Cause Of Guppy's Sudden Death?

[DelightfulDani17]

Our fish Cleopatra, a guppy passed away last night. I wasn't there to see the whole thing since I was resting and trying to recoop from an illness. But my parents called for me and had me rush in to see her. She was swimming very fast and then would stop and jerk around the tank. Her body would tilt and nearly flip over. I knew there was no hope for her but I did the best I could by taking her out and moving her quickly to her own little spot. I didn't exactly have any proper meds for guppys but i did what I could to get her out before the other fish in the tank attacked her.

So I honestly don't know what happened. But here are some facts before her death:
-Tank was in the process of a routine water change. Water temperature is as close to the tank temperature as possible to avoid stress.
-It was a community tank. Too many fish, well just a big old goldfish and a few little guys but they all got along for the last 6+ months.
-She was completely fine an hour before. No physical signs of anything. Normal behavior, friendly as always.
-Tank went through a major cleaning two weeks before. All fish were fine, which was a bit shocking since the tank was pretty gross from the gravel.
-It's kept out of sunlight. The water is fine.

Really the only thing I'm worried about is the other guppy Marc Antony. they slept together, chased each other around, etc. He looks really depressed and is just starting to eat a little again.

Any ideas. Sorry for the long post. I just really liked this fish. And I did move out the big goldfish to a new home. I'm thinking heart attack or just nature. It was sad to watch her die...

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Dani. I am sorry to hear of your loss.
What do you have left in that tank and how big is it? How do you go about doing a cleaning and water change? How often do you do a water change? Has anything been going on in your community lately that would have affected the water supply or the water mains?
These are just questions to get you thinking about what might be involved if it turns out to have been a water problem. Another whole set of other questions would be appropriate if you had any recent plant or fish additions to the tank.

 

[AngelOfDeath]

I dont think you need to be conducting post-morterms and drawing chalk lines - Guppy's are cheap, common, and inter-bred so much that they very often die unexpectidly, probably merely internally weak

 

[OldMan47]

Sorry AOD but the remaining fish are a concern and the questions are intended to start getting to the answer of avoiding the next loss. I don't treat my fish as disposable decorations where only the cost to replace them matters.

 

[HCpetraitis]

IMO it could have been swim bladder. It kinda sounds like that by all the jerking and stopping. Did she twirl around like a corkscrew too?

 

[Truck]

do you add salt?

 

[DelightfulDani17]

It's a 10 gallon tank. Water change at least once a week. It has just been scrubbed out with rocks and plants cleaned well. No I haven't added any salt. All the fish were stable and quite happy until her sudden death.

The remaining fish are 3 tiny tetras, 2 little mollies, one lonely depressed male guppy and a black moor. There's plenty of room now after we removed the huge goldfish that also was in there. He took up too much room and was creating stress but we didn't have anywhere to put him. It was a tank full of fish that was given to us except for the mollies.

She didn't really corkscrew, kind of just lost all control sometimes and fell on her side. Her breathing was rapid then until I removed her to her own place where she nearly was on her back and barely breathing and of course died very soon after.

It's strange since these fish have all been together for several months with no issues at all. Even when I tore the whole tank apart to really clean it good they were all fine. I guess it just happens...

 

[windhopper]

sorry for your loss. I have had about 4 similar incidents with my guppies. I found out it was when i turned the lights on suddenly in the morning so i assumed heart attack. I dont know what would cause yours though.

 

[OldMan47]

If you did a thorough job of cleaning the tank and everything in it, including the filter, you may have unwittingly broken the cycle on your tank. Your problem is most likely to be an ammonia or, maybe by now, a nitrite problem. You should do at least a 50% water change if any of your fish show any signs of problems and get a good water testing kit that uses liquid reagents to measure ammonia and nitrites at least. I suspect one of those chemicals is higher than it should be in your tank water. When making water changes remember to use a good dechlorinator. Most of the aquatic manufacturers make a decent one although many here would recommend one called Prime because it ends up being cheaper to use than the others.

 

[DelightfulDani17]

We have all the stuff to get rid of the nitrates and ammonia. I blame the big old goldfish lol.

 

[OldMan47]

There is no effective stuff to get rid of ammonia or nitrites except water changes or the right bacteria. There are claims on some water treatments that they will neutralize these chemicals but the effect is very short lived. If you are using ion exchange resin to remove chemicals, which is possible, it will cause a very sudden rise in the bad chemicals, ammonia and nitrites, when the ion exchange capacity runs out. The sudden change can be deadly. One of the negative aspects of using ion exchange resin, called zeolites, is that they prevent a proper build up of the beneficial bacteria that can reliably remove both ammonia and nitrites. There is a link in my signature area to a thread about "fish-in cycling" that will help you understand the process that I suspect you are just starting out on. I am certain this is different to what the local fish shop has told you about but is the only simple and reliable way to deal with the poisons that the fish themselves generate. Other methods exist but are more difficult to use with any long term success.

 

[DelightfulDani17]

Thanks. I'm not big on any neutralizer stuff or anything. Rare I use it honestly.