Need Help w/ Guppies Dying

[GeoPappas]

I have lost almost every Guppy that I have every purchased over the past few months (10 in all). The weird thing is that I have 3 Long-Finned Danios (1 Leopard and 2 Zebra), and they don't seem affected by whatever it is that the Guppies get.

Water has always checked out perfectly (using the API Freshwater liquid test kit) ever since it has been cycled (back in November). Ammonia is always 0, Nitrites are always 0, and Nitrates are always <= 10. pH is around 7.4. I keep the temperature around 77-78.

I added live plants (Hornwort, Java Fern, Anacharis, and Argentine Sword) to the tank in the last 2 months to try and help with water freshness.

As far as I can see, the fish don't show any outward signs of illness. I lost a guppy yesterday, and looked at him up close with a loupe, but couldn't see anything.

The guppies that end up dying show the following symptoms: swim in the corner at the surface, fast breathing, listlessness, and finally a loss of color (a day or so before they die).

Yesterday, I decided to treat the tank with Maracyn and Maracyn 2 and lowered the temperature to 75, since the symptoms sound a lot like Columnaris, but since there are no outward physical signs that I can see, I'm not sure if that is what they have.

Any and all help is much appreciated.

I am quite frustrated, since Guppies are supposed to be extremely easy to keep, but I can't even seem to keep them.

A few questions:

- One thing that I notice is that the Guppies seem to like to eat moss off of the gravel or sides of the tank. Can moss be bad for them?

- Is there anything that Guppies are susceptible to that Danios are not?

FYI: I just purchased (4) Neon Tetras and (6) more Guppies yesterday. I checked Ammonia this morning and it was 0.

 

[jones57742]

GP: I have googled for and reviewed your filter and IMHO I would purchase another Hagen Aquaclear 50 filter and place in use.

IMHO, I would also remove the carbon.


I have lost almost every Guppy that I have every purchased over the past few months (10 in all). The weird thing is that I have 3 Long-Finned Danios (1 Leopard and 2 Zebra), and they don't seem affected by whatever it is that the Guppies get.
Water has always checked out perfectly (using the API Freshwater liquid test kit) ever since it has been cycled (back in November). Ammonia is always 0, Nitrites are always 0, and Nitrates are always <= 10. pH is around 7.4. I keep the temperature around 77-78.
I added live plants (Hornwort, Java Fern, Anacharis, and Argentine Sword) to the tank in the last 2 months to try and help with water freshness.
As far as I can see, the fish don't show any outward signs of illness. I lost a guppy yesterday, and looked at him up close with a loupe, but couldn't see anything.

Welcome to the Club!!!


The guppies that end up dying show the following symptoms: swim in the corner at the surface, fast breathing, listlessness, and finally a loss of color (a day or so before they die).

Mine did not show any symptoms.


Yesterday, I decided to treat the tank with Maracyn and Maracyn 2 and lowered the temperature to 75, since the symptoms sound a lot like Columnaris, but since there are no outward physical signs that I can see, I'm not sure if that is what they have.

Do not blame you but I would have not done this one.
In addition if the carbon in your filtration system is still active then the meds will have been removed.


Any and all help is much appreciated.
I am quite frustrated, since Guppies are supposed to be extremely easy to keep, but I can't even seem to keep them.


GP:

I thoroughly understand your frustration as I have been there, done that and got the tee shirt via the loss of many $ in show guppies.
Even more frustrating is that the lady who cuts my hair has a tall hex tank, does not know what a WC or filtration is and continually giving away guppy fry.

What I would up doing was purchasing a 5G hex tanks.
The tanks have very rudimentary filtration but I cycled the tanks with water from my main tank and fish flakes.
Please note that I do not really count on the filtration of these tanks.

Once the tanks were cycled I purchased two varieties of show guppies and place each variety in tank.
I anticipated receiving juvies but they showed up as fry and I had to feed them as such.
Lo and behold the fry grew to become juvies with no deaths.

Anticipating fry I added floating plants to the tanks:
Salvinia natans and Naja grass: Please ref:
http://brianstropicals.com/supplies.html
Lo and behold we are having fry.

When the juvies were almost adults I moved a sufficient quantity of them to my main tank such that I had one male and two females of each variety in the 5G tanks.
I also added floating plants to may main tank.
Immediately fry began showing up in the main tank but even with the floating plants the angels began hangin out near the floating plants and the fry were gone within several weeks.
In addition the three males which I placed in the main tank are no longer there but the females are OK.


A few questions:
- One thing that I notice is that the Guppies seem to like to eat moss off of the gravel or sides of the tank. Can moss be bad for them?

They are not eating the moss but the infusoria which is growing in the moss.
Are you feeding the guppies properly as adult guppies should not be hustling infusoria in the moss.



