Help

[skimpy]

I am a beginner and have followed the advice of my dealer. (I reasonably trusted my dealer as I have used him for 3 years for my outdoor pond and he has not steered me wrong yet.)

I bought my tank Jewel Rekord 70 and set it up, after couple weeks my dealer tested the water PH 8 Nitrate 0 Nitrite 0 and said its ok to take 6 guppys. He will not sell more than six fish at a time and only if your water is tested by them and OK.

5 guppies died within 24 hrs and the shop told me to treat the tank with Liquisil General Tonic which should save the last fish, (this last guppy was purchased from a seperate tank to the other 5). The shop also lost some of their guppies from the same tank the same night and think it might be slime disease

My last guppy was at the surface a lot at first but after about 24hrs seemed to be acting more normally. Tues and Wed he seemed fine and fed well, but tonight he seem a little weeker and back up at the top of the tank or swimming erratically. He happily fed when i came home but i feel unsure.

When I added the tonic I was advisedby the shop not to worry about removing the carbon filter as it was just a short treatment to save the fish.

I feel so sad, I am trying so hard to do the right thing, I dont want to loose him, but I dont know what to do.

I have not got enough experience to know if his erratic swimming is normal or not, perhaps i'm just paranoid because of loosing the others.

He swims a lot in the air curtain bubbles I have going at the back of the tank but shoots around suddenly as if spooked by something. When hes at the top of the tank he hides a lot by the thermometer

I would now phone my dealer again but they are shut till tomorrow morning.

Any advice welcome.

 

[reiben]

well.. I haven't had a lot of experience with guppies unfortunatly. Guppies aren't the most hardiest fish either.( not saying they aren't hardy). I use stress coat to save fish loss. I never heard of what he has sold you. . It could be the stress... how are you transporting the fish in the tank... it might take them a while to get used to the tank.

 

[skimpy]

The fish were transported in a plastic bag with oxygen and then in a paper bag the journey took approx 20 mins by car.

When home I opened the bag and put bag in tank for 10 mins, then added small amount of tank water to bag waited another 15 mins and then let fish into tank.

The 5 guppies that died stayed at the surface most of the time. The surviving Guppy seemed a little normal in his movements.

 

[sunflower]

Sounds to me likehe's just a bit stressed out. First the move and then losing his tank-mates.

Be patient and continue your treatment. One thing I've learned with treatments is to be patient.

 

[skimpy]

Thanks sunflower - I ll keep my fingers crossed

 

[ger87410]

What I would do is add a bunch of feeder guppies. They only cost 15 cents here, really clean, and since they are so cheap, who cares if you loose one.

 

[dixaisy930]

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your fish.

What was the ammonia reading? I've lost cories before within a day because of just a small amount of ammonia (before I knew better). The tank may not be cycled after just a couple of weeks.

Maybe you could try some MelaFix. Not sure if it helps with stress or anything, but it helps alot of things.

 

[cutecotton]

did you cycle the tank or just let the water run during those few weeks? if you never cycled your tank and suddenly added that many fish it could cuase problems.

as for melaxfix, i believe it's for finrot and stuff only, i would add some stress coat instead since melafix isn't really a "general" medicine don't treat it with melafix if that's not what the fish has.

I would just keep a close eye on your guppy, if he dies too, i would wonder if there wa something wrong with that batch of fish and maybe try from another LFS (say buy 2 from one lfs, 2 from another, etc). Myabe you just picked out a bad batch of it to start off with

anyways goo dluck i hope that one last guppy will pull through