Guppy Troubles?

[Betta_Shark5678]

Hello.
 
I have a 55 Gallon tank with 4 female guppies, and 2 males.  I used to have 6 females, and 4 males.  Yesterday I had 5 females, and 3 males.  Today I found one male inside the filter intake, and a female attached to the side of the intake.  I tested the water after as soon as I found the two dead ones today.  My Nitrates are really high, and my pH is pretty low, so that may be part of it, or at least why the males died, my question is about the female that died today.
 
About two weeks ago I did a water change, and it looked like she would give birth within the next two days.  I put her in my trap, but she'd run into the walls, then sink to the bottom and not move for a few seconds, so I let her out.  I've been watching her since, waiting for her to give birth, but she never did.  She got bigger, and bigger, and when I found her today her stomach was literally bursting.  It seems like she was holding her fry in?  Is that normal?  Is it something to do with the Nitrate/pH problem?  The last female I lost died a day after I got her, so I figured it was stress, she was very heavily pregnant too though.  
 
All the guppies looked completely healthy, were eating, and weren't acting weird.  I wouldn't know anything was wrong if they weren't dead.  I'm going to be doing a HUGE water change Sunday (can't tomorrow) to get rid of the Nitrates.  Any other advice is welcome!
 
Thanks!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I think you should re-post your thread in the emergencies section. I am not an expert on the pH but sounds like that could be part of the trouble. Or maybe one of your new guppies brought in a disease.

Did the female who died possibly have dropsy or swim bladder?

 

[fish48]

its poor water quality not a disease

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

Well I know that the nitrates are too high for them, so I'm pretty sure that's why the males are dying, but both females were heavily pregnant before they died, and the most recent looks like she held onto her fry and starting bursting.  She looked like she was about to give birth (based on pictures I've seen, and the way my other livbearers acted the day before they gave birth), then two weeks later she died.  I'm just wondering if they normally hold their fry, or if it's just the nitrates  causing problems.  
 
I'm not really sure if it's an emergency, I'm pretty sure I know what killed them, I'm just curious about the fact that she wasn't giving birth.  She was just showing normal signs of being pregnant.  I fed her Friday morning, then left for a while, then when I came back I had two dead guppies in the filter intake.  If I continue to lose them I will post in the emergency section, but for now I'm just going to do a big water change and hope for the best.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Why not do a large water change to lower the nitrates and see if that makes a difference?

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

I'm going to try that right now.  Thanks for your help!

 

[snazy]

High nitrAtes and low Ph are signs of a crashed system, normally called "Old Tank Syndrome" and the nitrAtes and Ph are not the worst signs, an ammonia spike will soon follow due to the bacteria being inhibited at very low Ph,depending what yours is at the moment.  Doing a large water change is dangerous now, because the tap water Ph and other mineral content will be signifficantly different. Make sure you do it very slow not to stress the fish further, or start doing daily small water changes till you get the nitrAtes below 10ppm and the Ph slowly stabalized.
The exploding fish that you think was pregnant could have died of dropsy, which is a symptom of a number of diseases like bacterial infection and even parasites, which may have happened due to the deteriorating water quality and rapid Ph changes caused by inadequate stocking,overfeeding, underfiltering and lack of or too small and irregular water changes.

 

[OldMan47]

I am afraid that I must agree with Fish48. You have water that is simply not suitable for any typical liveebarers. It is too low in total dissolved solids (TDS) and leaves your fish vulnerable to almost any issue at all. Forget nitrates and similar issues, you need to add solids to your water. One way to do so is to add calcium carbonate by placing some crushed shells in your return water flow path. Another way to do so is to add chemicals specifically designed to work with low solids situations such as RO Right. Either method is expected to raise your measured mineral content, which is really what is causing you troubles.

 

[AshP1986]

Is the tank doing any better?

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

The last of my guppies died, and I'm down to two platys.  I've been forbidden by my doctor to clean the tank due to an injury , and I'm fearing for the lives of the rest of my fish now

I'm doing a water change tomorrow, even though I'm supposed to be waiting a little longer to lift heavy things, like buckets of water.
 
Edit: Typos! :O

 

[AshP1986]

If you have no one to help you, and you are going to do the water changes anyway just do small amounts at a time... I know it will take forever, but you don't want to hurt yourself even more. 

 
Hope you are feeling better soon! and your fish too!
 
Keep us updated

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

Thanks for the advice! 
 
Since my tap water pH has lowered significantly recently (possibly because it's winter, possibly because the water company was bought out recently?) I'm probably not going to be keeping livebearers anymore, at least not for a while.  My Tetras were thriving until now since I haven't been able to clean my tank though!