Please help

[Laguppy6]

Forgive me for posting in the wrong forum earlier. I’m just finding my way around here.
Ok,

I’ve been at this for a long time, but I can’t seem to get it right. I’m losing guppies after a few weeks of buying them. One tank in particular, where I’m trying to acquire Albino Blues. Currently the ammonia is zero, nitrites are elevated to 0.5-1 nitrates are at 2 to 5 per seachem test kit. Just did water change yesterday, using prime & stress coat, plus added Quick Start. One isn’t eating, the other is swimming. I had about 11 of same guppies in this 30G tank. I just added aquarium salt, 1 tbs per 5 gallons, so I’m hoping this will help. All suggestions

 

[Deleted member 149562]

First of all, what is the history of this aquarium.....how long has it been running, is it fully cycled, what is the hardness and other water chemistry numbers?

Insofar as additives, there seems to be too much going into the water in one go.....Quick Start, salt, Prime and Stress Coat...a chemical cocktail that is likely to be doing more harm than good

 

[JuiceBox52]

Do a 50% water change ASAP

 

[itiwhetu]

Way to many chemicals going into your tank.

 

[Kyshiara]

Don't use the stress coat, I causes many fatalities.
Any other type of dechlorinator would be better, just not the Stress Coat!
Do a 50 - 75 % water change, then leave them.

Try feeding them peas.

I hope they are all alright!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you post in the wrong section, a moderator will move it to the correct area for you.

Can you post some pictures of the fish and tank?

How long has the tank been set up for?

What other fish are in the tank?


If you got guppies recently and they have been dying since you got them (or within a short time of getting them), and the water seems ok, they probably have a disease. Pictures will offer a lot of information and are worth posting asap.

--------------------
Double the amount of salt so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep salt in the tank for at least 2 weeks.

 

[Essjay]

Stress Coat and Prime are both water conditioners, you only need to use one of them. I would go for Prime as Stress Coat contains aloe vera which is not good for fish long term.
Quick Start is bottled bacteria, but not one of the better brands. If a tank is cycled, you don't need to add it. However the presence of nitrite does suggest the tank is not cycled, or something has happened to damage the bacteria colonies.
While Prime will detoxify both ammonia and nitrite for around 24 hours, water changes are the best way to deal with ammonia or nitrite in the water.

 

[Laguppy6]

Stress Coat and Prime are both water conditioners, you only need to use one of them. I would go for Prime as Stress Coat contains aloe vera which is not good for fish long term.
Quick Start is bottled bacteria, but not one of the better brands. If a tank is cycled, you don't need to add it. However the presence of nitrite does suggest the tank is not cycled, or something has happened to damage the bacteria colonies.
While Prime will detoxify both ammonia and nitrite for around 24 hours, water changes are the best way to deal with ammonia or nitrite in the water.

 

[Laguppy6]

The tank has been up around 9-10 years. I would think it’s cycled by this time, but I get spikes of ammonia now & then. I have been using stress coat for ages & never lost fish due to it. See now, I was told to use a lot of the water conditioners due to the ammonia. And they told me to add it into each clean bucket of water as I was refilling the tank after a water change. According to Prime, you can’t overdose. The hardness, I’m guessing you mean PH? is brackish; 7.8. I’m currently using individual tests as I find them better than the strips. As for doing a water change ASAP, why? I just did one on Fri. That would remove the salt, & prime evaporates after a few days. I’ve read up & asked so many people for advice, which doesn’t help, & I get so many conflicting answers that I get totally confused.

 

[Essjay]

I was told to use a lot of the water conditioners due to the ammonia

Some water conditioners detoxify ammonia temporarily, but not all do. Even the ones that do become 'undetoxified' after about 24 hours and should be used to keep the fish safe between daily water changes.
Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Stress Coat does not.

According to Prime, you can’t overdose

Despite what they say, yes you can. I can't find anything on their website which mentions overdosing. They say you can use 5 times the stated dose in an emergency, which they define as ammonia over 2 ppm.

The hardness, I’m guessing you mean PH? is brackish; 7.8

Hardness is GH not pH. It is a measure of the amount of calcium and magnesium in the water. Knowing the hardness is important as some fish need soft water, some need hard water while a few need somewhere in the middle.
Brackish water is between fresh and sea water. It has some salts but not as much as sea water.

As for doing a water change ASAP, why? I just did one on Fri. That would remove the salt, & prime evaporates after a few days.

Whenever there is ammonia or nitrite in the water, water changes are done to remove it. If salt is added to the water (which should be for a maximum of 4 weeks as a medication) during the water change salt is added to the new water at the amount to replace the salt which has been removed.
Prime is used to detoxify ammonia and nitrite between water changes. it is still important to do water changes to remove the ammonia and nitrite and use Prime at each water change to detoxify the ammonia made during the next 24 hours.

There are some people who believe that water changes are bad and will tell you to stop doing them. This is decades old thinking. We now know that water changes are a fish keepers best friend whenever there is anything toxic in the water, including ammonia and nitrite.

