Another dead guppy.

[robnepper]

Well, now both of my new females are dead. I got home from work yesterday and that was it. She was laying on the bottom of the tank, stone dead. The night before, she was fine, no signs of disease or distress. My oldest, still pregnant, female is having no trouble in the tank and every thing is fine with her. I think it was simply a weak batch of girls that I bought from. The male that I bought with them is in my 20 with my first male and they are both fine. I looked at her and aside from the body being opaque instead of clear, there was just nothing visibly wrong with her.

[sailor]

What are the levels of your ammonia, nitrates and nitrites? If you suspect that they were from a weaker batch, sometimes they can't handle it if your levels are slightly off.

[Colin]

I have had a very similar time recently with mysterious deaths and a bout of fin rot. Water changes everyday, water testing morning and night and all was fine, more water changes, total panic, medication, carbon filters out, more panic, hospital tanks, blah blah blah.
lol I was overfeeding them. plain and simple.

That stupid mistake cost me 1 small fighter, 1 adult black skirt tetra, 1 full grown sword tail and 1 full grown tiger barb and I now have 5 tetra and a rainbow shark with recovering fins.

My lesson for the day is little and oftern, and thats very little.

I stopped feeding for two days and now they are on a very small pinch in the morning. Everyone looks better and they are swimming around like crazy looking for food, just like they should be. And the water has cleared up.
Result!

[country_boy454]

I breed guppies for about 3 yrs up until last year. I stopped doing so because I lost most of breeders to a round of ich. When I purchased some new breeders they came home and lived for about 3 days. I thought my water was off so I checked the parameters and they were ph 7.2, amm 0 ,nitrite 0, nitrate ~5. Nothing out of the ordinary so I bought a few more to see if they would survive and well they didn't.

My thoughts on this is that they have been inbred so many times they have become very fragile and most, if not all, can not take the stress.

[jbeining75]

get some numbers posted so we can help ya out bud, we need at least nitrites, nitrates, and your ammonia, ph if possible...... good luck with the other guppy....

[robnepper]

get some numbers posted so we can help ya out bud, we need at least nitrites, nitrates, and your ammonia, ph if possible...... good luck with the other guppy....
Hi all. I cannot supply numbers because I don't have a test kit. I never have had one. I have always gone by the smell, look of the water, and look of the fish. I have always been one to try to mimic natural environments with out the chemicals. I am not advocating this method. It has just been my experience that most of my friends have used all of the fancy test kits and additives and things, and my tanks have always been in better condition than theirs.

I am growing, though, in my fish keeping doctrines and now I am seeing the importance of using test kits properly. I can see that it is just another facet of the hobby and that I should get on board. So thanks for all of the input and patience. I can't afford one right now, but there's always payday.

[jbeining75]

the freshwater api master test kit is on sale right now at amazon.com..... it is a fish lifesaver.... literally.......

[robnepper]

the freshwater api master test kit is on sale right now at amazon.com..... it is a fish lifesaver.... literally.......
Thanks a lot! I had no idea that amazon sold all that stuff. I'll be getting one sooner than later!