BTW
I perform daily or bi-daily 90% WC's of the 5G tanks and the replacement water comes from my main tank.

TR

 

[grannylvsfish]

I purchased all my guppy as fry, after buying 3 beauty's and them dying one by one I decided to start fresh and with little tiny ones. they are doing wonderful!! eating everything in site and growing. No more will I buy full grown guppy, I do not believe they do well when purchased adult size. some may say they do, but I have not had that luck, nor has many people. I also did the platty fry, they are growing well and also eating everything. so i say if you got the tank, set it up ( I did 10 gallon tanks) and buy fry. !!! I got another sponge filter going in my 55 for another 10 gallon tank when my fry have fry

 

[grannylvsfish]

oh and by buying adult guppy, how do you know how old they are? they may be old!! fry is the way to go

 

[GeoPappas]

GP: I have googled for and reviewed your filter and IMHO I would purchase another Hagen Aquaclear 50 filter and place in use.

IMHO, I would also remove the carbon.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I read as much as I could about Guppies to try and see if I could figure out what the problem is. One book stated that since Guppies had large fins, they could get tired in a fast current. So last week, I went out and bought the Aquaclear 50 and replaced the filter two days ago. I made sure to swap out a sponge filter and the BioMax to make sure that I didn't lose any of the good bacteria.

I also removed the charcoal filter since it was almost a month old, so the current filter is without a charcoal filter.

Are you feeding the guppies properly as adult guppies should not be hustling infusoria in the moss.

I am feeding once or twice a day a very small amount. I have heard so much about overfeeding that I am trying not to feed them too much. Most of the advice I have seen on feeding talks about giving fish as much as they can eat in a few minutes, but if I continued to feed my fish for a few minutes, they would probably burst right there on the spot. They are all pigs! After I feed them, they then go in search of more food on the bottom of the tank. Once that is done, they then start eating whatever moss they can find (which is slim pickings at this point). The guppies only seem to do one thing all day long: look for food (and eat it if they find it).

I try to gauge how much food to give them based on the size of their abdomen. I try to make sure that it stays well rounded, but not bloated.

 

[GeoPappas]

I realize that I made a mistake in my description above. I stated that the Guppies were eating moss, but they are actually eating algae and not moss. My tank now has very little algae left on the tank sides. Guppies seem to relish it.

I'm not sure if that makes a difference, but I wanted to make sure that my description was accurate.

 

[jones57742]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I appreciate those words.

I read as much as I could about Guppies to try and see if I could figure out what the problem is. One book stated that since Guppies had large fins, they could get tired in a fast current. So last week, I went out and bought the Aquaclear 50 and replaced the filter two days ago. I made sure to swap out a sponge filter and the BioMax to make sure that I didn't lose any of the good bacteria.

I will express this in West Texan but you are probably barking up the wrong tree here.

I also removed the charcoal filter since it was almost a month old, so the current filter is without a charcoal filter.

I know that I either said something wrong in my post or did not exemplify.
At 28 days the charcoal is functioning as biological and mechanical filtration media, but for reasons outside the scope of this thread please do not reintroduce it into your filtration process.

I am feeding once or twice a day a very small amount. I have heard so much about overfeeding that I am trying not to feed them too much. Most of the advice I have seen on feeding talks about giving fish as much as they can eat in a few minutes, but if I continued to feed my fish for a few minutes, they would probably burst right there on the spot. They are all pigs! After I feed them, they then go in search of more food on the bottom of the tank. Once that is done, they then start eating whatever moss they can find (which is slim pickings at this point). The guppies only seem to do one thing all day long: look for food (and eat it if they find it).
I try to gauger how much food to give them based on the size of their abdomen. I try to make sure that it stays well rounded, but not bloated.

Please excuse me here but as Charlie Chan said to #2 Son "one ounce of experience worth two pound of detective book".
I am only trying to help based upon my experience and, IMHO, when trying to breed guppies
1) get them started in a tank which replicates the water conditions of your main tank (ie. my daily 90WC's from my main tank);
2) feed them a ton of meaties but also veggies (hence my recipes); and
3) induce floating plants.

TR

BTW: I am more than certain easier methods exist but you and I have had very similar problems and what I have set forth in this post and the previous post has worked for me.

I realize that I made a mistake in my description above. I stated that the Guppies were eating moss, but they are actually eating algae and not moss. My tank now has very little algae left on the tank sides. Guppies seem to relish it.

I'm not sure if that makes a difference, but I wanted to make sure that my description was accurate.

The algae removal is due to your proper feeding, lighting and fertilization and not due to the guppies. The guppies, IMHO, are feeding on the infusoria in the algae which, IMHO, is not good.

TR