No Luck With Guppies!

I love guppies... but we seem to be having absolutely no luck with them.
I know alot of this has to do with the place we get them from (Petsmart).. and that they probably don't get their guppies from reputable places... so their gups aren't as hardy as they should be..
but damnit... I'm just so sick of watching my lil gups die!
Our first trio died from something nasty that had gotten into our tank. We've gotten replacements.. 3 that were labeled tequila sunrise. They've been great, but I found the smallest of them dead when I woke up today. They had been perfectly fine in our main tank (after spending a week in quarantine) for the past month... and then POOF.
Then we got 3 fancy tails. Well while they were still in quarantine... one died. Was a pretty blue one... Then.. the yellow spotted one died b/c of columnaris (sp?) that I didn't catch soon enough. So.... after about a week.. we went and got 2 more guppies that we just couldn't resist. Another lighter colored yellow one and a pretty grey orange spotted one.
They spent their week in quarantine.. placed them into the main tank this past Friday and now today.. the yellow one isn't doing well.
Also another one of the tequila sunrise ones isn't acting so hot either.

Seriously... WTH is going on??
Should I just get used to guppies dieing left and right? B/c that seems to be what's happening whenever we get our hands on them. Like I said.. I'm sure it has alot to do with us getting them from Petsmart.. but this is getting ridiculous.
All water stats are fine, all aeration is fine.. all other fish are fine.. it's just the guppies seem so weak

I'm about ready to give up on getting more guppies even though I love them. I just hate that they keep dieing on us.

Based on what you've told us, there isn't much you can do. If I read correctly, you have them in a QT tank before even putting them into your main tank. I assume the water stats are coming out okay in the QT tank as well. What temperature do you have in the QT tank? Are you adding any salt to the tanks? Are there any signs of nipping of the fins at all? Are you seeing the guppies eat? Are you seeing them poo?

I'm at a loss for what might be going on right now. If you could give us any more details, maybe someone will note something that they've run across as a problem in the past.

On a side note, Cories generally do better in groups if you can put them in groups of 4 or more.

I wouldn't give up on guppies- but I would give up on Petsmart guppies. Next time, see if you can get guppies straight from a breeder instead. Get in touch with aquarists clubs and try to find a good source.

Yeah IF we ever do get more guppies.. there's a really nice locally owned petstore that carries some healthy looking fish.
But we'll see.

The 2 fish in question I noticed weren't eating when I fed them today, but I have noticed them eating before.
I haven't noticed any pooing though since I don't sit in front of the aquarium that long, but they don't look bloated or emaciated. They look.. well. normal.
One of them (the tequila sunrise) seems to have perked up some when I put it into the quarantine tank. The yellow doesn't look too good though
I just did a 70% water change in quarantine tank just to make sure the water is as clean as possible...

Both main tank and Q tank have temps of 80F. No aquarium salt in either tank.

You might try feeding peas. Frozen peas work fine. Microwave them, remove the skin, smoosh it up, and let them feed. If they are eating, this will relieve constipation, whatever little there is in the fish. Other than that, you sound like you're doing everything you can for these fish.

Yeah I fed them peas yesterday as well (Sundays is the pea day here)...

I just checked on them a few mins ago and unfortunatly the yellow one was dead... sigh.....
The other looks fine still. He's still swimming all around the tank not hanging at the top at all.
Also checked on the main tank just to make sure, and all fish there are acting just as they were before.

That's too bad. I can't think of anything else to do. PetSmart may have a little less care or knowledge when handling fish, but that seems like an unusually high failure rate. I would definitely just steer clear of PetSmart as it's baffling to me. Why not just eliminate another variable? Good luck.

maybe finding a small, specialist fish shop would be good...somewhere where they only deal in fish. in most cases these places pay a little more for their fish from more reputable suppliers.

An update on the other sick guppy.... it's not doing so well now.
It was swimming all around the Q tank yesterday, but today it's very listless at the top. Didn't eat when I put in some flakes for it.


Unfortunatly the only fish only shop that's around here doesn't take good care of their fish either. I know dead fish will happen in stores, and although their tanks are cleaner.. they still have alot of sick & dead fish in their shop.
As I said previously... there is a small locally owned petstore that has a small selection of guppies, but all of their fish look healthy... I've only seen 2 dead fish on 2 seperate occations at this place.
So if we do decide to get more, it'll be from them.

Amunet said:

An update on the other sick guppy.... it's not doing so well now.
It was swimming all around the Q tank yesterday, but today it's very listless at the top. Didn't eat when I put in some flakes for it.


Unfortunatly the only fish only shop that's around here doesn't take good care of their fish either. I know dead fish will happen in stores, and although their tanks are cleaner.. they still have alot of sick & dead fish in their shop.
As I said previously... there is a small locally owned petstore that has a small selection of guppies, but all of their fish look healthy... I've only seen 2 dead fish on 2 seperate occations at this place.
So if we do decide to get more, it'll be from them.

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I don't want to make light of a grave situation, but maybe they are dying in frustration. I read your sig and it says male guppies, no females. That would make me die in frustration if I was a male guppy. Guppies like action a little too much.

If you were closer, I'd definitely give you some of mine. I have a 55 gallon full of them and when they were with me, I only had two die in about six months.

Update... the other guppy died.
Not sure when but I found the poor thing floating at the top.. *sigh*
We really didn't wanna get girls b/c well.. we didn't want our tank overrun with guppies heh.
However... I'm seriously considering getting 2 and placing them in the Q/H tank with a male. Breed our own guppies so we don't have to go through a petstore again for them sorta thing.
We'll see what happens though.

The remaining 3 guppies seem to be doing just fine... I just hope they stay this way.

aw that's ashame! i've gotten my fish from petsmart, though, and they've been doing great. it must be the petsmart that you've used... that must be so frustrating! i know i'd be fuming. good luck!

There are many weak and sickly strains of guppy out there. If you are going to breed your own, you need to fine strong healthy guppies to breed from in the first place. Check out all the shops in the neighbourhood. Are there no aquarists societies or similar?

dwarfgourami said:

There are many weak and sickly strains of guppy out there. If you are going to breed your own, you need to fine strong healthy guppies to breed from in the first place. Check out all the shops in the neighbourhood. Are there no aquarists societies or similar?

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Hey all! I too have had many problems with guppies over the past few months...I have found most suppliers breed their gups in ponds and are most subject to disease,,,,and because of my hassel with gups lately I have researched endlessly websites and fish shops for answers. I have decided to breed in order to supply healthy gups...Ive had many fry and now have teenage guppy fry 3 months old... I also have yellow fry 1 week old. I still have a problem with some gups...but all water stats are perfect...Nitrite =0 Amonia =0 Nitrate =0 Ph = 7.2 Temp 30degrees with salt added tonight. proper aquarium salt. Corries in another tank...I have only gups as Im breeding and corries are best species to house with gups. I also have a suckerfish who does not want to be caught to go with catfish out of the salty water. Oh well. Poor slippery. Hope he gives in. Does anyone know if suckerfish are ok in salt?

Old Pic of tank...Its now finished construction and updated pics posted soon.

Can you post all of your water stat's? Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, Kh, Gh, temp', are you using dechlorinator, salt, what sort of live plants do you have, what are you feeding them?

Seems odd that they're just dying on you. I have 5 male guppies all in the same tank (I've had them for at least 4 months), they're all healthy as horses, so I don't think lack of "breeding" opportunities should be a problem and given where I got mine from is a bit on the dodgy side and they were in a cold water tank with goldfish........

Edit> Maybe set up your QT as a "perfect" set up and see if you can keep a couple going in there?