Help Needed For Absolute Begginer!

[Clareyb]

Hello all!

I am very new to the world of tropical fish, got my first aquarium for my birthday on the 2nd of March, anyway all seemed to be going well, got it all up and running, tested water and two weeks later introduced 2 black mollies and 2 swordtails, these were doing well so one week later 25th March introduced 10 male guppies to the tank.

These seemed to be doing ok until the 29th of march when one died, this one did not look well before it died, its spine and curved and tail was all folded in on itself. things seemed ok all other fish lookin ok feeding ok etc... However a few days later another one died, this one had looked fine the night before and showed no obvious symtoms, since then we have lost a further 4 guppies (6 gone in total) the most recent one to die, last night, was constantly at the top of the tank it stopped moving now and again and would start to sink then would start swimming again.

I also added some neon tetras to the tank on the 30th of march as a Birthday present to my b/f! all other fish in the tank seem to be ok!

I haven't got a clue as to what is going on or what i should do! most of the fish that have died looked ok the night before then where dead in Morning.

I have a 60lt tank, i have been testing the water it is showing as normal and the readings have not changed any from when the fish introduced!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and any advice would be greatly appriciated!

Clare x

 

[Miss Wiggle]

when you say readings are 'normal' please can you give us the actual results for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate

i'm assuming you know pretty much nothing because you've said you're an absolute beginner, so sorry if i'm telling you things you already know but i'd rather say too much than not enough when it coems to the fish's lives

i think the tank wasn't cycled before adding fish, the mollies and swordies are relativly hardy so you basically cycled the tank with fish with them in, however you've only built up enough bacteria to keep these fish alive, adding 10 more fish is quite a lot in one go and the filter can't cope so has started cycling again, bearing in mind that guppies are not hardy fish they probably aren't coping with the cycle.

first thing you should do is read this

 

[Clareyb]

when you say readings are 'normal' please can you give us the actual results for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate

i'm assuming you know pretty much nothing because you've said you're an absolute beginner, so sorry if i'm telling you things you already know but i'd rather say too much than not enough when it coems to the fish's lives

i think the tank wasn't cycled before adding fish, the mollies and swordies are relativly hardy so you basically cycled the tank with fish with them in, however you've only built up enough bacteria to keep these fish alive, adding 10 more fish is quite a lot in one go and the filter can't cope so has started cycling again, bearing in mind that guppies are not hardy fish they probably aren't coping with the cycle.

first thing you should do is read this

Thank you for quick reply!

I have just tested water ( i use the tetra test 5 in one) Nitrite is 5 mg/l (this has never shown reading before) Nitrate is 25mg/l General Hardness is showing as >10 Kh 6 and pH 7.2

After reading your post it looks like i did not do a complete cycle, i went on the advice of the shop which appears to have been wrong!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

unfortunatley advise given by fish shops varies massivley, sounds like you've not found a good shop so i'd look for a better one.

those test strips are pretty much useless, horribly inaccurate so you can't relly trust those readings. invest in a good liquid test kit, it's definately worth the money.

for now you should be doing water changes every day until the cycle has finished (i.e. when ammonia and nitrite both consistently read 0)

also how big is the tank? having too many fish for the tank could also be contributing to the problems and fsh tanks can actually take a lot less fish than you might think.

 

[Clareyb]

unfortunatley advise given by fish shops varies massivley, sounds like you've not found a good shop so i'd look for a better one.

those test strips are pretty much useless, horribly inaccurate so you can't relly trust those readings. invest in a good liquid test kit, it's definately worth the money.

for now you should be doing water changes every day until the cycle has finished (i.e. when ammonia and nitrite both consistently read 0)

also how big is the tank? having too many fish for the tank could also be contributing to the problems and fsh tanks can actually take a lot less fish than you might think.

It is a 60lt tank this one

 

[tropicalgirl2007]

I have only had my tank for a few months, however I have yet to managed to keep guppies!!! all my readings are 0 and all my other fish are fine, its just the guppies, I have bought them from 4 different shops and I only have two left out of about 15. I will not buy guppies again. However mollies are excellent and I have had my first batch of fry.

 

[Clarey]

Gosh - what a nightmare! I can really sympathise. I've been running my tank for six months and when I recently added new fish my fish started to die too. Sound like they behaving in very similar ways to mine.

I don't that much about guppies - but your post has got me thinking - I was told when I bought my guppies that the males are very territorial and it's best not to have too many in the tank, maybe one male to three to four females. How many females do you have in the tank? I wonder if anyone can inform me about male to female guppy ratio so I know for my own tank.

 

[Clareyb]

Gosh - what a nightmare! I can really sympathise. I've been running my tank for six months and when I recently added new fish my fish started to die too. Sound like they behaving in very similar ways to mine.

I don't that much about guppies - but your post has got me thinking - I was told when I bought my guppies that the males are very territorial and it's best not to have too many in the tank, maybe one male to three to four females. How many females do you have in the tank? I wonder if anyone can inform me about male to female guppy ratio so I know for my own tank.

The shop i bought them from told me that keeping all males was alright, but if i was to get females then atleast 2 females to every male! but as i have learnt we can not always trust what they tell us at the shop!

 

[jakeroberts]

in my opinion ur tank is over stocked and that is wat cold be causing the problems

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok your tank is 16 us gallons, you can have 1" of fish per gallons of water, worked out on the adult size of your fish.

you have so far
2 mollies - 8"
2 swordies - 6"
4 guppies - 4"

so that's overstocked without the neons that you said you have as well.

the tank isn't cycled properly and you've then put too many fish in too soon, the guppies are the weakest of all the fish you have so are the one's who are suffering.

you need to do 20% water changes every day until the cycle is finished and you also need to either upgrade the tank or take some fish back to the lfs, i'd recommend taking back either the mollies or swordies as they are really going to get a bit big for your tank. i wouldn't want anything bigger than 2" in there.

 

[vinylman]

I have only had my tank for a few months, however I have yet to managed to keep guppies!!! all my readings are 0 and all my other fish are fine, its just the guppies, I have bought them from 4 different shops and I only have two left out of about 15. I will not buy guppies again. However mollies are excellent and I have had my first batch of fry.

If all is well, all your readings should be 0 except Nitrate. There should always be Nitrates in a cycled tank.