What Happened To My Guppy?!?

[guppy2002]

i went on vacation for a week and left my neighbor in charge of all of my pets. when i came back, one of my female guppies was dead. there was only three guppies in that tank.(5gal). i was only holding them there while i cleaned out there other tank. why did she die? did i do something wrong, or did my neighbor accidentally kill her?

 

[ncguppy830]

did you cycle this tank?
whats the water readings?
did your neighbor clean the tank?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

How old was the Guppy?
What were the tank conditions like? (Was it cycled, ammonia and nitrite readings).
Did your Guppy have anything visible on her skin? Was she pregnant?
 
How did your neighbor care for your Guppies?
How much did s/he feed and did s/he clean the tank out? If s/he did clean the tank, how?

 

[dgwebster]

As you can see, there are a large number of parameters that need answered to even get started here.

At the risk of sounding like a total a-hole, you will never find this out for sure without a necropsy being performed.

Here are some possible answers:

Cancer.
Organ failure.
Blood poisoning.
Fight injuries.
Accident injuries.
The reverse of drowning. Airing?
Pregnancy complications.

You can start eliminating these, eg no visible injuries, to reduce the set of answers, then get into more specific questions e.g. if no injuries, is there any signs of disease such as growths, fungus, bloating/swelling. You can then use these to create another list of possible answers and start eliminating these if you want to get to a more specific answer. As I say though, without a necropsy its impossible to be sure. These are also expensive and the fish has probably been dead too long now to do one.

Ultimately, the fish is a casualty of the hobby and what you can do best is:

1) check your water stats.
2) do a large (50% minimum) water change (more if your stats are all over the place).
3) monitor your other fish regularly (2 times a day) for changes. Keep a small journal detailing your observations, makes it easier to make comparisons.

 

[Bettabuddy664]

Does your neighbor know how to take care of fish? If not, she might have accidentally killed your little guppy, if not, it might have dies of old age as well. (Don't know how old the guppy is.) 

 

[PrairieSunflower]

If you left your guppies in a 5 gallon tank for a week for your neighbor to care for while you cleaned the other tank.... then was the 5 gallon cycled?  Also the 5 gallon might have been too small and the ammonia built up.

 

[guppy2002]

the three guppies were living in that tank fine. i had just gotten my newest guppy a few weeks ago.then she died.she didnt look sick or anything.

 

[Megalodon]

maybe she was stressed moving into a new tank.

 

[ncguppy830]

welol ill have to ask what was the ratio of male to female.

 

[the_lock_man]

Guppy2002, if you answer the questions that people have asked you, it would help so much.

 

[guppy2002]

there was 2 females and one male. the male only chased the female who died. the other female would nip and chase him when he got close.she still does. the tank didnt have a filter for that week, and that week only. i have read that guppies do fine without a filter as long as there is constant water changes.