Planted tank with female
guppies, sys. 9/2/08
Dear Wet Web Guys:
<Hi,>
You helped me before, so I am writing you again in the hopes that you will
provide me with more solid information on keeping a healthy tank.
<Fire away!>
I have three planted tanks, two of them holding guppies I raised from fry. But
it is the tank with females guppies that I am concerned with. Unlike the 14G
tank with (I'm guessing) 20 males, plus 2 Oto cats, 4 shrimp and numerous
snails, and which is staying fairly clear of algae, the tank with the 11 females
stays a little cloudy despite 1/2 water changes sometimes as frequently as every
other day.
<Females are substantially bigger than males, so that's a higher biological
loading on the filter, water changes, etc. Generally cloudy water comes down to
either diatom/bacterial blooms on the one hand, or silt on the other.>
I am debating these options: (A) adding a DIY CO2 injection to try to grow the 8
plants in the tank so they can handle this amount of nitrogenous waste,
<Algae will certainly diminish in tanks with healthy plant growth, but adding
CO2 fertilisation is an expensive solution to a problem that may simply be the
need for more/better filtration. Mechanical filtration (filter wool for example)
is critical to removing silt from the water column.>
(B) buy an Otocinclus and a male apple snail for this tank,
<Neither will have any impact on cloudy water. Otocinclus are gregarious, so
"an" Otocinclus isn't an option; you buy them in groups of six or more. I'm not
a big fan of this genus for a variety of reasons, not least of which is their
appalling survival record in the average community tank. Apple Snails are
sensitive animals easily harassed by fish that peck at them, which Guppies
surely will. They also need a cool winter "break" or they fail to live long.
Essentially not suitable for fish tanks, though great fun on their own. Kept and
bred them many times. Nerites and Cherry Shrimps are infinitely better
algae-eaters for small/medium aquaria.>
(C) Get rid of a few guppies and hope they are not eaten by larger, more
aggressive fish in somebody else's tank
<Well, sooner of later you will have to "thin the herd". That's where your local
retailer or fish club comes in. Nowadays people advertise their excess fish on
forums too. In any case, guppies of decent quality shouldn't be difficult to
rehome.>
or (D) some combination of the above.
<Would tend to look at why the water is cloudy first, and then establish whether
diatoms (golden colour); bacteria (usually off-white); or silt (typically grey,
and happens after a new tank is set up usually).>
These guppies (11 total) seem to have stopped the growing spurt as their
appetites have started to slow down.
<There's "negative feedback" in aquaria. As the fish get bigger, the water
becomes polluted faster, and that slows down growth rate. Invariably, you need
to increase water changes to maintain the same level of growth. Indeed, if you
ignore this, stunting or even ill-health become very real risks. Ten gallons is
fine for rearing fish up to around 2-3 cm (say, an inch or so in old money) but
after that you do need to be rehoming them. Overstocking may be part of why this
tank isn't "balanced", and why the water is cloudy.>
They are in a 10G tank with a little over an inch of substrate, 3 pieces of
Mopani and 8 plants. I am inept at applying the one inch rule. Can you help me
calculate the largest number of female guppies I can reasonably keep in this
tank if I add an Oto cat and perhaps a male apple snail?
<These "inch per gallon" rules only make sense in context. An Oscar is the same
length as 12 Neon tetras, both coming out at about 18 inches. But would they
both fit into an 18 gallon aquarium? Obviously not. So you need to put any rules
of thumb into context. Females Guppies simply aren't (in my opinion) suited to
10 gallon tanks because of their size, and while you could in theory keep, say,
half a dozen alive in there, they'd be crowded and you'd have your work cut out
keeping water quality good. Male Guppies are aggressive, and if mixed with
females would pester them to distraction. The poor females wouldn't be able to
find resting places away from the males. So you need to be intelligent and
consider the size, activity level, diet, social behaviour and other relevant
factors when stocking your tanks. That's where reading up on the needs of a fish
come into the equation.>
Of the three tanks, I prefer this tank because of the way the females watch
me... they remind me of puppies begging at a table. They get excited when they
see me looking at them and are very aware of what I am doing in the room. Really
cute.
