Guppy fish keep on dying!

[Foshperson]

Hello, I have a problem in my 15 gallon tank, my fish keep dying, I did 3 watar changes (25%) and I’m ordering easy balance to help with PH which is a bit high. Nitrates and Nitrites are low (I think) but fish are still dying! When they did there are no fins and it’s just the body, what should I do?

I forget to metion something, some guppies look really good awhile the others look super sick. Sick ones lose a lot of fat and color before dying, I hope this helps.

 

[Essjay]

The first thing we need to know is how long has the tank been set up, and the second thing is the ammonia reading. Unfortunately 5 or 6 in 1 strips don't test for that, you need to buy an ammonia tester separately. The strip shows nitrite as zero, which is good.

Leave the pH alone; endlers guppies can cope easily with high pH, anything up to 8.5. Never tamper with pH as it is interrelated with hardness (GH) and KH.


Edited as I typed endlers instead of guppies but they also need high pH.

 

[Foshperson]

The first thing we need to know is how long has the tank been set up, and the second thing is the ammonia reading. Unfortunately 5 or 6 in 1 strips don't test for that, you need to buy an ammonia tester separately. The strip shows nitrite as zero, which is good.

Leave the pH alone; endlers can cope easily with high pH, anything up to 8.5. Never tamper with pH as it is interrelated with hardness (GH) and KH.

Tank has been set up for awhile now, I think about a month, and I won’t mess with the PH, thanks for informing me on that!
what would be the best ammonia tester if you know one, that would help a lot.

Edit: I was doing some research and correct me if I’m worng, high ammonia can be caused by high temperature? If’s that true my temperatures used to be very high before I changed it, although it’s fixed now, I’m worried this had lasting effects on my fishtank.

 

[Essjay]

I use the API liquid tester for ammonia.

Ammonia is not caused by temperature - it's excreted by fish. In an established tank, there are bacteria which 'eat' ammonia and they turn it into nitrite. This is also poisonous, but more bacteria turn it into nitrate. These are very slow growing bacteria ad it takes weeks to grow enough of them, which is why I asked about how long the tank has been set up. It's possible that you have had, and possibly still have, high ammonia and that's what's been killing the fish.
Until the tank has grown enough bacteria, you need to test every day for ammonia and nitrite and do a water change whenever either read above zero.


What filter do you have - does it contain carbon cartridges? And if it does, do you change them? If it's yes to both, don't chnage them, just wash them in old tank water taken out during a water change.

 

[Foshperson]

I use the API liquid tester for ammonia.

Ammonia is not caused by temperature - it's excreted by fish. In an established tank, there are bacteria which 'eat' ammonia and they turn it into nitrite. This is also poisonous, but more bacteria turn it into nitrate. These are very slow growing bacteria ad it takes weeks to grow enough of them, which is why I asked about how long the tank has been set up. It's possible that you have had, and possibly still have, high ammonia and that's what's been killing the fish.
Until the tank has grown enough bacteria, you need to test every day for ammonia and nitrite and do a water change whenever either read above zero.


What filter do you have - does it contain carbon cartridges? And if it does, do you change them? If it's yes to both, don't chnage them, just wash them in old tank water taken out during a water change.

Once again thank you for informing me on the matter, the filter is with the tank (it’s a fluval flex) and I don’t change them, I clean them with old water from the tank during water changes. And I forget to mention the carbon cartridges, I don’t change them during water changes, thank you for the help, what you said about the tank explains a lot of what been happening.