Hey guys,
I am in urgent need of any idea or insights as to what might be going on with my guppies. I will try to give as much information as possible.
The tank is a freshwater 15 gal with live plants and co2 injection, 7 hours of light per day. I have had the tank and the fish in it for a while i think almost an year now. 6 rasboras, 8 neon tetras, 4 guppies - 2 male 2 female. No deaths have occurred in this tank before.
I rescaped the tank 20 days ago because i wanted to add a substrate beneath the gravel. I used a fish safe soil from a reputable company (doesn't release ammonia and phosphates) for the substrate layer and capped it with black quartz. I put the substrate in gauze bags which I made myself to make sure it does not mix with the quartz when vacuming. The gauze does not have any additives, its just a cloth. I have been using the black quartz for months before without any issues, used the same just more. Everything was fine for the first week or so and then my black male guppie started swimming with its back slightly arched downward and its tail started to split. I looked arround the internet and didn't find much information on why this could be. Someone mentioned that some male guppies are bred to have really big tails, which he had and they were just heavy once grown up so I assumed that everything is fine because he was eating and was not lethargic. He was also sometimes hiding because the neon tetras were being aggresive towards him sometimes but nothing serious. I was monitoring him closely and he was eating every day. I started feeding them a little bit more because I noticed there was no aggression when they were well fed. I feed once a day not too much not too little. He was like this for a week and then one morning he was laying on the bottom. I moved him to my other tank (I know stupid of me) where I keep some baby guppies so he can have peace from the other fish. The water and temp is similar if not the same there. Next morning he was sadly dead. I didn't see any symptoms or anything such as white dots, fungus, etc and he was eating every day before the day he died.
A few days later one of the female guppies started swimming with its tail slightly arched downward and wobbling a little like it has some swim bladder issues, again eating every day. There was no bullying towards her at all. She was like this for 1-2 days and yesterday I found her laying on the bottom barely moving around. I isolated her in a net - still in the same aquarium just so other fish don't rub on her and don't start bullying her. She was getting worse and it was late in the evening so I decided to try something to help her out if possible at all because she didn't look good at all - barely moving laying on her side,etc. I gave her a 5 min bath in 3% salt solution. Sadly this morning she was also dead. There seems to be something affecting the guppies in this tank and I cannot figure out what is going on as there are no symptoms other than a slightly arched back and wobbly swimming in the female guppie which I am not even sure was present with the male.
I preserved the filter media when rescaping, kept it wet and I monitor closely for ammonia, etc which is not present. Water PH fluctuates slightly during the day because of the Co2 but its arround 7. Nitrates are almost non existent. Gh is 4-5 and Kh is 5-6. I keep the water temp at 75 and sometimes it goes up to 77-78 because its quite warm where I live.
Please if anyone has any clue what might be going on let me know as I am worried that whatever is going on might spread to the other fish as well.
I am in urgent need of any idea or insights as to what might be going on with my guppies. I will try to give as much information as possible.
The tank is a freshwater 15 gal with live plants and co2 injection, 7 hours of light per day. I have had the tank and the fish in it for a while i think almost an year now. 6 rasboras, 8 neon tetras, 4 guppies - 2 male 2 female. No deaths have occurred in this tank before.
I rescaped the tank 20 days ago because i wanted to add a substrate beneath the gravel. I used a fish safe soil from a reputable company (doesn't release ammonia and phosphates) for the substrate layer and capped it with black quartz. I put the substrate in gauze bags which I made myself to make sure it does not mix with the quartz when vacuming. The gauze does not have any additives, its just a cloth. I have been using the black quartz for months before without any issues, used the same just more. Everything was fine for the first week or so and then my black male guppie started swimming with its back slightly arched downward and its tail started to split. I looked arround the internet and didn't find much information on why this could be. Someone mentioned that some male guppies are bred to have really big tails, which he had and they were just heavy once grown up so I assumed that everything is fine because he was eating and was not lethargic. He was also sometimes hiding because the neon tetras were being aggresive towards him sometimes but nothing serious. I was monitoring him closely and he was eating every day. I started feeding them a little bit more because I noticed there was no aggression when they were well fed. I feed once a day not too much not too little. He was like this for a week and then one morning he was laying on the bottom. I moved him to my other tank (I know stupid of me) where I keep some baby guppies so he can have peace from the other fish. The water and temp is similar if not the same there. Next morning he was sadly dead. I didn't see any symptoms or anything such as white dots, fungus, etc and he was eating every day before the day he died.
A few days later one of the female guppies started swimming with its tail slightly arched downward and wobbling a little like it has some swim bladder issues, again eating every day. There was no bullying towards her at all. She was like this for 1-2 days and yesterday I found her laying on the bottom barely moving around. I isolated her in a net - still in the same aquarium just so other fish don't rub on her and don't start bullying her. She was getting worse and it was late in the evening so I decided to try something to help her out if possible at all because she didn't look good at all - barely moving laying on her side,etc. I gave her a 5 min bath in 3% salt solution. Sadly this morning she was also dead. There seems to be something affecting the guppies in this tank and I cannot figure out what is going on as there are no symptoms other than a slightly arched back and wobbly swimming in the female guppie which I am not even sure was present with the male.
I preserved the filter media when rescaping, kept it wet and I monitor closely for ammonia, etc which is not present. Water PH fluctuates slightly during the day because of the Co2 but its arround 7. Nitrates are almost non existent. Gh is 4-5 and Kh is 5-6. I keep the water temp at 75 and sometimes it goes up to 77-78 because its quite warm where I live.
Please if anyone has any clue what might be going on let me know as I am worried that whatever is going on might spread to the other fish as well.
