New To The Group

[littlebabyfilly]

Hi all, i have been lurking here for about a week, soaking up everything i can about Guppies...i recently aquired a bunch for free...and am trying to figure things out... i got them on friday of last week and on sunday i had babies...i really wasnt prepared for that, but i got eight of them in a breeder net right now...and then i had another pregnant female give birth yesterday to 64 dead babies, that was kinda disappointing, but im thinkin it must be the stress,...my water levels are normal. I did lose a female this morning...woke up and she was dead, thats what prompted the early testing...oh its a 20 gal tank with a heater and a 30 gal filter on it...ill post some pics of it, once this thing decides to let me post pics...

 

[theotheragentm]

1. What are your water stats?
2. What is the temperature setting on the heater?
3. How long have you had the fish? How have you acclimated them?
4. Have you done water changes?
5. When you had the 64 dead babies, did you have the mother in a breeder net or in the main tank? Breeder nets cause stress and can cause mothers to abort fry. My suggestion is not to use them.

We need more information to judge what is going on here as we don't want you to lose anymore fish.

 

[littlebabyfilly]

hi and thanks for your reply

1. Amonia-0
nitrite-.20
nitrate-.50
pH-7.8
2. temp fluxuates between 78 and 80...i dont have a digital...just one of those stick ons that you stick on the side of your tank.and i have it on the farthest side of the tank away from the heater
3. i have had the fish since Last friday (Aug 31), as i said i was given them, im sure they got stressed out...they had to sit in a bucket for two hours with an air pump in the water as i had a family emergency and the fish had to wait.
4.i just did a 25 to30% water change yesterday...this is a new tank...
5. yes mom was in a breeder, it was the two sectioned one...i put her directly in there when i put them in the tank, and i had her and one other one in there, because they both are very pregnant (shes still quite large) then i read that the breeder stresses them out, and since i didnt thing that my other would drop for about another week i took the divider out of the breeder and let the other back in with the rest of the guppies...that gave her the whole breeder and within the hour she started...99% of the babies were not formed all the way, and some looked like just eyes. she dropped 64 of them, but shes still quite large, and looks like maybe shes still pregnant, but i gave her a day and let her back in with the rest of them...she seems to be doing fine...

the female that died, was one that my bpyfriend thought was pretty at the petsmart...shes one of three that were bought...so im thinkin she was sick when we got her...the rest came from an ad in the paper for free guppies...and i had been wanting some for a while. yes i know your sposed to set up a tank for a while before you put fish in it...but i didnt expect to get the fish...in fact i had the fish 20 mins before i had the tank,and i have a feeling im gonna get yelled at for that, but i didnt mean to do it that way. i take good care of my fish, and am learning everything i can...im in the proccess of finding another tank so that when i have a prego female i can just put her in that tank instead of a breeder...but we are getting ready to move and my boyfriend is already upset with me that i spent that much money on a tank...

oh yeah...its a 20 gallon tank, with an Aqua Clear bio filter (for a 30 gallon aquarium)i have a large airstone putting a blanket of bubbles in the back, and i have live plants, with a couple ghost shrimp and a rubber lip Pleco...i am not sure how many fish there are because they wont hold still long enough for me to count them...there are quite a few babies that are about a month old....and as i said in an earlier post...three days after i got them i had 10 babies...though i couldnt find two...and i ended up getting two from the pet store when i got my ghost shrimp...but i have a feeling those two are mollies...they are all yellow...but the babies are in a breeder net doing well...i have floated a couple plants in it...and am feeding them freeze dried brine shrimp and crushed flakes three to four times a day...depending on what they eat...i clean out what they dont eat.

So as far as i can tell im doing everything right, if im not, please tell me...im still learning and i can admit that ill make mistakes. i cant wait to get to know everyone here, as i have been having fun reading the posts for the last week or so. Thanks ahead of time, and if yolu ever want guppies let me know lol...im gonna have tons of them...

 

[littlebabyfilly]

So i woke up this morning and i had two more dead fish... i wish i knew what i was doing wrong...will be testing water again today...

 

[theotheragentm]

Nitrites should be at 0. Do another partial water change of about 25%. Is your filter mature? It might be that you just have a whole lot of bioload with new fish that your bacteria aren't up to handling at this point. You may have missed the ammonia, and you're seeing nitrites now. Keep up with water changes, once a day until you see the nitrites come down and stay down. Just try your best to match temperature when adding new water.

 

[littlebabyfilly]

Ok so i did the 1/4th water change...i tested before i did it, and my water all measured the same except my amonia was up .25...will keep doing daily water changes as you suggested...i didnt know i was supposed to be doing water changes...also i use AmQuel plus and Top Fin Bacteria Supplement in my tanks, i have had good results with these and am wondering what others think about it... Its really weird that these fish keep dyin, because you would think if it was the water, the babies woudl be the first to go. all ten are still active and seemingly healthy...though i have noticed a few of my adults and juvenile guppies scratching themselves on the rocks...i have read where this might indicate parasites? i wish i knew how many guppies i had, but they wont stay still long enough fro me to count them, lol...anyways...this is still all very new to me...and i forgot, no the filter is still cycling, its a brand new filter... oh and if anyone wants to chat about fish...im on yahoo messenger...id love to chat. my screen name is littlebabyfilly, feel free to message me...

