All of my livebearers except for 3 platies have died within the last 24 hours.. I have absolutley NO idea what happened!! This has never happened before.. I noticed the water gettign quite clowdy.. doing water changes, changing filters didnt help.. I didnt want to use any clear water medication on the tank because of the fry.. so I thought that I would just wait alittle while and see if it cleared.. well I noticed some of my fry missing (most of them were too big to be eaten) and than my male guppy died (really mad about that) and I noticed my female guppy at the top breathing heavily.. I thought she looked like she had some type of fungus on the outside of her body, but it was hard to tell because of the water.. well she died a half hour later.. along with 2 other platies.. I thought oh my gosh.. I checked the PH levels which were perfectly normal, but was out of ammonia nitrate strips..
SO, I took out all the substrate (which were larger type egget rocks, and not aquarium gravel) because I thought that the fish were dying underneath them and it was just HORRIBLE to clean.. so I thought my first change would have to be changing the gravel.. I found about 20 live fry in the rocks and put them and the adults in a cycled 5 gallon for the night.. well they are gonna have to stay in there for a couple more days.. so anyways, I am changing the substrate to sand.. I would like to know, how to clean the sand when need be.. and what could of caused this massive death toll!
I can only imagine it was all the fish dying underneath the rocks, releasing ammonia and whatever else.. I have no idea where this possible fungus came from.. I added 4 guppies to the tank about two weeks ago, it may of come from them, but they didnt have any signs of it.. I dont know, im in shock.. and saddened that I have lost my beloved adult female guppy.. I am really hoping that my 4 year old male platy makes it thru this, I would've thought he'd be the first to go.. I couldnt bare losing him..
Anyways, long post I know.. just need some advice.
SO, I took out all the substrate (which were larger type egget rocks, and not aquarium gravel) because I thought that the fish were dying underneath them and it was just HORRIBLE to clean.. so I thought my first change would have to be changing the gravel.. I found about 20 live fry in the rocks and put them and the adults in a cycled 5 gallon for the night.. well they are gonna have to stay in there for a couple more days.. so anyways, I am changing the substrate to sand.. I would like to know, how to clean the sand when need be.. and what could of caused this massive death toll!
I can only imagine it was all the fish dying underneath the rocks, releasing ammonia and whatever else.. I have no idea where this possible fungus came from.. I added 4 guppies to the tank about two weeks ago, it may of come from them, but they didnt have any signs of it.. I dont know, im in shock.. and saddened that I have lost my beloved adult female guppy.. I am really hoping that my 4 year old male platy makes it thru this, I would've thought he'd be the first to go.. I couldnt bare losing him..
Anyways, long post I know.. just need some advice.
