Guppies with clamped fins

[iheartjeffrey]

So my guppies have been dying one by one. But it's like two weeks between deaths. I've had this setup for about a year so no idea what's gone wrong.

Their fins become clamped and they just sort of shimmy. I also noticed that the they start to seem rather thin at the belly once they start to get worse. And not to mention my shrimp are dying one by one? I have rummy nose tetras as well and they seem totally fine, none of them have died or been affected.

I checked water parameters and they are : pH is 7.6. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0??

I'm so confused! It's heavily planted and always has been. Anacharis, water Spangles, dwarf water lettuce, ludwigia. 3 tetras, There were 4 guppies, now only two. And shrimp. It's a 5 gallon tank which I know is considered heavily stocked but this is the first time these deaths have happened in this tank?

 

[Colin_T]

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video of the fish?
If the images are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit. Make sure you turn the resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube.

---------------------------
What is the nitrate level?

What is the GH (general hardness) of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you use a gravel cleaner when you do water changes?
Are you dechlorinating the water before adding it to the tank?

---------------------------
Clamped fins is usually poor water quality or a bacterial or protozoan infection.

Shimmying is usually poor water quality and low GH.
Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies) need a GH around 200ppm (250ppm for mollies), and a pH above 7.0. Your pH is fine but your GH could be too low.

---------------------------
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that.

 

[iheartjeffrey]

Any chance of a picture and short 20 second video of the fish?
If the images are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit. Make sure you turn the resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube.

---------------------------
What is the nitrate level?

What is the GH (general hardness) of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you use a gravel cleaner when you do water changes?
Are you dechlorinating the water before adding it to the tank?

---------------------------
Clamped fins is usually poor water quality or a bacterial or protozoan infection.

Shimmying is usually poor water quality and low GH.
Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies) need a GH around 200ppm (250ppm for mollies), and a pH above 7.0. Your pH is fine but your GH could be too low.

---------------------------
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that.

So I had my husband get some test syrips. We tested our tap water and he said it was a level 3? On the bottle which would be 50 ppm? I'm new to this so totally lost lol.

He tested the tap while using the Brita filter and it was a 1. So 17ppm? Is this something I could easily remedy with a huge water change which using water from the Brita filter?

I'm going to try to post photos of the test strip and the guppy.

 

[iheartjeffrey]

Ok so she's starting to hunch over now. And still shimmying and struggling. Ignore her eye, she's always looked that way we got her from Petco so maybe genetics or an injury not sure.

This is the test strip bottle and what it says. So we got 3 with tap and 1 with the tap but with the Brita filter.

 

[iheartjeffrey]

Sorry just realized I read it wrong. Could it be the hardness is too low or too high? How do I correct this?

I'm new to understanding the water chemistry really. I never had an issue before. But I realized once we moved to our new home our fish started to really die off randomly.

I want to make sure all the tank inhabitants survive though. We have shrimp as well as a nerite snail and my tummy nose tetras.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish looks like it has a couple of white spots on its tail. Is this correct?
If it is, then the fish appears to have whitespot.

The easiest way to treat whitespot is to increase the temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the tank before raising the temperature. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen in the water.

You can add some salt too, as directed in post #2.

--------------------------
The test result that is CaCO3 is the general hardness.

I have no idea what the other tests are for.

You can increase the GH by adding a Rift Lake water conditioner for African cichlids. However, the clamped fins/ protozoan infection should be dealt with first. Salt and temperature should fix these.

 

[iheartjeffrey]

The fish looks like it has a couple of white spots on its tail. Is this correct?
If it is, then the fish appears to have whitespot.

The easiest way to treat whitespot is to increase the temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the tank before raising the temperature. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen in the water.

You can add some salt too, as directed in post #2.

--------------------------
The test result that is CaCO3 is the general hardness.

I have no idea what the other tests are for.

You can increase the GH by adding a Rift Lake water conditioner for African cichlids. However, the clamped fins/ protozoan infection should be dealt with first. Salt and temperature should fix these.

Is there something I could find at local store similar to the Rift Lake conditioner?

I'm not sure about the spots I don't see anything significant in person. I just notice they start to get pale and the color fades before they die. So I'm afraid I might lose this one too. But I'll try the temp and salt thing as well .

 

[Colin_T]

Rift Lake water conditioner is sold by most pet shops.

If there are no white spots on the guppy then just add salt to the tank. use the direction in post #2.

 

[iheartjeffrey]

Rift Lake water conditioner is sold by most pet shops.

If there are no white spots on the guppy then just add salt to the tank. use the direction in post #2.

Thank you so much for all the help!!

One last question... Will the other tank inhabitants be okay with raising the hardness?

 

[Colin_T]

The tetras won't like the GH above 150ppm but the guppies need something around 200ppm. You can try getting the GH to about 150ppm and see if it helps the guppies. But for long term health, the guppies should be kept in hard water and the tetras kept in soft water.