Guppies keep dying

[Kusurii]

Hi! I woke up this morning and saw I've lost my favourite guppy today.

I've had my 130L tank for about a year now, do about 20% water change every week, 24C temperature, it's fully cycled, has plants and the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are all at good levels. I had 12 guppies going into this and am now left with 6. I lose them 1 by 1, never all at once. In the past, they've either developed bent spines, gotten incredibly thin and died that way or there was 1 who ended up looking a bit like a pine cone with his scales sticking about 2 days after I bought him but he was otherwise fine and survived longer than I thought he would (half a year). Today, though, I lost my beautiful black fancy one. He looked absolutely fine, he was smaller than the others but wasn't thin, there's no marks on him or signs of disease. He would swim a little funny but I put that down to him basically looking like a tiny betta fish with his really big, fancy tail.

This is a bit of a running theme with my attempts at fish keeping, I just lose fish one at a time over a period of months. I've always bought them from the same place and the only thing I've changed recently is leaving a bucket of water (treated with API stress coat+) out for a couple of days and heating it up with a heater before changing the water. What am I doing wrong? I'm trying not to take it personally but I'm starting to feel like I'm cursed now

 

[Sgooosh]

those seem like bent spine(obviously), internal thin parasites, and dropsy....

not a master but i've had these before...

parasites internal can be treated with praziquantel

dropsy with melafix or salt or a bunch of other stuff, i dont know much about others, melafix works for me

 

[Sgooosh]

Hi! I woke up this morning and saw I've lost my favourite guppy today.

I've had my 130L tank for about a year now, do about 20% water change every week, 24C temperature, it's fully cycled, has plants and the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are all at good levels. I had 12 guppies going into this and am now left with 6. I lose them 1 by 1, never all at once. In the past, they've either developed bent spines, gotten incredibly thin and died that way or there was 1 who ended up looking a bit like a pine cone with his scales sticking about 2 days after I bought him but he was otherwise fine and survived longer than I thought he would (half a year). Today, though, I lost my beautiful black fancy one. He looked absolutely fine, he was smaller than the others but wasn't thin, there's no marks on him or signs of disease. He would swim a little funny but I put that down to him basically looking like a tiny betta fish with his really big, fancy tail.

This is a bit of a running theme with my attempts at fish keeping, I just lose fish one at a time over a period of months. I've always bought them from the same place and the only thing I've changed recently is leaving a bucket of water (treated with API stress coat+) out for a couple of days and heating it up with a heater before changing the water. What am I doing wrong? I'm trying not to take it personally but I'm starting to feel like I'm cursed now

i also think stress coat may not be a water conditioner..... use the api tap water conditioner, what i use

 

[Essjay]

Stress Coat "......removing chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals from tap water, and contains the healing power of Aloe Vera to reduce fish stress by up to 40% and to heal damaged tissue and wounds."

So yes, it is a dechlorinator which also removes metals like API Tap Water Conditioner, but it also contains aloe vera which is not good for fish long term.


Are guppies the only fish? A lot of people have trouble keeping them alive. You are probably unfortunate in having weak fish that are probably also infected with intestinal worms.
Depending what else is in the tank, you could try using a worming medication. NT Labs Anti Fluke and Womer or Maidenhead Aquatics own brand AquaCare Anti Fluke and Wormer both contain flubendazole which kills flat worms and round worms. But let us know what's in the tank before buying anything this chemical can kill invertebrates.

 

[Sgooosh]

Stress Coat "......removing chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals from tap water, and contains the healing power of Aloe Vera to reduce fish stress by up to 40% and to heal damaged tissue and wounds."

So yes, it is a dechlorinator which also removes metals like API Tap Water Conditioner, but it also contains aloe vera which is not good for fish long term.


Are guppies the only fish? A lot of people have trouble keeping them alive. You are probably unfortunate in having weak fish that are probably also infected with intestinal worms.
Depending what else is in the tank, you could try using a worming medication. NT Labs Anti Fluke and Womer or Maidenhead Aquatics own brand AquaCare Anti Fluke and Wormer both contain flubendazole which kills flat worms and round worms. But let us know what's in the tank before buying anything this chemical can kill invertebrates.

weak fish can be treated with the stuff above(i am in us and i dont know much about those things )

 

[Essjay]

Worming meds are usually quite safe even for tiny fry. It's shrimps and snails that you have to be careful with. Flubendazole kills both types of worms but there inverts safe meds that kill just just one type of worms so you have touse two different meds. In the US, Prazipro is the flat worm med, though I don't know what contains levamisole (the round worm med) or flubendazole.

 

[Kusurii]

Thanks everyone!

All I have are these 6 guppies and some pond snails that snuck in with a plant. Would the intestinal worms have any other symptoms other than just becoming thin? As of now, all my guppies are looking ok, I've got one with a slight bent spine but he's fine otherwise.

Interesting you mention the API, I didn't realise aloe vera wasn't good for fish long term, would you suggest using another dechlorinator?

 

[Sgooosh]

Thanks everyone!

All I have are these 6 guppies and some pond snails that snuck in with a plant. Would the intestinal worms have any other symptoms other than just becoming thin? As of now, all my guppies are looking ok, I've got one with a slight bent spine but he's fine otherwise.

Interesting you mention the API, I didn't realise aloe vera wasn't good for fish long term, would you suggest using another dechlorinator?

api tap water conditioner, i think stress coat is short term...
works GREAT for me

 

[Kusurii]

api tap water conditioner, i think stress coat is short term...
works GREAT for me

I'm going to be SO mad at myself if I've been accidentally poisoning them this whole time. But noted, I will make the switch, thanks a lot for the suggestion!

