Another dead Guppy

[Nemo2182]

Bitter sweet day today...Ive just added a beautiful cobra tail to replace my deceased guppy chase. I put him in yesterday and he seemed to fit straight in. But the bad news is one of my other guppies Eric was found dead among the java fern. I have no explanation. He was healthy looking, chasing around this morning with the new fish, doing his display thing and looked fine. My wife asked me in afternoon if Id seen him and I just said he was probably off hiding in the cave as they all do from time to time. But when he didnt come out for dinner I was concerned. I finally found him wedged in the java fern. This leads me to question "Do fish ever get stuck"? He wasnt pushed in there by current, he was fairly wedged in there and been there a while because the Shrimp had already started eating him (circle of life). I have removed him which again was not simple, so im convinced he got into some difficulties?? Has anyone else experienced this? I once had to rescue my blue guppy because he got trapped in a pocket in the leaves. Now im worried its a death trap, as they always go in it picking up flakes that have been missed....

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Fish can get stuck, but usually in something man-made like a cave that's too small, or between a background and the tank wall. It can happen with a plant, @NCaquatics recently saved a tiny fry that had somehow caught itself on a piece of staghorn algae, and she had to untangle him. But that's super rare and a freak occurrence. Plants are not generally "death traps". If you're really worried, you could remove the java fern since it does have those tangles of roots, and replace them with something with long straight leaves. Amazon swords, cryptocorynes and vallisenaria are examples of plants like that, would be very hard to imagine any fish getting caught in those.

But much more likely is that your fish were struggling with something else, like the water parameters, and went into there to hide, and died. Fish that have ammonia burns, nitrate poisoning, or are fighting off an illness tend to either go to the surface and gasp, and are known for hanging around filters when they do this - or they tend to go low and sit on the gravel, or wedge themselves into a plant or under a piece of driftwood. Most other fish will peck at and bully a fish that is sick or weak, even generally peaceable ones. Have seen guppies and platies be merciless to a sick fish, which is why I move a fish that's struggling into quarantine. So the hiding instinct makes sense.

What are your water test results? It's far more likely that you're experiencing an ammonia spike or high nitrates, and that is what killed the guppies, not the plant. I am sorry for your losses though, lets just rule out the most common causes,, before blaming the plant

 

[Nemo2182]

No today was the best water results ive had. A - 0 / Ni - 0 / Na - 5. Ive also been playing with tap to RO ratio, and finally got to 200ppm on the GH side. And last guppy was bullied, looked sick etc. Tell tell sign is they go away from the group, but no this one. He has been fine and was probably the dominant fish. He was one of the more adventurous fish when it came to going in the plants, hence the blame on Java. I dont want to get rid as its the 'shrimp hotel' and so easy to keep. I also love the fact I can have it floating from the substrate, so gives the cories a little rat run

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

No today was the best water results ive had. A - 0 / Ni - 0 / Na - 5. Ive also been playing with tap to RO ratio, and finally got to 200ppm on the GH side. And last guppy was bullied, looked sick etc. Tell tell sign is they go away from the group, but no this one. He has been fine and was probably the dominant fish. He was one of the more adventurous fish when it came to going in the plants, hence the blame on Java. I dont want to get rid as its the 'shrimp hotel' and so easy to keep. I also love the fact I can have it floating from the substrate, so gives the cories a little rat run

I'd love to see your tank, it sounds lovely! Not sure what's going on then, but it's unlikely that the java fern is the murderer

 

[Nemo2182]

I'd love to see your tank, it sounds lovely! Not sure what's going on then, but it's unlikely that the java fern is the murderer

I showed you it the other day....remember

 

[Nemo2182]

https://www.fishforums.net/threads/is-this-fin-rot.461843/

Page 3 I think

 

[CassCats]

I think its more likely he died and the shrimp pulled his body under the plant to eat in peace

 

[AilyNC]

@Nemo2182 sorry about your guppies.

@AdoraBelle Dearheart when you say "between a background and the tank wall" do you mean those fake aquarium backgrounds are supposed to go IN the tank?! I thought you stick them to the back of the tank but externally.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I showed you it the other day....remember

Whoops! I'm sorry, I'm not good at remembering which forum name belongs to which tank, and it's just gone midnight so my brain has turned into a pumpkin I'm afraid. I remember now, I loved the tank and the table, super stylish!

@Nemo2182 sorry about your guppies.

@AdoraBelle Dearheart when you say "between a background and the tank wall" do you mean those fake aquarium backgrounds are supposed to go IN the tank?! I thought you stick them to the back of the tank but externally.

Most backgrounds are 2D and stick to the outside of the back of the tank, but you can also get or make 3D backgrounds that are fitted to the inside of the back pane A lot of people like them since they're 3D, they look more real, and you can get some really cool looking ones, or design and make your own. But, they have to be carefully siliconed in without any gaps, because any tiny gap means a fish will go back there and get stuck.


A fish youtuber, the king of DIY, couldn't find one of his stingrays once. He shared his security cam footage and made a video about him finding the thing between his 3D background and the tank wall. Fortunately since it's a flat fish already, the stingray was fine. But the dude had to pull his 2000 gallon tank apart to remove the background he'd drilled in in order to rescue the sneaky little dude.

 

[Avishu]

Thanks for sharing.
2 line shayari

 

[Nemo2182]

Whoops! I'm sorry, I'm not good at remembering which forum name belongs to which tank, and it's just gone midnight so my brain has turned into a pumpkin I'm afraid. I remember now, I loved the tank and the table, super stylish!

Most backgrounds are 2D and stick to the outside of the back of the tank, but you can also get or make 3D backgrounds that are fitted to the inside of the back pane A lot of people like them since they're 3D, they look more real, and you can get some really cool looking ones, or design and make your own. But, they have to be carefully siliconed in without any gaps, because any tiny gap means a fish will go back there and get stuck.


A fish youtuber, the king of DIY, couldn't find one of his stingrays once. He shared his security cam footage and made a video about him finding the thing between his 3D background and the tank wall. Fortunately since it's a flat fish already, the stingray was fine. But the dude had to pull his 2000 gallon tank apart to remove the background he'd drilled in in order to rescue the sneaky little dude.

This was the little rat run I was talking about...Corys have ability to get around full tank for maximum bott9m space