my Nitrite readings are 0.

My other male guppy has now sunk to the bottom ... I think he is almost out ..

So sad! I thought I was doing soo good about my daily water changes - can stress kill them?

I also never change more than 50% -- more like 40%
 
I'm having a hard time believing that after 3 weeks you have no ammonia and no nitrites. Are you sure your tests are OK? Maybe they're expired, hopefully they aren't test strips because these are not very accurate--you need the liquid ammonia and nitrite test kits.

What kind of filter do you have in your 5 gallon?

I'm also wondering if oxygen levels are OK, either due to low aeration or because of the high temperature of the water (in high temps, oxygen levels decrease).
 
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Yeah, im wondering too about filtration and/or oxegynation...

Red spots near the tail may be their coloring, if they are fancy guppies...

Is there a chance you could get a larger or differenly shaped tank? THose small ones dont allow much wiggle room (both figuratively and literally). Any problems with the tank are magnified, and you dont have much room for swimming. THe hex tanks are worse in that second sense, since they are so verticle and most fish need horizontal space. A great beginning setup is a 20 gallon, big enough but not TOO big. Try craigslist or Freecycle...

Also, FYI, if you do loose all the guppies, you cant just "let the tank cycle" unless you are adding some thing for the bacteria to grow on, by either adding fishfood or ammonia or live fish.
 
Yeah - I would of loved a larger tank - but 20 just seems HUGE to me!! I may be able to do a 10 gal but I just spent $50 on this tank and my hubby will think I am nuts!!

The tank has a bio wheel filter and a sponge filter with carbon in it. Do I need more aeration than that??

My ammonia is 0 because I just changed the water when I got the dead fish out. I bet it is back up. The test may be old too ... I got it from my dad who bought it about a yr ago. But the reading change high and low so they seem like they are working.

I have the liquid stuff - Master water - it has like 6 things you can test. I usually just do ph, nitrite and ammonia.

If all the fish dye - why wouldn't the current poop and food in there help it cycle??

Any other tips??? What else should I do to help get through this??
 
First off, check to see if your test kits are expired. Everything depends on the results of these tests.

Check ammonia and nitrite every day. If you can see either of these, do a 10 or 20% water change (or more) to get them down to un-readable levels. If nitrates get above 20 ppm, do a water change.

Eliminate the use of salt or any products in the tank (except for dechlorinator).

Perhaps turn off your heater and open up the top of your tank to cool the temperature a little, in case high temps are reducing oxygen in the tank.

There is definitely something unusual going on in your tank. You should be seeing ammonia and nitrites by now. Once you test for both, you can post the results and we can get to the bottom of whether these toxins are responsible for killing your fish, or whether it's something else.
 
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Sounds like you are in the middle of a cycle. Read up on ammonia and Nitrite poisoning and you will see that your fish descriptions fit this.
guppygal said:
If all the fish dye - why wouldn't the current poop and food in there help it cycle??
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I will assume you are familiar with cycling a tank? The reason you can’t cycle with food and poop is because you are no longer producing enough ammonia to feed the bacteria that eats ammonia, and in turn will be starving off the bacteria that eats the first bacteria's byproduct, Nitrite, and so-on-and-so-forth. In other words, your good bacteria will die off if you don’t have a fish producing waste on a continuous level or if you are not providing a continuous supply of ammonia to keep the cycle going. Also, as you loose a fish you will have a small die-back of bacteria as the amount of bacteria you can keep alive is directly related to the bio-mass you have in your tank. This is why people suggest you add new fish slowly, so your bio-filter has time for the bacteria to catch-up. Add a bunch of fish all at once and you will have a mini-cycle.
 
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Thanks for all the input! Yeah - I have never had a Nitrite read anything but 0 - I don't see an expiration date but maybe I will just get some new bottles. I was told the guppies need SOME salt ... that is easy enough to eliminate!

I called the petstore and they said I could return the 5 gall hex and get a 10 gallon.

Will that help with the health of my tank? I think you are right about the 5 gal hex - bad shape and really small.

If I use my old gravel and tank water can I just put everybody in the new tank with out waiting?
 
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