<Yes indeed. Livebearers generally become tame very easily, and respond
positively to good care by being all-around excellent pets. It's a shame
historically they've been written off as "beginner's fish" or worse.>
Coleen
<Cheers, Neale.>
Nearing stocking limit,
somewhat urgent... 4/16/08
Hello everybody, my name is Jeremy. I want to first and foremost compliment
your site as one of the best fishkeeping websites I have found, even after
extensive searching. I have a bit of a problem. My tank, (29 gallon with
AquaClear 30 gal hang on box filter, separate sponge, carbon and biomedia with
old net attached to intake to protect fry.) currently has 4 Otos, 3 cories, 4
ghost shrimp, 6 espei Rasbora, 2 adult guppies, three 6-week-old guppies, and
about a dozen week-old babies. I currently am following a schedule of changing
50% of the water every Saturday. (They seem to enjoy it.) I know that I won't be
able to keep all the guppies , but I am unsure at exactly what point to start
giving them away. So the essence of my question is: How many adult guppies can
this system support with the current water change schedule?
A thousand thanks in advance!
<Hello Jeremy; thanks for the kind words. A good basic rule to start with is
that small fish (like Guppies) can be housed at about one inch of fish per
gallon of water. In practise though filtration and especially water changes can
substantially alter this. Another factor is the buffering capacity of the water:
in very hard, alkaline water the inevitable pH drop that happens in
heavily-stocked tanks is slowed down. So really your task is to check that
nitrite stays zero, pH stays steady, and nitrate stays relatively low (ideally
less than 50 mg/l). Provided you are seeing these results, your tank is safe,
even if it isn't "optimal" in terms of stocking. Now if you're asking for a
ballpark figure, you can probably keep about 30 up to 1-inch long Guppies
alongside your other fish without having major water quality problems *assuming*
the filtration is good (check nitrite!) and you are doing at least 50% water
changes weekly (ideally more!). Once the fish are above an inch in length, it's
time to move them out. Adult Guppies pose two problems: males are aggressive,
and females are quite big, up to two inches in length. So the females especially
will pull down water quality, while the males may start nipping the fins of one
another. Cheers, Neale.>
Question about my tequila sunrise guppy –
4/12/08
Hello,
I tried to ask this question on your website but it asked me for a login which i
don't know.
<???>
I recently bought a Tequila Sunrise Guppy from our local PetSmart along with a
blue/silver guppy exactly a week from today. I put them in the tank with my
Betta fish, and they were doing great. I woke up this morning and my tequila
sunrise guppy was at the top of the tank floating on it's side.
<Almost always when people tell me stories like this, it's because of the
following issues: tank too small, tank under-filtered, tank not properly
matured. So let's review. Guppies MUST have an aquarium at least 10 gallons in
size, and in all honesty fancy guppies are so delicate (and the males often so
aggressive) than a 20 gallon tank is ESSENTIAL. Water chemistry needs to be hard
and alkaline. Adding a little MARINE MIX (not aquarium/tonic) salt, 3-6 grammes
per litre, helps, especially if you live in a soft water area. The aquarium
needs to be very well filtered, certainly the filter should have at least 4
times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour. There should be ZERO ammonia
and nitrite at all times. Temperature must be not less than 25 C, 77 F. What you
CANNOT do with Guppies is stick them in a small, unfiltered aquarium of the sort
(sadly) used for Bettas by some people. They are completely unsuitable for that
sort of maintenance.>
I thought it was dead and when i approached the tank it swam, while still being
on it's side just a little. In fear that my beta fish had done something to it,
i moved it to a different bowl. When i first moved it, it swam like normal then
after a bout 30 seconds turned over on it's side and slowly swam that way then
just sits at the top of the bowl. I don't know what's wrong with my guppy. I've
searched yahoo, and I've looked all over your website typing in key points for
my question, but all i found was a plenty on it's side and the rest was about
pregnant guppies and
nothing about being on it's side. If i could get an answer a.s.ap. i would
greatly appreciate it. I don't know if my fish is sick or not, or hurt.
