More Dying Fish

[Miss M]

Ok. I've lost 5 new guppies and 2 that I have had for months in the last 2 weeks. I chalked up the new guppies to being a "bad batch" from the pet store.(only tried adding 2 at a time, but none survived). All the other fish in the tank are fine.

So my dad came over, feeling bad about the situation, and presented me with 3 new guppies from Wal mart.
I added them and so far, 2 died, and 1 now has a mouth fungus. Here's what I did:

one died within 24 hrs showing no symptoms: color was good, no split fins. She just died.
one started to get the rotting tail fin, so I placed her in a hospital tank and tried to treat her with melafix. She died after 48 hrs.
my last one started with the white mouth fungus this morning. I placed her in the hospital tank and am currently treating with jungle fungus tablets.

I'm doing small water changes on the main tank just in case. So far, the other fish (corys,platies,neons etc.. are doing fine).

Any ideas on why I'm having such a hard time with guppies?

Stats on tank: 40 gallon no ammonia/nitrite nitrate: 20
tank stock: 5 corys, 5 neons, 2 glowlights, 3 large yellow tetras (not sure of the name), 2 platy's, 1 molly, 1 otto

Please help.

Thank you
Miss M

 

[Spooky76]

Doesnt sound like an illness and your stats are good. I can only think its the way you add your fish.

How do you add new fish ?

I float the bag for 30 mins with lights off, then start adding my water, small ammount at a time, every 10 mins add a bit more until over an hour its more your water than theirs.

Then I net the fish out the bag, never add their water. Leave lights off for as long as you can and dont feed for 24 hours...

 

[the biffster]

whats your stats to day

 

[Miss M]

When I add the new fish, I float the bag for approx 20 minutes, then add some aquarium water into the bag, wait a few minutes, and net the fish from bag to tank.

Stats are still at the same reading. I did add some water to the tank this morning to replace what I removed to add to the hospital tank.

The main tank temp is 77.6 degrees. All the other fish are still looking good.

Guppy in the hospital tank looks good, other than the mouth fungus.


Miss M

 

[the biffster]

whats your stats to day

 

[Miss M]

sorry Bif........
Used drop test for each:
ammon: 0
nitrite:0
nitrate :btw 20/40 ppm (hard to tell the diff on the color card)
ph: 6.8


These are the readings I have every week. No spikes/differences in months.

Hope that was the info you were asking for.
Let me know if there's other info you need.

Thank you

***update*** guppy died.

 

[WILDER]

Mouth fungus flexibactor columnaris.
Melafix is no good on finrot and columnaris you will need maracyn one and two.

 

[Miss M]

Thank you Wilder. The last fish I treated w/jungle fungus tablets. She died within 24 hrs.

I'll make sure to stock with those meds in the future

Miss M

 

[WILDER]

I would carry on with the water changes.
Columnaris live in the background in your tank it only takes a weakend fish for it to flare up.
Good luck.

 

[the biffster]

does any one smoke or as any one
used spay air freshener or spray polish
as any one used carpet freshener or fly spray
any thing like that

 

[Miss M]

We smoke outside. No carpet freshner, we have wood floors. No cleaning fumes exposed in that room.

Miss M

 

[bluetrane2028]

Wal-mart is great for supplies (I set up my 5.5 and my 10 gal, almost entirely from there), but BAD for fish... every time I look at those poor little guys I think "Oh, so that's what it feels like to be bred with the same tender loving care that allows the Chinese to export children's toys with lead based paint." I would change fish suppliers, and maybe get a second tank for a hospital setup. 10 gallons is good enough for most applications and Wal-mart sells a complete with heater setup that works well over time. That way, even if you don't stop getting fish from Wal-mart, you can at least observe your new additions before adding them to the main tank.