Dead guppies....

[Robert]

in the last three days, i've gone thru 3 guppies, what am i doing wrong?





fish in sig

 

[Sasha]

What is the water quality - Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite pH and temperature?

 

[HotStuffGal]

Robert, It could be just bad or un-healthy fish so it might not be your fault. Make sure the fish you buy are helathy before hand. Good Luck ~Scarlett

 

[Robert]

thx, i'll just go down to the lfs and look for thebiggest and heathiest

 

[tstenback]

also look around the tank at the other fish and if any show signs of illness then dont buy any fish from the tank.

 

[Robert]

i got my water tested from the lfs today and she said every thing looked fine except for my ph, which is really really really low.

what can make ph change, the county hasn't put anything new in the water, so what could have caused it??

when i recently took a vacation to Massachussets, i came back to find 2 tiger barbs and one platy gone!!!

i found 3 little fish bones in the filter, so i'm assuming they died, my other fish ate them, and then they're bones got sucked up by the filter, could this have caused the recent drop in ph???



i read some where that low ph isn't good for livebearers, is this why my guppies died

my first 2 guppies died from getting sucked on to the filter i think, so i put a smaller filter on to see if that worked, it did, because the next 2 guppies didn't get stuck to it, they just died, the males tail went away fast!!! and i mean fast.

i woke up to find a tiny piece of his tail gone so i thought "no big deal.

4-5 hours later the tail is more than halfway gone with little strings coming out of it..... could this be caused by ph probs??

 

[Sasha]

I usually keep my pH around 7.0 for my guppies. You can buy pH increaser and decreaser which helps rise or lower your pH to a safe level. The guppy with the tail problem might have had tail rot, which basically eats the tail away until it's gone. There is usually white stuff on the edges of the fins.

 

[Robert]

ohh.... mine didn't have any fungus on his tail at all

 

[a_ellis]

hello,
guppies prefer an alkaline pH, not an acidic pH.
My tap water tests 7.6 & they love it.
just do a 30% water change if you suspect ammonia as the culprit as this will lower you pH because it is acidic. not good for guppies!!

many sources say guppies will do fine at 7.0 pH, see what works for you; but if your tap water is on the alkaline side that's probably not only good for the guppies but you will not have to worry about using chemicals to change the pH.
best of luck!

 

[guppykeeper]

I'm sorry about you Guppies.

 

[wolfie33]

despite all the ph testing and such.
I've never known guppy's be that fussy over the water conditions and to lose 3 very qickly to me suggests that some jealous fish is eating them or maybe a few jealous fish.
I appreciate that people do take ph very seriously when it comes to guppy's but at the same time i know they cant live in vinegar or at the other end caustic soda but in filtered tank water i never though you could get conditions that bad that a guppy wouldn't live in it.
Well i never have anyway and i rarely test my guppy tank(and thats used for breeding them)

 

[snowyangel]

As a_ellis said, guppies will thrive in hard, alkaline conditons and do poor in acidic water. Lucky for you, you can alter it. Guppies like some salt present in their water and salt also makes water harder when you add it. Also I've heard adding river stones can also make the water harder, but don't quote me on that.

I'm sorry to hear about the deaths Robert, please don't give up on them they're a wonderful fish.