-Lori
<Honestly need more information re: aquarium size, filtration, water chemistry,
water quality, etc. So, before going further, I'd suggest you read over this:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/guppies.htm
Once you're done and you've got some information together about your aquarium
and how the Guppies are maintained, we can try to move things forward. Cheers,
Neale.>
Guppies, sys., beh.
3/3/08
Hello,
A few weeks ago we set up a 5 gallon hex tank and bought a pair of guppies.
<Too small...>
We have worked with our water and have finally, after we lost the first two,
gotten the tank just right.
<Just right according to whom?>
We bought others, and ended up with 3 males and 2 females. One of the red-tailed
males killed a fancy tail male and one of the females.
<No surprise at all.>
We isolated him, then set up a 10 gallon tank with a divider so he would have
more room. We then went and bought him 2 female guppies, and within a day he had
bitten one and killed her.
<Someone needs to read a book about Guppies. Males are aggressive. Guppies are
NOT a good idea in tanks smaller than 20 gallons. This isn't up for discussion.
If all you have is a 10 gallon tank, keep something else.>
We removed the other female, leaving him isolated once again.
<How are you isolating him? Not one of those horrible breeding traps? They
achieve precisely nothing except removing money from your pocket.>
We called the pet store, and they agreed to exchange him for a different fish.
We brought home a new fancy tail male and he seems just as aggressive.
<Male Guppies attempt to dominate the area around them. It just so happens that
a 10 gallon tank is so small any one male Guppy will treat this as his private
kingdom.>
He is chasing all of the females around the tank constantly, bumping into them.
<Not bumping: either attempting to copulate or else displaying aggression.>
I cannot tell if he is trying to bite them, but that is a concern.
<For the female Guppies especially, I'd imagine!>
We have 2 males ( including him) and four females. All the info I can find talks
about increasing the number of females, but I don't know if that will help.
<It will, in a sufficiently large aquarium.>
I do not have the room to set up a separate tank.
<Then Guppies are not for you.>
What do you recommend I do next? Is it common for them to be this aggressive, or
are we just unlucky?
<Completely normal. Please read about fish beforehand in books and fishkeeping
magazines that have been fact checked. The only livebearer suitable for a tank
this small is the Dwarf Mosquitofish (Heterandria formosa). Nothing else
commonly available will work out well. Next up, a 10-gallon tank is ridiculously
small. Do read here for more:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestk.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Guppy question, sel. sys.,
dis. 2/17/08
I've had guppies for years and stopped and restarted a few times, out of
frustration of how delicate the females are.
<Of all fish species... this standard used to be rock solid... the touchy stock
from the Far East has ruined a good deal of the hobby the last decades>
I also have a 30gallon planted tank with co2 and such, so I'm not quite a
beginner.
I have almost enough salt to be considered brackish, think between 1Tbls/5gallon
to 1Tbls/10gallon. This is a planted eclipse hex 5 gallon.
<Small... hard to keep stable... and with the salt... easy for nitrification to
vacillate>
I have/had 5 females and 4 males. I think I even had another female but she died
back 2 months ago. They are all fancy guppies, so delicate it seems. I got them
from two different stores, one being PetSmart (sorry). I've had 2 females die
now in the past day. I just did a water change 3 days ago, about 20%, as usual
for every other to maybe ever week. The two that died were very pregnant and one
of them and possibly the other looked like they were about to give birth (both
were hanging out down on the gravel or plants being alone).
With that background out of the way, is there anything else I can do to make the
females more comfortable and less likely to die?
<Yes... see below>
This is a constant problem and I only got these fish 2 months ago and already
have lost almost half my original females. The temp is usually at 76 but can go
up to 79 (the eclipse light always has a tendency of heating the tank up if the
room is mildly warm). But lately it hasn't been.
Is my tank too crowded maybe too?
<Is a factor, yes>
They seem happy otherwise.