The tank has been up around 9-10 years. I would think it’s cycled by this time, but I get spikes of ammonia now & then.

This needs examining. A tank which has been running for this long should not have ammonia spikes. It suggests something is causing a die back of bacteria.
How often and how large are your routine water changes?
How do you maintain the filter? How often do you clean it, and do you wash the media or replace it?
Do the spikes occur after doing a particular thing? Or perhaps after adding new fish?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Some water conditioners detoxify ammonia temporarily, but not all do. Even the ones that do become 'undetoxified' after about 24 hours and should be used to keep the fish safe between daily water changes.
Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite. Stress Coat does not.


Despite what they say, yes you can. I can't find anything on their website which mentions overdosing. They say you can use 5 times the stated dose in an emergency, which they define as ammonia over 2 ppm.



Hardness is GH not pH. It is a measure of the amount of calcium and magnesium in the water. Knowing the hardness is important as some fish need soft water, some need hard water while a few need somewhere in the middle.
Brackish water is between fresh and sea water. It has some salts but not as much as sea water.



Whenever there is ammonia or nitrite in the water, water changes are done to remove it. If salt is added to the water (which should be for a maximum of 4 weeks as a medication) during the water change salt is added to the new water at the amount to replace the salt which has been removed.
Prime is used to detoxify ammonia and nitrite between water changes. it is still important to do water changes to remove the ammonia and nitrite and use Prime at each water change to detoxify the ammonia made during the next 24 hours.

There are some people who believe that water changes are bad and will tell you to stop doing them. This is decades old thinking. We now know that water changes are a fish keepers best friend whenever there is anything toxic in the water, including ammonia and nitrite.



This needs examining. A tank which has been running for this long should not have ammonia spikes. It suggests something is causing a die back of bacteria.
How often and how large are your routine water changes?
How do you maintain the filter? How often do you clean it, and do you wash the media or replace it?
Do the spikes occur after doing a particular thing? Or perhaps after adding new fish?

I second all that essjay has had to say

 

[Byron]

When there is an obvious problem with fish, there are three general possibilities. The fish may have something genetic/internal/disease, there may be something toxic in the water, or it may be under attack from other fish. Doing a major water change, even every day, is better than doing nothing, because much of the trouble is water-connected in one way or another. Diagnosing fish ailments is not easy, and most of us are lost except with a very few common issues (ich is one).

The fewer the chemicals entering the water, the better, always. Fish live in clean water, not chemical soups. If the additive is really necessary, fine, but never dose more than what is needed. Contrary to what any manufacturer says, all of these additives do impact fish to some degree and the fewer the better.

If nitrite is above zero, that is probably the problem or part of it. Ammonia and nitrite should always test zero. Ammonia may be minimal, this is too involved to explain now, let's get things fixed. But nitrite should never be above zero, so major water changes will without any question help dilute the nitrite which is certainly a benefit.

Essjay has posted, I agree with her.

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post some pictures of the fish so we can check them for disease?

 

[Laguppy6]

When there is an obvious problem with fish, there are three general possibilities. The fish may have something genetic/internal/disease, there may be something toxic in the water, or it may be under attack from other fish. Doing a major water change, even every day, is better than doing nothing, because much of the trouble is water-connected in one way or another. Diagnosing fish ailments is not easy, and most of us are lost except with a very few common issues (ich is one).

The fewer the chemicals entering the water, the better, always. Fish live in clean water, not chemical soups. If the additive is really necessary, fine, but never dose more than what is needed. Contrary to what any manufacturer says, all of these additives do impact fish to some degree and the fewer the better.

If nitrite is above zero, that is probably the problem or part of it. Ammonia and nitrite should always test zero. Ammonia may be minimal, this is too involved to explain now, let's get things fixed. But nitrite should never be above zero, so major water changes will without any question help dilute the nitrite which is certainly a benefit.

Essjay has posted, I agree with her.

I do water changes every week. I don’t recall where I’ve heard or read that prime can’t kill fish if overused. Ok so today is my water change day, & I’ve just added Double salt (counting what I put in yesterday) so now my next step would be to do a big water change, then add the salt that was removed?

 

[Laguppy6]

When there is an obvious problem with fish, there are three general possibilities. The fish may have something genetic/internal/disease, there may be something toxic in the water, or it may be under attack from other fish. Doing a major water change, even every day, is better than doing nothing, because much of the trouble is water-connected in one way or another. Diagnosing fish ailments is not easy, and most of us are lost except with a very few common issues (ich is one).

The fewer the chemicals entering the water, the better, always. Fish live in clean water, not chemical soups. If the additive is really necessary, fine, but never dose more than what is needed. Contrary to what any manufacturer says, all of these additives do impact fish to some degree and the fewer the better.

If nitrite is above zero, that is probably the problem or part of it. Ammonia and nitrite should always test zero. Ammonia may be minimal, this is too involved to explain now, let's get things fixed. But nitrite should never be above zero, so major water changes will without any question help dilute the nitrite which is certainly a benefit.

Essjay has posted, I agree with