Help!

[bosdabny]

Hi there,

When I woke up yesterday, one of my guppies had died. I have three of them, that's all that is in my tank. The one one died wasn't swimming around as much as usual, and it was the normal day to do a water change, so I changed 25% of the water. I change the water once a week. After he died, I tested all the levels in the tank, pH, ammonia, nitrate/nitrite and everything was in normal limits. The other 2 fish seemed fine as well. During the day yesterday, the other two fish started acting strangely. They are not really swimming around, but are staying at the top of the tank, where the water comes down by the filter. Their skin looks OK, I don't see anything growing, but they definitely look like something is wrong. Their skin is just not as shiny or reflective as it was, they look a little dull now. I did another water change last night, a small one, but it doesn't seemed to have done much. They are still alive today, but not eating and staying at the top of the tank in one position, flapping their fins. The temp is about 80 degrees. Any info you can give me would be much appreciated. I had guppies before and they never did anything like this.

Thanks!

 

[Lithril]

When you say that the ammonia and nitrites were within normal limits what values were you getting?

Have you got any form of aeration in there?

 

[bosdabny]

The ammonia id 0 ppm and the nitrate was about 40 ppm and the nitrite 0 ppm. I don't have any aeration (airstones, etc) in there.

Thanks!

 

[bosdabny]

Another one just died. I don't know what is wrong, I don't know how to fix it. Does anone have any suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

 

[brookie]

i had something very similar happen to my guppy rip its color faded big time at the end of its tail and went to half way through his body i called my lps and they told me to get mela fix my other guppie had started to get what the first one had but then it went away i hope this helps

 

[FishHeads]

The ammonia id 0 ppm and the nitrate was about 40 ppm and the nitrite 0 ppm. I don't have any aeration (airstones, etc) in there.

Thanks!

You need to get some sort of aeriation in there to start because tropicals need it. Especially guppies. In my early experiences with guppies (I had 4), I didn't use areation and they quickly asphixiated after a couple of days. Sounds like you may have a bacterial or internal problem with those fish. Possibly related to 'new tank syndrome'. How old is your tank and did you cycle it?

 

[bosdabny]

Well, unfortunately, the other fish died last night. So my next question is, if I want to get new fish, what should I do first? I don't want the same thing to happen.

The tank was fully cycled a few months ago. I don't think it is New Tank Syndrome, and the ammonia levels never indicated any sort of spike.

Any ideas on how I can find out what caused the problem, and what I can do to prevent it from happening when I get new fish?

Thanks so much for your help, I truly appreciate it.

 

[semper fi]

get an aerator. the water needs to be stirred up. the aerator allows for gases to be exchanged in the water.

 

[bosdabny]

So, if I get an aerator, and do nothing else, it should be OK to introduce new fish into the tank?

 

[semper fi]

after you get an aerator you will need to check the levels and make sure that was the problem. add fish slowly about 1-2 fish every three or four days. would let the tank settle down a bit though. if the tank is completely empty atleast put a pinch of food in it if you are going to wait a week before putting in fish.

 

[MizPlaya692003]

It doesnt sound like your guppies are sick BUT ... You need to get some airstones or those little tubes that blow out bubbles. I learned that the hard way a long time ago. Power went out at my house for about 4 or 5 hours. Fish died cause no air to breath.

 

[bosdabny]

Thanks for the advice. Just wondering, why should I put a pinch of food in the tank if I wait a week to buy more fish?