 

[theotheragentm]

Ammonia and nitrites should be at 0 levels. Nitrates are best kept under 40 PPM, but I try to hover them around 20 PPM. Testing when you first get started with a tank will help you figure out how often you need to do water changes. The bioload cycle goes like this.

Ammonia -> Nitrites -> Nitrates

Bacteria consume ammonia and convert it to nitrites. Then bacteria consumes nitrites and turn them to nitrates. Nitrates are generally removed with regular water changes. That is why cycling a tank is so important. It allows for the filter to have bacteria built up. Sometimes adding too many new fish at once can cause a spike in the bioload that the bacteria can't keep up with right away.

On a side note, all levels of the bioload cycle are handled by plants, but that's a whole other topic. Quickly, simple to care for plants can help out with the load. Duckweed floats on top and requires little maintenance. Java Moss and Java Fern require little care as well.

 

[littlebabyfilly]

Thank you so much for your explanation, it all makes sense now...i do have live plants in my tank...i have a bunch of frill, something else (it has grown like 10" in a week!) and a minute amount of duckweed which im hoping will grow...i want some java moss, but none of the stores around here carry it, and the place i was gonna get it through fell through, so im looking again (wink wink, nudge nudge if u have it let me know ) i really want an all natural tank...is it ok to use sand? i have gravel right now...but would like sand if its not too much more work... and im wondering about the light...does that exasperate things? i like it on at night, is that a bad thing? and snails...they are good right? i guess a bunch of the plants have some on them so i have a few of them slinking around my tank...the ghost shrimp are doing a fairly good job at cleaning up the mess...i think one of my juvies died, cuz i cant find her anywhere...i think they got to her before i did... and im mad at my LFS store right now...i was looking at the reciept cuz of the couple that died...they are guaranteed...so i was looking at the reciept...they charged me three times for one fish...but i called them and they are gonna refund me for them and the dead one...i dont understand why no one has java moss around here? having plants in my tank is there anything special i need to do? ive had them in my gold fish tank forever, but they never last long enough for me to know...they eat them...lol

 

[theotheragentm]

Sand is fine. Where are you located? I've never checked these user forums, but I've seen barter/trade forums in other online groups. I actually just received a ton of Java Moss. It was probably enough to fill up a 5 gallon tank. I'm using it for my Dwarf Crayfish.

 

[littlebabyfilly]

Sand is fine. Where are you located? I've never checked these user forums, but I've seen barter/trade forums in other online groups. I actually just received a ton of Java Moss. It was probably enough to fill up a 5 gallon tank. I'm using it for my Dwarf Crayfish.

Im located in Lacrosse Wisconsin, but if you can spare a little, ill pay for it... i had two more dead fish again today. in my temp keeps fluxuating...they are ALL scratching on the rocks so i have been slowly raising the temperature, but it is set on 87 and tthe temp is only 84 where as yesterday it was at 86..is that much of a difference going to help? or should i turn it up some more? and when i do that do i need to add more salt? if so how much? my babies are still thriving...there is a shrimp that got in the breeder, but hes cleaned it up quite nicely so im keeping him in there for now...ill be testing the water when i get up again...i just got up to get my son to school...im going back to sleep for about an hour, im sick...i dont feel good...thank you for your help

 

[littlebabyfilly]

ok so i woke up this morning to a cloudy tank. no dead fish although two of my babies are missing, so im thinkinmg they died and the shrimp ate them...im so confused...will be doing a water change asap. my levels went down yesterday so im hoping they went down a bit again to day...

 

[theotheragentm]

Cloudy water is a bacteria bloom most likely. Continue with water changes daily until levels come down.

 

[littlebabyfilly]

ok so tests today were all the same as yesterday except the nitrites were inbetween 0 and .25 and yesterday they were .25...so not a lot of change, but it looks like we are getting somewhere. I had another dead fish today...he was labored earlier and i just went and checked on them and he was dead...so im having issues with my heater i think...cuz my temp has been stuck at 84 degrees for two days now, whether i turn it up or down...so i may have to return it and get another... i got a bunch of duckweed...so i put that in there...i guess one of my females was eating it cuz she was crapping green, it was funny i have never seen that before... i have one female ready to drop any day now, and another close behind her...oh and im only missing one baby...i miss counted this morning

 

[LRPRESTO]

Cloudy water is a bacteria bloom most likely. Continue with water changes daily until levels come down.

Couldn't cloudy water just be new tank syndrom? Is it green tinted cloudy water or just cloudy? If it is just cloudy it could be just new tank syndrom and will clear up in about a month or so on its own.

 

[Damage]

87 Fahrenheit? I would consider that too much for guppies. I think the highest you should have it at is 82 with 76/78 being ideal.
Are you using aged tap water or dechlorinating/conditioning the tap water before putting it inside the tank?