Guppy Troubles

[SpotiKona]

Hello again,

Tank size: 5 gallons
Temperature: 78° F
Filter: Regular carbon
Heater: Yes
Water changes: 10 to 25% weekly
Treatments: Tetra SafeStart+ (initially), API Stress Coat+ (regularly)
Tank mates: 4 (down to 2) guppies

pH: Stable 6.6
Ammonia: Less than 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: Somewhere between 2 to 5 ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm

I owned four guppies who, up until recently, had been living together for about six or so months now. About two months ago, one of the guppies appeared lethargic; I wasn't sure if the fish was ill or if his tank mates were attacking him as he was noticeably smaller than the others. I decided to isolate him to another tank just in case he was ill. However, almost immediately after being moved away from the others, his lethargy disappeared. He had been living alone in that tank up until last week. Since guppies are schooling fish, I felt terrible about leaving the little guy isolated. He seemed to have grown a bit in the months that he was on his own, so I figured it couldn't hurt to move him back to his old tank. Worst case scenario, I could always isolate him again if the others started picking on him.

Things appeared to be going great for the first few days. The four were swimming around together as if I had never separated them. Until Monday, when I discovered one of the fish dead around noon. I removed him from the tank immediately. His carcass showed no signs of any disease or injuries. I figured that it must just have been old age as I have had these fish for six months now, plus they could have been at the pet shop for a while before I picked up my group. I noticed that the remaining three guppies were acting a bit strangely. They were hanging around the top of the tank, not swimming around much. To be safe, I decided to change a good portion of the tank water. After a few hours, they appeared to be moving around normally again. I figured that all was well at this point.

This morning I woke up to find another guppy had passed away. This one was the smaller one that I had introduced back into the tank just a week ago. This carcass also showed no signs of disease or injuries. I am now afraid that whatever killed these two fish is now coming for the last two. These two are still acting a bit strange, hanging around at the top of the tank, not swimming around as much as they usually do.

What can I do to save the last two guppies? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. If needed, I could configure a new tank (or tanks, if they were to be isolated) on the off chance there is disease floating around in the water that a simple water change cannot remove.

PS: One of the remaining guppies has a mild case of fin rot (I think), but he has had this for the past few months. I have been hoping that the regular water changes would clear this up, but they have not.

PS II: I took the water parameters after writing the post. I was shocked to find that the Nitrite levels were as high as they were. I do not test Nitrite regularly, so I am unsure whether these high levels are due to the dead fish or are what caused the fish to die. If the Nitrite levels are poisoning the fish, how do I go about fixing this before it's too late?

 

[Naughts]

Hello,
You are quite right, the nitrite is at dangerous levels. Do a 75% water change, making sure the fresh water is dechlorinated and temperature matched. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of dissolved aquarium salt to heal any nitrite damage. Check for ammonia and nitrite daily, doing a large water change any time they are above zero. You will need to add back in the salt proportionately (eg. if you take out half the water, add back half the salt dose).

 

[Sgooosh]

Didnt read all of it but

Hello,
You are quite right, the nitrite is at dangerous levels. Do a 75% water change, making sure the fresh water is dechlorinated and temperature matched. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of dissolved aquarium salt to heal any nitrite damage. Check for ammonia and nitrite daily, doing a large water change any time they are above zero. You will need to add back in the salt proportionately (eg. if you take out half the water, add back half the salt dose).

is correct.
your nitrite and ammonia are tooo high. Your ph is also too low guppies need 7.5+ in my experience to be hardy. Also 200+gh

 

[SpotiKona]

Thanks for the responses. Would this aquarium salt be okay? I don't have any on hand, so I will have to pick some up. What exactly did you mean by dissolved? Do I have to dissolve the salt before adding it to the tank? As far as pH goes, how would I go about increasing that? Thanks again.

 

[Naughts]

Perfect.
Dissolve it in warm water so all the crystals are gone before adding it to the tank. It is thought that the salt crystals could harm the fish if they came into contact with it.
Once you have done the water change we can look at what may have caused the cycle to crash.

 

[SpotiKona]

How do I remove the salt from the warm water? Or, do I pour the salt water directly into the aquarium? Thanks!

 

[Sgooosh]

How do I remove the salt from the warm water? Or, do I pour the salt water directly into the aquarium? Thanks!

add the warm water to the tank!

 

[Naughts]

How do I remove the salt from the warm water? Or, do I pour the salt water directly into the aquarium? Thanks!

Yes, pour the salt water into the tank.

 

[Colin_T]

Any pictures of the fish so we can check them for diseases?
Did you add anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

When things settle down, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week. The bigger water change will reduce more disease organisms and help keep the tank cleaner.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[SpotiKona]

Water change is complete now with the addition of aquarium salt. Unfortunately, I did not think to take photos of the fish that passed away before I disposed of them. If it would be helpful to see pictures of the survivors to check them for diseases, let me know. While I am no expert, the carcasses appeared fully intact without any unusual markings or rots. I have not added anything new to the tank except for the isolated guppy, as mentioned in the original post. The filter I am using is the Top Fin BF5. I try to clean the filter weekly or more often if it appears clogged before the weekly cleaning. To do this, I swish the cartridge around in old tank water, using a toothbrush as necessary to brush away any food or other waste that has attached itself to the media. Thanks again for all the suggestions. Hoping the last two guppies at least have a fighting chance now!

 

[SarahPar]

Could be nitrite poisoning.
Hard to say since if it wasn't raised before the death then it was likely something else.
Usually when fish die without symptoms I suspect gill parasites. So I treat my new fish for flukes and gill parasites always, haven't had any strange unexplained deaths since starting this.

 

[FishkeeperDiscoWostit]

At the very start of my guppy keeping period, I was very under-researched and my water levels were awful, killing my six guppies; very scary as I did not know what was wrong, they just kept dying. Most of mine passed away in the night so I didn't see it happen, but one of them kept resting on the bottom of the tank, then having little flurries of energy and swimming to the surface, only to float back down again. He died shortly after . Have you seen anything like that? Hope you have better luck than I did and everything works out in the end.

 

[SarahPar]

Definitely sounds like gill issues oe ammonia toxicity or both.

Ammonia starts to become toxic over a certain level.