Should I instead be buying more reliable females,
<Yes>
is it possible I've just had bad luck with the ones I bought?
<Mmm, not entirely, no>
I think the ones that died today were both from PetSmart if that matters.
It's just demoralizing.
Thanks for any information.
-Erin
<Too many Poecilia reticulata on the market are infested with Hexamita
(perennially) and Columnaris (seasonally, and in more erratic punctuated
fashion)... Guarding against the introduction of these diseases can be
accomplished only through careful exclusion/quarantining of all incoming
livestock... and treatment with antiprotozoal (Metronidazole often) and possibly
antimicrobial (most celebratedly Neomycin...). You might have "luck" with
buying/selecting better stock from another source... but I would still at least
isolate it for a good two weeks (to weaken pathogens) before introduction to
your main displays... Having a larger system would be of great benefit here as
well as bolstering the fishs' immune systems through improved nutrition... Do
see the Net re the disease organisms mentioned... they can be defeated,
excluded... Bob Fenner>
Proper water conditions for
fancy guppies 2/10/08
I have a 75 gallon established aquarium that I would love to fill with fancy
guppies. I also have 2 ten gallon tanks for sick fish, fry or a brine
shrimp hatchery.
We have extremely hard well water here, the tank was used for Malawian African
Cichlids with great success for many, many years.
I understand guppies prefer hard water, but will they thrive in this extremely
hard, limestone water? I would prefer to choose a fish that would thrive in our
type of water than to constantly amend the conditions.
<Yes, they'll love this stuff. "Liquid Rock" is a Guppy's idea of heaven.>
Also, is it such that ALL guppies prefer brackish water? I noticed from one of
your articles, the aquarium water should be amended with "proper marine salt,
not tonic salt". Is this true with fancy guppies as well? If so, should I
exclusively use marine salt in lieu of regular aquarium salt when setting up the
tank and changing water?
<Guppies don't need salt added to the tank, but it does help, and is probably
essential for people who live in areas with soft/acid water. Salt also helps
prevent Finrot and Whitespot. You can in fact use either tonic salt or marine
salt mix, but marine salt mix is better, which is why I recommend it. What's the
difference? Tonic salt is plain sodium chloride, essentially cooking salt
without the iodine. While it has helpful properties with regard to disease and
reducing the toxicity of nitrate/nitrite, it does nothing much in terms of water
chemistry beyond raising the salinity. Marine salt mix does all that tonic salt
does, but it also contains a lot of calcium carbonate and various other
minerals. These raise the pH, making the water basic (which tonic salt doesn't
do) and increases the buffering capacity of the water as well, inhibiting rapid
pH changes. The result is water that is not only slightly more saline, but also
chemically much more stable. If you have very hard, basic water (as seems to be
the case) then choosing between tonic salt and marine salt will likely make no
odds. Go for whatever is better value. But for people with soft/acid water,
marine salt mix is a better all-around solution.>
What is the recommended dosage of marine salt for a 75 gallon aquarium?
<There's really no ideal dosage since Guppies can adapt to anything from
freshwater to marine conditions equally well. Indeed, you don't need to add salt
at all. But as a basic supplement, a 3 grammes per litre/0.5 oz per gallon is
about right. The resulting water should have a specific gravity around 1.001 or
so, i.e., about 10% seawater salinity. This is well within the tolerances of
most other livebearers, so you can easily add Platies, Swordtails or whatever to
the system without worrying. Mollies obviously love salt -- the more the better!
If your Guppies are thriving there's no big need to add salt as your water is
likely hard enough for them to thrive. But if you find your Guppies are prone to
whitespot and fungus or Finrot, this will certainly help. As I say, the salt is
most useful to those aquarists in soft water areas.>
Thank you so much in advance for all your help! I look forward to your
reply.
Pamela
<Cheers, Neale.>
Guppies... systems, water changes 12/26/06
Dear Crew,
I have a 20 gallon tank with about 6 large mollies and down to about 5
guppies. There are also 4 or 5 young mollies that have been born in the tank
over the past few weeks.
