Guppy deaths

[Elephant nose 4]

Hi, I've recently added guppies to my 30 gallon but they have been slowly dying. There isn't any symptoms except one minute they're fine and the next they sit at the top of the tank then die. I haven't a clue what's going on.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrite 5
Ph 6.9
Been doing small pwc daily to try and help.
No other fish are affected just my guppies

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. If you maintain a healthy water chemistry, you'll have no tank problems. A 30 gallon tank is small, but by setting up and following an aggressive water change routine, you'll keep a healthy tank and fish. If you're not doing this already, you need to work up to the point you change half the water every few days. Make sure to use a good water treatment and it won't hurt to dose a good bacteria starter as well. Make sure you're only feeding your fish a little bit. Feed a little flaked food, pellets and sometimes a little frozen food. Make sure you never miss a water change.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Colin_T]

Do they breathe heavily when at the top of the tank?
Are they sitting near the filter outlet?

What does their poop look like?
Do they look fatter just before they die?

Are they eating normally?
Do they eat when they go to the top just before dying?

-------------------

Try adding some salt and see if it helps.

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt, swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[Elephant nose 4]

Hello. If you maintain a healthy water chemistry, you'll have no tank problems. A 30 gallon tank is small, but by setting up and following an aggressive water change routine, you'll keep a healthy tank and fish. If you're not doing this already, you need to work up to the point you change half the water every few days. Make sure to use a good water treatment and it won't hurt to dose a good bacteria starter as well. Make sure you're only feeding your fish a little bit. Feed a little flaked food, pellets and sometimes a little frozen food. Make sure you never miss a water change.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

Hi I change 50% a week out of this tank but have been doing extra daily changes. This tank is 7 years old all other fish are fine just my guppies.
Kinda wondering if its ate to much as its always eating.
Thanks

 

[Elephant nose 4]

Do they breathe heavily when at the top of the tank?
Are they sitting near the filter outlet?

What does their poop look like?
Do they look fatter just before they die?

Are they eating normally?
Do they eat when they go to the top just before dying?

-------------------

Try adding some salt and see if it helps.

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt, swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

They go up to the top gasping, then just hover up the top looking pale. It pooped yesterday and it looked fine.
Will my inverts be ok with the salt?
I do have melafix but not sure it will help.
Thanks

 

[10 Tanks]

Hi I change 50% a week out of this tank but have been doing extra daily changes. This tank is 7 years old all other fish are fine just my guppies.
Kinda wondering if its ate to much as its always eating.
Thanks

Hello again. I was concerned about the trace of nitrite you said was present in the tank water. This form of nitrogen isn't as harmful as ammonia, but can still kill fish rather quickly.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Elephant nose 4]

Hello again. I was concerned about the trace of nitrite you said was present in the tank water. This form of nitrogen isn't as harmful as ammonia, but can still kill fish rather quickly.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

Sorry it was suppose to be nitrate! I have no Nitrite.

 

[Colin_T]

They go up to the top gasping, then just hover up the top looking pale. It pooped yesterday and it looked fine.
Will my inverts be ok with the salt?
I do have melafix but not sure it will help.
Thanks

Melafix won't help.

Most invertebrates are normally fine with salt. If you're concerned, use the lower dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres and add a second dose a couple of days later.

Normally when they go to the top and gasp, and lose colour, they have an internal problem. When it happens suddenly (overnight) it is usually internal organ failure and the fish normally stop eating, do a stringy white poop, gasp at the surface, bloat up and die. If they aren't bloating up (getting fat overnight) then it might be something else but sudden onset of symptoms and dying within 24 hours of showing symptoms is just about always internal organ failure, which can be caused by a number of things that are generally out of your control.

I would try salt for 2 weeks and see how things go.
If you see anymore going pale, get pictures and post them here.

How long have you had them for?
How long have they been dying for?
Did you quarantine them before adding them to the main tank?

 

[Elephant nose 4]

Melafix won't help.

Most invertebrates are normally fine with salt. If you're concerned, use the lower dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres and add a second dose a couple of days later.

Normally when they go to the top and gasp, and lose colour, they have an internal problem. When it happens suddenly (overnight) it is usually internal organ failure and the fish normally stop eating, do a stringy white poop, gasp at the surface, bloat up and die. If they aren't bloating up (getting fat overnight) then it might be something else but sudden onset of symptoms and dying within 24 hours of showing symptoms is just about always internal organ failure, which can be caused by a number of things that are generally out of your control.

I would try salt for 2 weeks and see how things go.
If you see anymore going pale, get pictures and post them here.

How long have you had them for?
How long have they been dying for?
Did you quarantine them before adding them to the main tank?

I've had them for 3 weeks lost all 5 blues in days, thought the yellows where doing and looking ok so added them into my shrimp tank, one died but looked like it had hurt himself and now another isn't acting well.
I'll try the salt treatment and hopefully it will help.
Also the tank temp is 25.5 forgot to mention that.

 

[seangee]

What is the hardness of your water? What other fish do you keep? Guppies prefer hard water. Since you (presumably) keep elephant noses and live in Scotland your water probably is not hard. I would not expect that to kill them off in 3 weeks - but best to check.

 

[Ichthys]

What is the hardness of your water?

This. We can’t really give any useful advice until we know this. Guppies cannot live in soft water. They will die in days or weeks if it’s very soft.

 

[Essjay]

Scottish Water isn't the easiest to find your hardness.
First enter your postcode here

Water Quality Search - Scottish Water

Water Quality Search

www.scottishwater.co.uk

That will produce info including "Site name". Make a note of the name. Then select "Water hardness data" on the right of the page, and download "water hardness data 2022" from the list. Scroll down till you find the 'site name' in the first column and look across the columns for 'hardness as mg/l CaCO3' (that's the same as ppm) and 'German degrees' (that's the same as dH).
Then post the numbers on here

 

[Elephant nose 4]

Hi, it's soft water just checked. Now I feel awful I usually check everything before buying.

 

[Elephant nose 4]

This is a picture if him today if it helps.
He has a red mark behind his fin both sides?

 

[Byron]

How soft is soft, i.e., what is the level according either to the water authority or your testing? Soft can mean anything from very soft to soft to moderately hard and we have even had some water authorities calling it hard. The number and the unit of measurement are needed. This will ensure future fish choices are OK.

Having said that, I doubt very much the GH is the issue here, it is too rapid. But anything like inappropriate GH will not help because it weakens the fish and allows other issues to take hold. I would agree with Colin that something probably came in with the guppies. A QT in future would help, as the issue is not really the guppies dying but if whatever this is can spread to other fish. I nearly wiped out an entire 115g tank with some internal protozoan that came in with fish.