Female Guppy Dieing Now!

[puppyjess123]

Swordtail male is rubbing on things. Female is fine. Silver shark looks sad and is just floating around at the top by the filter. Matt (m guppy) is rubbing on plants. Gourimais are hiding as usual. (female guppies) glowy gasps at the top and breaths heavily and rosie is looking very bad (read my post silershark is dyeing right now) she is showing all them symptons! What am i doing wrong! I might just give up i've spent a fortune of this.

 

[shelaghfishface]

do a water change first while you are waiting for more replies. could be one of any number of things, but like you say yove spent a fortune already so wait for some one to tell you exactly what is the problem(( im not clever when it comes to sick fish)), but do the water change, its the best med

shelagh xxx

 

[puppyjess123]

My dad says i done it yesterday and says why would would i need to do another one

 

[Paul_MTS]

We're going to need some more details to help you out...

How big is the tank?

What filtration do you have?

How long has the tank been running?

How often do you water change?

How much and how often do you feed them?

Do you have a test kit handy to get some ammonia, nitrite and nitrate results?

Once we have answers on these questions we can start helping.

 

[puppyjess123]

55 gallons. 4 foot by 30cm wide by 45cm depth.

Fluval 3 plus.

Say around 1 year and a half.

30% water change each week. Lately 25% each day as i was told do as i had started a mini cycle.

MF- Flakes pinch
LF- 2 pellets for gourmias and 1 catfish pellet.
2ndF- Brine shrimp until they stop eating it lol. 1 catfish pellet.
EF- 2 algae wafers for catfish.

No test kit.

 

[Paul_MTS]

How you cleaned your filter recently? How do you clean it?

Do you gravel vac when you do water changes?

Without test results I'm a bit lost.

Who told you went into a mini cycle?

 

[puppyjess123]

Yes about a week ago i cleaned the filter out. We have done it wrong. We used to put it under tap water and rinse completely i no thats bad now.

Yes i used this weird shaped thing it goes wide then thinner then tube and you rumage around in the gravel with it and it sucks up the waste and stuff. This is all i use for cleaning out (except for water and tap stuff)

Well i done a whole tank clean completely stripped it and cleaned the filter out really well and lost all good bacteria so it went into a mini cycle.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Ah ha, now we're getting somewhere.

Are you still feeding normally at the moment?

If you are, stop! Cut right back on feeding, feed 2-3 times a week and just a pinch of flake.

Again without knowing test results, I can't advice on water changes.

But if there's really struggling at the moment, a water change can only help.

When was the tank cleaned out?

 

[puppyjess123]

25% water change yesterday and about this feeding can you give me a feeding guide (weekly one) including brine shrimp, flakes, wafers (apparentlly need 1 each day) catfish pellets and hikari first bites.

 

[puppyjess123]

Also i going pets at home tomorrow i can only go once a month so what should i get. Water test kit, no fishies apparentlly =(.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Thats your normal feeding regime when fish aren't dieing.

Mon-Feed
Tues- Don't feed
Weds- don't feed
Thrus-feed
Fri-don't feed
Sat-feed
Sun-don't feed

Do that for the next 2 weeks, on the feed days only feed a pinch of flake and a few catfish pellets.

Do another 30% water change today. Stick to that feeding scheme and things will start to get better.

 

[minxfishy]

Oh puppyjess sorry to hear your still having problems. As you know your tank is definatley go thru a mini cycle due to the filter cleaning out under tap water and the strip down of the tank.

Unfortunately you probably still have high levels of ammonia and nitrIte and so although your dad says you dont need to change the water, you really do, as your fish are obviously suffering from the high levels, Im going to suggest your up the changes to 50% daily. Again match the temperature of the water to that of the tank water and remember to use dechlorinator. I know your dad doesnt want you to, and I know its hard for you, but there really isnt much else you can do.

Any chance you can get a sample of the water to the fish store and ask them to test it and write down the results for you? This would really help with knowing what stage of the cycle your tank is in and allow us to give you more accurate advice regarding the water changes.

 

[puppyjess123]

Cool you have officially moved onto most helpful people lol brb water changing

 

[Paul_MTS]

Also i going pets at home tomorrow i can only go once a month so what should i get. Water test kit, no fishies apparentlly =(.

If your tight on money just get ammonia and nitrite test kits, if you got a bit more get a full test kit.

DO NOT buy test strips or tablet test kits, get a liquid test kit, Hagen or API ones are good.

Definitely no fish.

 

[puppyjess123]

My dads gone out so i can sneakily change the water lol if i get told off oh well at least it will save the fishies. I'll do that tomoz i'm not sure if pets at home does that but i'll try i'm also gonna see if they can find out why oscar died. Also will to much dechlorinator harm the fish?