I haven't had great luck with the guppies. One had white-looking spots, so I
had to let her go. One had a ripped tail and couldn't swim. I have no idea how
that happened, but I think he was a "dragon tail" guppy. Then, yesterday, I
discovered a bloated female dead on the bottom of the tank.
She looked okay the day before. The guppy with the torn tail also couldn't
swim, and sank to the bottom of the tank to die. Some weeks ago there was
another male guppy who sank to the bottom of the tank, couldn't swim for no
obvious reason, and also died. None of the mollies have died so far. None of
the original three female guppies has looked pregnant, nor have I found any baby
guppies.
There is no ammonia in the water, and the pH is at around 8.
I always thought that when fish died they floated to the top of the tank.
That never seems to happen with our fish. Why is that?
<Something new...>
We have had this aquarium for close to three months. I have a very good filter,
but have never changed any part of the water, only added some water when the
level was low. I have read that it's a good idea to change some of the water on
occasion, but I'm a little worried about doing it myself.
<Please read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2ochgs.htm
and the linked FAQs file above>
A
friend of ours set up the whole thing, and he doesn't change the water, only
cleans the filter every three months.
<... a foolish mistake>
How essential is it to change some percent of the water?
Thanks.
BLS
<Very useful... to dilute metabolites, prevent "heavy water" syndrome (what
happens to all the solids you're adding?), refresh some essential nutrients to
your systems microbiota... Bob Fenner>
Missing guppy 12/23/06
Dear wet web media crew,
First off, thank you for your website. Since I found it a week ago, I have read
it every time I have a spare moment. I have learned so much and I know that my
husband is already sick of me saying, "I read on wet web media..." But now we
have a small problem. I looked for an answer and couldn't find it, and I hope
that the answer isn't somewhere that I just didn't find. We set up a tank a
couple of weeks ago, let it cycle, and added a few male guppies. Then, after
almost a week, we added a few female guppies last night. However, one of the
females is now missing. I couldn't find her this morning. I mentioned it to my
husband when I went home for lunch, and he spent almost an hour searching the
tank for her (just by looking in), but she's still missing. It's only a 10
gallon tank, but there are quite a few fake plants in there as well as a
decoration of a ruin of a castle that has quite a few holes and a hollow
underneath (though you can see most of the hollow). Could she have been eaten
in the 11 hours during the night?
<Mmm, not likely... You don't have other fish species present? Snails? The great
likelihood is this one fish jumped out...>
Could she be hiding to give birth? Or could she be dead and floating in the
hollow under the castle?
<Again... probably not>
If she's hiding in the castle to give birth, would it disturb her too much to
lift the castle up to find her? Thanks for your time, especially so close to
Christmas.
Celeste
<I would look about the outside of the tank... perhaps for a smiling cat? Bob
Fenner>
Re: Missing guppy - found! 12/23/06
Well, we found her!! Tonight, we moved the castle ruin, and not finding
her, I convinced my husband to look in the filter, even though he assured me a
fish could not be sucked up the filter. He removed the filter pads and we heard
something drop down behind the aquarium stand. Fearing the worst, we quickly
grabbed a flashlight and sure enough, there she was, not moving. It took us a
minute to pick her up and get her back in, but she started swimming and hunkered
down into a depression left from the castle ruin. We turned off the lights in
the room she is in and watched by the nightlight until she started swimming a
few minutes ago. My husband gave her a little bit of food, which she ate, and
she is now hunkered back down. We were going to do a water change and a vacuum,
but I think we're going to wait until tomorrow to not further stress her.
<Good thinking>
Hopefully, she will fully recover (we pray). We don't think she was sucked up
in the filter, we think she jumped up into the opening where the water pours
out.
<Agreed. Common>
We do have a cover, but there's an opening for the filter. I've included my
original e-mail so you know which one you don't need to respond to. Thanks for
your time,
Celeste
<Thank you for this follow-up. Bob Fenner>
2.5 Gallon Stocking, Guppies... 2/26/06
Hi!
