Guppies

[Chicklet]

I've began to noticed, seems to me a fair amount of folks have trouble with guppies even in perfect water conditions.
I have wondered if anyone has tried other solutions to get guppies to adjust.

I bought my first bunch of guppies and all but 1 died anywhere from 2 hours to two days later,
I noticed whenever the guppy fish clamped their fins together, it was only a matter of time, Something was seriously wrong, My water conditions were perfect yet they still all died but 1.

I went and bought another bunch of guppies, Made sure The guppies I purchased started out with wide flared out fins. This time I put them in a Small 3 gallon tank, with a new Sponge filter,
and watched them very closely, Within hours some fins started to clamp together, So I did a 25 percent water change, Things perked up,
Continued this for 1 week, My losses reduced to about 50 per cent.

After about a week of this the ones that survived seemed to do good no matter what tank I put them in, Seems I can’t kill those guppies now,

I decided to buy yet another bunch of guppies, Put them in the 3 gallon , within hours fins started to clamp, This time I started of with 75 percent water changes everyday for about 4 days then reduced it down to 50 percent water changes for the remaining week, I never lost a fish that time,
And their all in with the main group now doing super, eating like crazy, they sure love their food!
And are super active.

I think theirs something more in some waters that aren’t tested for. Perhaps not known yet,

I Started out by feeding guppy food, But Quickly changed to mainly Freeze dried blood worms and Frozen Brine shrimp, with an occasional Flake or two of guppy food, The fish seemed to be stronger on this diet.

Any body else have luck like this with guppies

[AABatteries]

Sounds to me like the tanks are/were not cycled.

[Chicklet]

they were cycled, as I said water conditions were perfect.

I've read where others have had simular experiances with guppies despite the condions being perfect for them

[Algenco]

sounds like PH shock to me, have you tried drip acclimating?
I've never had a problem with new guppies

[nwnittany]

I think what AAA might have been referring to is that you mentioned you used a NEW filter. If by 'new', you mean 'new out of the box and never been used', then it doesn't have any of the good, nitrifying bacteria on it (the stuff that converts ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate). So, in this case, your tank was most likely not cycled.

If this was the case, the water changes were a big help - they diluted any of the toxins that built up.

If your tank was really cycled, then I guess another potential reason for the fallout could have been the way the fish were introduced into the tank. Did you float the bag and slowly introduce the tank water into the water that came with the guppies ? I think the whole introduction process is very stressful on fish and everything I've read says to introduce them slowly and carefully.

And then there's the case the fish were just weak. It happens all the time and there's not alot you can do about it.

In my experiences (albeit, they are limited) I've never had trouble introducing guppies. I typically have the opposite problem - I can't get rid of them. Everything I look, there's some new ones swimming around !

[Chicklet]

My tanks were cycled, My point was it didn't make any difference When I used Cycled tanks or non cycled tanks, the end result was the same.

Critiquing at this point was not my objective, It's long over and done with.
Have all the guppies and more then I want,

I only wondered of others experiance in this matter & effect.

---
However after the fact, I have been lead to believe it was the actually guppies I purchased.

[nwnittany]

My tanks were cycled, My point was it didn't make any difference When I used Cycled tanks or non cycled tanks, the end result was the same.

Critiquing at this point was not my objective, It's long over and done with.
Have all the guppies and more then I want,

I only wondered of others experiance in this matter & effect.

---
However after the fact, I have been lead to believe it was the actually guppies I purchased.

OK. Didn't mean to sound critical, was just trying to figure out where you were coming from.