Two dead guppies

[psilo]

Last week a young male guppy died. For two days before he could be found in a quiet cornor and he wasnt eating. There were no visible signs of illness on him. Then he died. For the last two days I had a fairly old mature female guppy do the same thing. Yesterday I could see some faint red colouration in her body and this morning when i found her dead it looked like she had internal bleeding. This female was about 18 months old and had many babies. I wonder whether she just died of old age or whether the two deaths are linked?
All water parametres are 0 with weekly 40% water changes. Water is kept at 77 degreees. The fish have a varied diet which includes live food and all other fish are healthy and feeding fine.

What do you think?

 

[webcricket]

Have you added any new fish or plants recently? What live foods do you feed (and do you culture them or buy them from the pet store)?

 

[psilo]

I added three variatus platies a couple of weeks ago. They are healthy looking, No new plants. I feed live blood worm and daphnia always bought from the same supplier.

 

[webcricket]

It sounds like the deaths may be unrelated. The female certainly was old as far as guppies go. I'd keep a close eye on the rest of the fish for the next few days and make sure they are all eating and acting normally. If the platies were carrying anything it would have probably spread sooner and they would have been effected as well.

 

[psilo]

Yes you could be right. There is one other female guppy that seems to be struggling a little (swimming at a 45 degree angle) but she is as old as the one that died. I have only had one death in this tank in 6 months so when 2 die in 2 weeks you start to get nervous! thanks!