I have a 2.5 gallon mini bow front with 10 plants, 1.5 inches of gravel, a
heater, and a nano filter. I wanted to know how many guppies I could have
in this aquarium.
<I would go with three, one male and two females, or three males>
It has been cycling without fish for 3 months, so I'm not worried about
cycling. Also, could I have 1 Oto cat with them for clean up?
<Yes... but this fish is not really a scavenger... Maybe read re Corydoras...>
Would this interfere with breeding?
<Nope>
(My intention) If this will not work, what fish do you recommend for this
setup?
<Whiteclouds... Paradisefish (Macropodus)...>
(Excluding bettas) Also, what type of maintenance regimen would I have to carry
out to sufficiently care for this tank?
<Posted... on WWM>
Thanks in advance for your advice,
Anthony
<Bob Fenner>
Hi Crew! Thanks for a GREAT resource! I am at the end of my rope here!!
OK, back in "The Day" (late 70's early 80's) I had 42 million guppies. I had them in fish tanks, in pickle jars, and in 5 gal buckets. Once in a while a fish or 5 would die. I started with just two humble fancies.
I loaded all my guppies (except the 2 original in their 20 gal tank) and took them to the pet store for credit, got some cardinal tetras, some neons, some swordtails, platys, and mollies and killed off a lot of fish because of Ich and that great blue stuff that stained everything before it killed your fish.
That was when I learned that room temperature water is NOT the same temp as aquarium water, and that even an overall drop of 1 degree could stress your fish enough to cause ich. (Especially on the mollies, so it seemed.) After 3 times of being wiped out by ich I gave up. The
Plecostomus, and the Chinese algae eater that refused to die each time their tank mates did, were traded for a pair of green anoles, and that was the end of my tropical fish days.
<Thanks for the background. Although it's a little late to help fish that have been dead for 30 years I do want to clear something up. A one degree drop in temp is not what causes Ich. It's is a living parasite that must be introduced into your system to affect your fish. If you use a proper QT whenever you add new fish a temp drop will not cause Ich to
spontaneously generate in your tank. However any stress can cause your fish to loose their ability to fight it off. But not a one degree drop. I
regularly subject my Plecos to a 10 degree drop to trigger a spawn. They never get sick from this.>
Fast Forward to the year 2005.
My son is born in July, and at 2 weeks of age shows a definite fascination for fish in an aquarium. So I decided to go back to the simple hobby of fancy guppies. Now I am in a bind. The boss, and mother of my child has put her foot down. No more money being spent on fish that just die. I am managing to save babies. (Currently about 10 from what I can count in a 1 gal tank full of Java Moss)
But the inhabitants of my 15 gal seem to struggle daily. The first major hurdle was a fungus that I used Binox to kill off (along with my ornamental Java Moss, and my duckweed,). The Binox also seemed to kill some of my good bacteria, because the day before using it all my levels were "perfect" according to the clerk at the pet store. Sadly this is the same man who told me to use Binox in a 3 week old tank. (I had the flirtation
(filtration, mayhaps?) up and running for 2 weeks before the first fish moved in. (8 very small feeder guppies).
Then a week later my nitrates were elevating. Out of a total of 4 pairs of fancy guppies bought and 16 "feeders" I now have 2 fancy males, and 2 fancy females, as well as 4 common female 2 common males, and one multisexed fish that may or may not be a guppy, or a swordtail
(see Mystery Guppy - Just a Sweet Transvestite From Guppselvania? - II - 10/29/2005).
The problem is that the fish are always swimming around like they are being electrocuted randomly. Most of the time they swim about just fine. But occasionally one at a time they will all at one point or another "crash" into the bottom of the tank, swim erratically, or lay on the bottom of the tank between a rock and the side of the tank.
There is aggression displayed by both males and females. Including female to female fights. The two female fancies, which are the biggest fish in the tank had rich dark tails, (One blue, and the other black) now they are transparent, but still show dark coloration.
The Boss won't let me get a test kit so I am testing the "Free water Test With Purchase" rule at my local store. I guilt them into it, because they were the ones who sold me infected feeder guppies in the first place. The problem is conflicting information EVERYWHERE.
