Guppies not doing well.

[FishFriend0]

Recently I got 4 new female guppies to replace the 4 that died. This thread has more information: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/female-guppies-dying-one-by-one.494530/ . Those guppies seemed to be staying near the filter output and hiding. One by one they all died, but now these guppies are also staying at the surface and near the filter output. A few days ago I saw a chunk taken out of one of their tails and suspected that one of the males may have nipped them. I have recently had a problem with high ammonia as I believe that my recent dose of eSHa 2000 may have killed some of the bacteria in the filter. I tested and saw that the ammonia was about 1ppm, nitrite 0ppm and nitrate around 0 as well. I have used Prime water conditioner and I don't think any of the fish are affected by this as none of the other fish are acting in the way that the guppies are. The male guppies are also acting completely fine.
Here are the other water parameters:
pH: 8.2
Hardness: 16.8 dH
I have these fish:
7 Boesemani rainbowfish
8 lemon tetras
10 platies
and the 6 guppies, 4 female, 2 male.
I am not sure that it is a lack of oxygenation either as no other fish are gasping at the surface. I also bought these new fish from a different pet shop. The female guppies still eat and still get excited when I come over to the tank, coming out of their hiding spot. The guppy that had it's tail nipped does not gasp at the surface very often but the other 3 do. Maybe I am worrying about nothing but it seems slightly strange.

 

[Colin_T]

Did you quarantine the new fish for a month before adding them to the main display tank?

When the pH is 8.2, any ammonia will be toxic to fish. If you have an ammonia reading of 1ppm and a pH above 7.0, you should do a 75% water change every day until the level is 0ppm.

Need pictures and video of the fish before I can offer advice on possible diseases.

 

[Jinx_]

Have you cycled the tank? For how long? The cycle takes about a month or more (depends on certain factors). The eSHa 2000 is shrimp and snail safe, it doesn't kill filter bacteria.

 

[Essjay]

Just a heads up -
According to eSHa's FAQ's (my bold)

Nearly all eSHa products for fresh water are suitable for use in fresh water aquaria containing aquatic snails (for example: Zebra Nerite snail). eSHa PROTALON 707® and eSHa 2000® may kill aquatic snails.

They do say it is shrimp safe and "Under normal circumstances eSHa products pose no threat to filters or bacteria"

 

[Jinx_]

Yeah, I've used it safely with shrimps and such. It didn't crash my balance either.

 

[Essjay]

I didn't want anyone else to read it's snail safe and then their snails die. They do say 'may kill' but I always go by better safe than sorry

 

[FishFriend0]

It has been 3 weeks and there are still no problems, I have done weekly 50 percent water changes but the level has not gone down. The tank is cycled, it has been up for about 8 months. There are no dead fish either. I did not quarantine them.

 

[Naughts]

Test the tap/source water for ammonia.

How are the guppy behaving now?

 

[FishFriend0]

I have just tested the water and it says that my tap water is 1ppm ammonia. My ammonia test kit goes off this month but I thought I could use it for a bit longer. It seems strange that it would not work properly so soon after the expiry date but I can't imagine that my tap water has such high ammonia. In the past the test has said that is was 0ppm.