Help On My Guppies Please!

[emilythestrange]

7 male guppies
3 neon tetras
27 UK litre tank
Heater,Filter, Air Pump, Lighting

5 of the guppies i have right now were introduced into the newly fishless cycled tank a week ago now.
2 were introduced afterwards.

The tetras were introduced 1 week ago also.

A guppy suddenly didnt move as much and died today with no markings on his body... very sad.
The other leopard guppies i had from the same shop all died (3) of the same markings.. I thought that was suspicious.

I changed 20% of my water.. as the internet told me.. per week that i had to


Well how should i maintain my tank..

any suggestions I would be very very very grateful for.
I love watching my guppies and i dont want to see another dead for any mysterious reason

Although i know it happens

 

[rhostog]

Very sorry about your guppies.
I guess it's the obvious question, but are you testing the water for ammonia and nitrite? With a newly cycled tank, it's possible to get raised levels of either when you add fish.
Hope the others are OK.

 

[emilythestrange]

Very sorry about your guppies.
I guess it's the obvious question, but are you testing the water for ammonia and nitrite? With a newly cycled tank, it's possible to get raised levels of either when you add fish.
Hope the others are OK.

Oh yes.. had quite a gut full of it by now.

Brought 3 of the API liquid tests for NitIte NitrAte and Ammonia.

Ammonia and Nitrite has always been 0

think i got them the right way round.. off the top of my head.

How often should i do a water change.. different websites are telling me different things

 

[waterdrop]

The frequency and size of water changes can be somewhat of a fine art for experienced aquarists, but as a beginner you probably don't need to worry about any of that yet. Be sure to take stats on your tap water. If you have zero ammonia and zero nitrate in the tap water then your are set for normal water changes. I think an excellent water change habit for beginners is once a week on the weekend on a day/time that makes sense such that you can make it a firm habit. The reason for the habit part is that the real power is in the fact that its normally getting done and things are not allowed to build up in the tank. If you do happen to have ammonia or nitrate in your source water, then your water changes will need to be smaller and more frequent so that the fish don't see such a concentration when the bad stuff goes in.

So, bottom line: Do a gravel clean and water change each weekend, if your situation is average! I'd pick 30% for the amount, just to pick a number and not get complicated.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rhostog]

I think every fish keeper you ask will tell you something slightly different! 20% a week seems pretty normal - I'd maybe suggest a bit more for the moment as your tank is fairly new. Longer term, as well as monitoring ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as you've been doing, you might want to keep an eye on the pH in the tank - if you have soft water, you might find the pH starts dropping if you're not changing enough, and you want to keep the pH stable. You'll soon get a feel for what keeps your tank stable.

Not sure what happened to your guppies. I've read that they vary in quality depending where they're from and how they've been bred, so I guess it's possible you just got a bad batch. Hope the rest of the fish are OK.

 

[emilythestrange]

I think every fish keeper you ask will tell you something slightly different! 20% a week seems pretty normal - I'd maybe suggest a bit more for the moment as your tank is fairly new. Longer term, as well as monitoring ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as you've been doing, you might want to keep an eye on the pH in the tank - if you have soft water, you might find the pH starts dropping if you're not changing enough, and you want to keep the pH stable. You'll soon get a feel for what keeps your tank stable.

Not sure what happened to your guppies. I've read that they vary in quality depending where they're from and how they've been bred, so I guess it's possible you just got a bad batch. Hope the rest of the fish are OK.

What im fed up about is my dads friend says dont change the water for 6 months?!

Ok another guppy is hanging around the surface, doesnt appear to be gasping or any sort of sign of disease on his body, however the other went sort out less active and stiff looking, and he died. This yellow guppy I hope wont die...

 

[waterdrop]

I've read any number of members say that guppies in recent years are sometimes overbred and weak, sometimes having disease when you get them. It could be you've just been a victim of that, but..

The symptoms you are describing with the fish do not seem to match the zero readings for the ammonia and nitrite. You might want to take a water sample in and get your LFS to give you the numbers they get for those two tests (make sure you get numbers, not just that they are "fine" or "ok.")

We assume your temperature is ok - you could double check the recommended temps for your species here in the species-specific sections of TFF and then verify with your thermometer, perhaps checking with a second one if you've got one somewhere. You wouldn't want it too hot.

I agree with rhostog, I'd be doing probably 70% water changes if my fish behaved like that. (assuming my tap water has zeros for stats and doesn't change the pH too fast.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[vinylman]

Neon Tetras aren't really suitable for a newly-cycled tank; waiting a good three months or so would be better. They also do better in groups of at least 5/6. With a tank that size, frequent water changes are best; once a week at least. Things can go wrong in a small tank very quickly if you don't keep on top of maintenance. Guppies are really poor quality these days; far better if you can find a local breeder.

 

[emilythestrange]

Well my ammonia and Nitrite has never got to 0.25 ppm its always 0ppm on my API liquid kits... (ive always done it alot 2 a day to check)
The three tetras seem great as of yet, they have been in over a week now... Although the weaker ones didnt survive
My yellow gupp is still behaving weird as if he might die... but that was yesterday he was acting like this..
But all my other guppies are looking great as usual

Still confused keep checking my tank in a frenzy!

Yes with the weak guppy thing i found that 3 of the same pattern of guppy died.. but the two half black and two coloured tailed are still here and looking great also my 2 others..
They always suck on my air pump tubing has it got bacteria on it? they do that alot

I have a thermostat heater.. Its set at 24 C which i read was a good temperature?!

 

[mark.w.jones]

Temperature is fine. Guppies are feeding on algae growing on the air pump tube surface. Both species of fish you mention are notoriously flakey in new tanks. Both need very stable water conditions which you just don't get in a brand new tank. Despite your "perfect" readings there is more to getting perfect stable water chemistry than having 0ppm ammonia and nitrite.