Last week my NITRATES were high. I was told to do multiple water changes. I get the nitrates down, and now my NITRITES are "borderline". The LFS tells me not to use treated tap, and to use spring water. But the Cycle FAQ seems to prefer treated tap. The LFS says to be sure and clean the gravel when I do water changes, and that will help lower the nitrites...But won't that remove beneficial bacteria????
How can I go from "dangerously high" nitrates in a week, and then to "slightly elevated" nitrites a week later? Nothing has changed as far as feeding (4 very small feedings a day, typically what is left from crushing a small pinch for the fry), or temperature (74 with no light, 78 with).
And there is no new stock...I do have 2 Cory cats, and 2 fancy females in a T tank. I did use some Stress Coat after my last water change, and I had put 5TBS of salt in my 15 gal tank twice in a week after 5 gal water changes. Is there something I am missing that are causing my fish to "FREAK OUT!"? Most of the fish are showing redness around their gills and mouths. PLEASE help! My son is not old enough to appreciate Green Anoles yet!
Doug Alley, & William, President of Gupticon 5 and supreme drooler!
<These are water quality problems caused my the meds or the newness of the tank. There are two different bacteria that control water quality. The first converts the ammonia in fish waste into nitrite. The second converts the nitrites to nitrates. The second is a very slow growing bacteria. It sounds like you need some more time to allow them to grow in numbers great enough to handle all the nitrite. Continue with water changes, using dechlorinated tap water. Drop the Stress Coat and the salt. Use a gravel vac to keep the bottom clean. A high amount of organic matter will cause the red streaks, fin problems and the flashing. Don>
"New Tank Syndrome", Guppies, Fatalities.... - 10/19/2005
Hi,
<Hello.>
I had an absolutely crushing experience yesterday. I could NOT figure out what
happened.
<Uh-oh....>
I had put my guppies into a 10 gallon tank with heater and filter. They weren't
crowded up and they were doing fine....for about a week.
<Uh, so the tank was just set up a week ago?>
Suddenly yesterday I came home and looked in the tank and realized immediately
that something was terribly wrong. The first thing I noticed was that the water
was cloudy. I had checked the tank every day during the previous week and the
water was always clear and the fish were swimming normally about.
<Clarity of the water speaks nothing about the quality of the water.... You
absolutely must test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.... Especially during
this critical cycling time of the aquarium....>
They had light during the day via a window and they had darkness at night and
evening. I fed them with the food from the container I'm feeding the other fish
which are still alive and healthy, with the possible exception of some old food
left at the bottom of the container, but I did not see any of that upon
inspection. I fed them the evening of night before last, I think, or if that
wasn't the last time, it was early yesterday before going to work. They did not
attract my attention to anything unusual at that time. I checked the pH of the
water after I found them dead, and I found it to be pretty close to normal and
possibly a little alkaline, which is what livebearers like.
<pH is not the issue here, but the toxicity of ammonia and nitrite
present.... this is what's killing them.>
The temperature was not too hot or too cold. When I found them there was one
small one still alive so I immediately put her (him?) in my healthy tank in the
side container with two molly fry. I thought I'd saved at least that one and it
seemed to be ok. About an hour or so later I checked it and it was also dead!
<Too badly burned from ammonia or nitrite to recover, I'm sure.>
I inspected the dead fish and found a number of them seemed to have big openings
at the stomach area.
<Possibly just coincidence, possibly something else pathogenic - but the root
cause here is a toxic environment.>
Can you shed any possible light on the possible cause of this???? I would be
ever so happy to find out because I'm afraid to put anything else in there and I
am, to tell the truth, disillusioned about keeping any fish at all now!!
<Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwset-up.htm
and also in the Set-Up and Maintenance portions of the Freshwater section of the
website.>
Thanks for your help. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts if any on the
possible cause. I haven't emptied the tank, thinking that if I need to test the
water I'll still have it.
<Begin reading, and learning about water quality and how it affects your
fish. You will do fine in time, no worries.>
Leslie W.
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
