Sick Guppies Please Help

[Sami9999]

I have a 55 gallon tank with guppies, danios, tetras and african dwarf frogs. My female guppies keep dying...only the females. They seem fine one moment and then they sit at the bottom of the tank and then within an hour are dead. I is only one guppy that dies and then 24 or so hours later another. They are all eating fine and have no trouble swimming. I have called multiple fish specialty store and a few vets...they are baffled. No one I have talked to knows why only my females are dying. The female who died last night her tail rotted in about twenty minuets...no signs of any fin rot in any other fish. I noticed a small frayed area and immediately moved her to the hospital tank. It was like her tall just melted...I watched as it melted over the next 15 min till there was nothing left...I felt so helpless.

I test my water with an API master test kit and the ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrates range from 0 to 5. I did a 60% water change last night and have been doing 30% daily.

If anyone has any ideas please please let me know. I am so worried about my fish and feel so helpless. Thank you all in advance for your time and knowledge.

Update: I have noticed that all of their gill are red and look a bit irritated. They do not seem inflamed and their breathing appears to be normal.

Will a bacterial infection cause gill irritation? Maybe gill flukes? I really hope I can do something to save my fish.

 

[Sami9999]

I got some antibiotics...vet suggested I try them and see if they helped. All fish seem okay today and no more tail rot. Gills are still super red though.

 

[jibbit81]

try salt. It cleared a fatal disease that i used to have. (it did not match any desription)

 

[Sami9999]

try salt. It cleared a fatal disease that i used to have. (it did not match any desription)

Thanks. I added salt four days ago and top off with water changes.

 

[Sami9999]

I started antibiotics two days ago and have two days left. I took my filter media out and put it in a bucket of tank water so my bacteria would not be killed. Now the ammonia levels in my tank are spiking to just under .25. Will a water change mess up the antibiotics or am I better off getting an ammonia blocker? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[fluffycabbage]

I started antibiotics two days ago and have two days left. I took my filter media out and put it in a bucket of tank water so my bacteria would not be killed. Now the ammonia levels in my tank are spiking to just under .25. Will a water change mess up the antibiotics or am I better off getting an ammonia blocker? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Why did you take your filter media out? You should only remove carbon when giving medication (it absorbs the meds), but nothing else. Is there any filtration at all? You need to get it back in, before any permanent damage is caused x

 

[Sami9999]

I started antibiotics two days ago and have two days left. I took my filter media out and put it in a bucket of tank water so my bacteria would not be killed. Now the ammonia levels in my tank are spiking to just under .25. Will a water change mess up the antibiotics or am I better off getting an ammonia blocker? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Why did you take your filter media out? You should only remove carbon when giving medication (it absorbs the meds), but nothing else. Is there any filtration at all? You need to get it back in, before any permanent damage is caused x

Carbon is built into the media. Had no choice but to take it all out or leave the carbon in. The filter is running with the bio wheels still in.

 

[achase]

Wouldn't antibiotics be considered medication that could possibly be absorbed by the carbon?
I have a similar filter on my tanks where the filter media contains the carbon.

 

[Sami9999]

Wouldn't antibiotics be considered medication that could possibly be absorbed by the carbon?
I have a similar filter on my tanks where the filter media contains the carbon.

That is why I took my media out. I left the bio wheels in because they have no carbon in them. The medication label says to take all carbon out before medicating the tank so that is what I did.

 

[fluffycabbage]

Exactly right. Im still learning about fishkeeping - what are the bio wheels?

 

[Sami9999]

I have a Marineland Filter and it has two wheels for collection of bacteria. It is for extra biological filtration if I am not mistaken.

 

[fluffycabbage]

I have a Marineland Filter and it has two wheels for collection of bacteria. It is for extra biological filtration if I am not mistaken.

ah ok, so there is a small amount of filtration going on, but maybe not enough.
hopefully someone will read this topic shortly and give u some good advice x

 

[Sami9999]

I am sorry to keep bugging everyone but I am really not sure what to think. Basic recap is that I was losing female guppies...I lost around 10 in a week. My ammonia and nitrite readings have been 0 until yesterday (ammonia spiked to just under .25) and nitrates have never gone above 5ppm. My guppies have shown a number of symptoms:
*red gills
*two had tail rot (tails were fine and then gone within 15 min)
*two had white patches (kind of looked a bit like mold) on their bodies near their tails.
*the rest seemed fine and then sat on the bottom of the tank for less than an hour and died.
Under the advice of a vet I started them all on a broad spectrum antibiotic..I am on day three of a four day course. They seem to be doing better and I have not lost a fish in 24 hours, however, now one of my males has a white patch similar to the ones the females had. I am really confused...I am not sure if I am dealing with multiple problems or if maybe for some reason my water test results are wrong. I am using an API master test kit...it is not expired and I follow all of the directions to a tee. I have a 10 gallon hospital tank set up and the moment I notice any symptoms I remove that fish from the main tank. The only fish in the tank affected are the guppies. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated. I will also post this in the Emergency forum.

 

[WILDER]

Lost any fish to being really skinny.
Lost any fish to bent spines.
What does it look like when your fish go to the toilet.
Do any fish swim in an odd manor, or jerky movement.
Check the anus of the fish to see if it's enlarged or red and inflamed.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Any red streaking or sores on the fish body.

Also make sure there no black colouration on the fish body, or the iris of the eye is not black.

 

[Sami9999]

Lost any fish to being really skinny.
Lost any fish to bent spines.
What does it look like when your fish go to the toilet.
Do any fish swim in an odd manor, or jerky movement.
Check the anus of the fish to see if it's enlarged or red and inflamed.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Any red streaking or sores on the fish body.

Also make sure there no black colouration on the fish body, or the iris of the eye is not black.

None of the fish were real skinny. They are all eating well. No fish with bent spines either. t looks normal to me. Some of the fish just sat at the bottom prior to dying but other than that no odd swimming. A few of them started flicking right after I put the meds in but stopped within 20 min. No sores on the fish just the fuzzy white patch. I have not noticed any red streaking. Gills were red but not inflamed. No black colorations on body and a few of the guppies have all black eyes.