Guppies advice needed...

[FishKids]

 

[jams.alaskan]

Hi there, this isn't really a poll... and to the forum! You cna introduce yourself in the newbie section later. You're right, that was a lot of fish to add unless you did a fishless cycle with ammonia as described in the beginner's forum under a pinned topic. So now you have these guys and the guppies are having trouble. They are usually pretty hearty so they may have had real problems with their transport from the wholesaler to your local lfs. Keeping their water real clean with 10 percent water changes daily will help them for a while, we don't want to add to their stress with ammonia, nitrite or nitrate spikes. I'm glad that the other fish are well.
Feed the little guys with finely crushed flakes about 4 time a day and keep their net very clean. Make sure that you are treating the water you add with something that removes chlorine and chlorimides. Best of luck with them. What type of food are you offering them?

ALASKA

 

[FishKids]

Thanks! and sorry for not acknowledging your reply till this evening. I was TOTALLY unaware that you or anyone had replied. Going forward I have adding an email address to automatically send updates.

The fry are being feed INTERPET Liguifry No2.

So much has happened since this message was last posted. Here is an update...

05/23/04 25 fry added (guppies)
05/25/04 2 fish returned to LFS (1 mother guppy and the only male guppy). Morning found that the mother guppy was sandwiched between the fry cage and the tank unable to move. It appears as though parts of her tail have been bitten by another fish. She and the male guppy are still not eating.
05/25/04 6 fish added (Endlers)
05/26/04 1 Neon Tetra died after noticing it swimming doing summersaults. Spots are noticed and believed to be ICH disease.

In fact, the more I read the more I KNOW its ICH. The question is what to do in the morning? Here are my concerns after plenty of reading from the Internet...

1. What truly is the best medication? Is it "King British WS3 White Spot Terminator", Maracide, Maracyn, MALACHITE GREEN, Copper Safe???
2. Should I and could I raise the temp to at least 86 degrees without killing the fry or any other fish?
3. Since the Butterfly loach has no scales will any of the chemical medications in question 1 kill him?

 

[havoc_crazy]

whoa!! I think you bought the fish too early (the importation stress probably had not worn off yet), and the shock of too many water quality differences is really affecting them, aside from any other factors. that seems to be the main one apparent to me.

 

[patchwork_python]

Wow, you need to slow right down! Why on earth have you been adding more fish when you know there are problems in your tank?! To me thats just plain irresponsible.

A couple of things jump out at me - you have added way too many fish, way too soon. A tank takes about 4-6 weeks to cycle properly and after that time you can GRADUALLY increase your stocking levels. If you go crazy and add a large amount of fish at once the filter won't be able to cope and you'll end up with ammonia and nitrite spikes again. A couple of guppies or half a dozen neons would have been plenty to start it off with.

You also need to look at your total stocking level as it sounds a bit crowded. Can you give us what the dimensions of your tank is and the sizes of your fish at present? That will help to determine whether your tank can cope with that many fish as the stress of over-crowding and problems with poor water quality will also result in fish death.

I would say doing a 10% daily water change will help if there are any high readings of ammonia or nitrite. I would also advise buying your own test kits, as you really need to keep a close eye on at least these two readings, and it will probably work out more expensive for you to keep paying a shop to do it for you. If there are any adverse readings those will be contributing to your ick problem. Stressed fish are more susceptible to disease.

You can add some friendly filter bacteria by using something like Hagen's Cycle or API's Stress-Zyme, this will help speed up the maturation process. You're in the states aren't you? Not sure if you get Tetra products over there but I've been impressed by their disease treatments and would reccommend their Anti Whitespot preparation. I have also heard good things about King British products, but the other medications you mention can knock out the good filter bacteria you need to cultivate, so avoid these if possible.

Finally, do you know what the pH of your water is? As your tetras are doing better than your guppies, it suggests to me it might be acidic, which is fine for tetras but guppies really should be in neutral or alkaline water. They have been bred over so many generations that they would probably adapt but if they are new imports their coping mechanisms might well have been exhausted.

In summary - get test kits, check pH, ammonia, nitrite regularily, add Cycle/Stress-Zyme to speed up filter maturation, add anti-ick treatment, carry out water changes as appropriate to reduce ammonia/nitrite levels, check overall stocking level for over-crowding and reduce numbers/upgrade tank as needed and consider rehoming the guppies if your water turns out acidic. Otherwise set up a separate tank for them with water adjusted to tthe correct pH.

Hope that helps. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Max]

12G nano cube, 2 platies(2'') 1 butterfly loach (hillstream whatever)(3'') first off all you already went wrong, hillstream is a cold water fish. let me finish 5 rummy nose tetras(7.5''), 1 cardnal terta (1.5''), 3 neon tetra (3''), 3 guppies female(3''), 1 male guppy(1'')! add there inches up...

it is... 21!!! you have, way, way!, way! to many fish in a 12G nano cube

 

[Lenna]

Whoa! Go easy people, this person is new to fish keeping and has probably been told a heap of rubbish by their LFS.

How bad is the ICH? If its relatively minor just slowly increase the temperature to 86F (only 1-2 degrees at a time every 12hrs). Take the loach back ASAP. The heat should be enough to kill the ICH, but if it's more serious use meds. With tetras, meds should be used at half doseage.

Once you've got the ICH under control, you should consider returning some of the fish. Work at about 1" of fish per gallon for starters. You should be able to get credit or maybe even cash for the fish. Otherwise, do you have any friends that keep fish?

The rummynose are schoolers and would need a bigger tank. The neons and cardinals are sensitive to nitrogenous waste and should probably only be added to an established tank (6mths). Platies are fine, so long as there aren't too many, as are guppies.

Hope this helps and good luck sorting out al the troubles.