 

[Sgooosh]

I'm going to be SO mad at myself if I've been accidentally poisoning them this whole time. But noted, I will make the switch, thanks a lot for the suggestion!

thats maybe why they were so weak. perhaps do a big waterchange with the new conditioner?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Hi! I woke up this morning and saw I've lost my favourite guppy today.

I've had my 130L tank for about a year now, do about 20% water change every week, 24C temperature, it's fully cycled, has plants and the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are all at good levels. I had 12 guppies going into this and am now left with 6. I lose them 1 by 1, never all at once. In the past, they've either developed bent spines, gotten incredibly thin and died that way or there was 1 who ended up looking a bit like a pine cone with his scales sticking about 2 days after I bought him but he was otherwise fine and survived longer than I thought he would (half a year). Today, though, I lost my beautiful black fancy one. He looked absolutely fine, he was smaller than the others but wasn't thin, there's no marks on him or signs of disease. He would swim a little funny but I put that down to him basically looking like a tiny betta fish with his really big, fancy tail.

This is a bit of a running theme with my attempts at fish keeping, I just lose fish one at a time over a period of months. I've always bought them from the same place and the only thing I've changed recently is leaving a bucket of water (treated with API stress coat+) out for a couple of days and heating it up with a heater before changing the water. What am I doing wrong? I'm trying not to take it personally but I'm starting to feel like I'm cursed now

Welcome to the forum.
It could be a few things...the first thing that stands out to me is that you always buy them at the same place, could just be that they offer poor stock....do you have other places to purchase fish?
Another is water quality...what kind of test kit do you use?....tap water, well water?...is it chlorinated?
Pure chlorine, or chloramine?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Thanks everyone!

All I have are these 6 guppies and some pond snails that snuck in with a plant. Would the intestinal worms have any other symptoms other than just becoming thin? As of now, all my guppies are looking ok, I've got one with a slight bent spine but he's fine otherwise.

Interesting you mention the API, I didn't realise aloe vera wasn't good for fish long term, would you suggest using another dechlorinator?

Seachem Prime

 

[Essjay]

Aloe vera is only a problem long term. Finish the bottle, then change.

Like Sgooosh, I use API Tap Water Conditioner - it's Stress Coat without the aloe vera. But as SlapHppy mentioned, your water company could use either chlorine or chloramine to disinfect the mains water. Dechlorinators split up the chloramine to chlorine and ammonia then remove the chlorine leaving the ammonia in the water. neither Stress Coat or Tap Water Conditioner contain something to detoxify this ammonia.
Does your tap water show a reading for ammonia?

SlapHppy likes Prime, but I won't use it because it is a chemical soup and the less chemicals we add to the tank the better. I have chlorine in my tap water so I don't need anyhting to detoxify ammonia.




Fish losing weight can be a sign of worms because the worms eat the food the fish has eaten starving the fish. If the worms increase in number they can cause the fish to swell up simply because of the number of worms inside.
Another symptom I fogot to mention is that fish which have worms do white stringy poop. Have you noticed what the guppies' poop is like?

 

[Sgooosh]

Aloe vera is only a problem long term. Finish the bottle, then change.

Like Sgooosh, I use API Tap Water Conditioner - it's Stress Coat without the aloe vera. But as SlapHppy mentioned, your water company could use either chlorine or chloramine to disinfect the mains water. Dechlorinators split up the chloramine to chlorine and ammonia then remove the chlorine leaving the ammonia in the water. neither Stress Coat or Tap Water Conditioner contain something to detoxify this ammonia.
Does your tap water show a reading for ammonia?

SlapHppy likes Prime, but I won't use it because it is a chemical soup and the less chemicals we add to the tank the better. I have chlorine in my tap water so I don't need anyhting to detoxify ammonia.




Fish losing weight can be a sign of worms because the worms eat the food the fish has eaten starving the fish. If the worms increase in number they can cause the fish to swell up simply because of the number of worms inside.
Another symptom I fogot to mention is that fish which have worms do white stringy poop. Have you noticed what the guppies' poop is like?

hey, sometimes i use api quick start, its good for eliminating nitrogen and ammonia, id rather put it in after the 15 mins with water conditioner, because the little bacteria guys wont die

 

[Kusurii]

Aloe vera is only a problem long term. Finish the bottle, then change.

Like Sgooosh, I use API Tap Water Conditioner - it's Stress Coat without the aloe vera. But as SlapHppy mentioned, your water company could use either chlorine or chloramine to disinfect the mains water. Dechlorinators split up the chloramine to chlorine and ammonia then remove the chlorine leaving the ammonia in the water. neither Stress Coat or Tap Water Conditioner contain something to detoxify this ammonia.
Does your tap water show a reading for ammonia?

SlapHppy likes Prime, but I won't use it because it is a chemical soup and the less chemicals we add to the tank the better. I have chlorine in my tap water so I don't need anyhting to detoxify ammonia.




Fish losing weight can be a sign of worms because the worms eat the food the fish has eaten starving the fish. If the worms increase in number they can cause the fish to swell up simply because of the number of worms inside.
Another symptom I fogot to mention is that fish which have worms do white stringy poop. Have you noticed what the guppies' poop is like?

I've been using the Aloe Vera for a long time, so it's a definite possibility.
I'm testing my tap water and yeah, the water has turned green! I never thought of doing this. So I've been putting ammonia back into the tank, when I do water changes. Nothing comes up when I test the tank water, though.

And no white stringy poop, just normal fish poop.