Fish Ick or Hypochondriac Fish Dad? Help, my guppies are dropping like flies!

FishyFather

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Hello all, I started this freshwater aquarium a couple months ago (fishless cycled!) and started with some guppies, 2m 4f. Things went great for a bit, no ammonia spikes, nintrite 0 nitrate <10. Then the same day I went to add some corys, I noticed a male died- I had truly no idea why, but know that petstore bought fish can be a bit weaker so it was almost expected. I got another male when I got my corys, and a few days later I lost a female guppy. I realized I had likely been overfeeding them after doing some research, so I started feeding them less and things seemed fine (no more long poop trails). Then, while I went away for the day for thanksgiving, I lost yet another female. Now I'm investigating my tank, because I don't know if she was just weak from stress and overfeeding or what. I'm looking at the new male and I find the dreaded white spots: instantly I think 'Oh no it's Ich!'. But as I research Ich, these spots lookdifferent from anything else I see as examples- they're larger, and look almost more like he's shedding his skin in some spots along the top and right side. Do you have any ideas? I'd love some feedback! (Sorry about blurry pictures, he doesn't seem to like hanging out in the light right now!)
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Hello and welcome :)
I can't really help other than to confirm it isn't ich.
And to suggest that you add minerals to harden the water for the guppies, but unfortunately cories are soft water fish which leaves you with a dilemma.
I hope someone can help your guppies.
 
bacterial infection, do a big water change and add some salt.

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Add some salt. If there's no improvement after a week of salt, get a broad spectrum medication that treats bacterial and fungal infections (preferably not antibiotics).

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) 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.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
 
It's bacterial, and may also be Epistylis, an opportunistic parasite that appears to be on your glass in photo one. It has a great love of tanks with uneaten food in them, and goes onto fish who are compromised by stress, or being a harder water fish in lovely softwater. Normally, it's one of those things that are just there, but it can become a problem.
What is bothering the guppies could be something they carried in, and if the infection can clear, they may adapt to the water. Guppies are tough, even if it will never be ideal. I would follow Colin T's advice
 
Hello and welcome :)
I can't really help other than to confirm it isn't ich.
And to suggest that you add minerals to harden the water for the guppies, but unfortunately cories are soft water fish which leaves you with a dilemma.
I hope someone can help your guppies.
Thank you for the well wishes and welcome! Are you mentioning minerals for general health of the guppies? I noticed the alkalinity was too low, but I thought guppies and cories could live together with pretty much the same conditions?
bacterial infection, do a big water change and add some salt.

--------------------

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Add some salt. If there's no improvement after a week of salt, get a broad spectrum medication that treats bacterial and fungal infections (preferably not antibiotics).

--------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) 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.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
I went to my LFS yesterday and got a similar recommendation, but because I have cories I did a salt dip instead of adding it directly to the tank. Unfortunately, that guppy did still pass away overnight, but I'll still follow those tips in case the bacteria are in the sand or on the glass. I'll do a big water change today and clean the sand out- I did one about a couple days before my post but it was only about a 20% water change and glass cleaning. The filters are pretty new so I won't have to worry about that. Thanks for the tips, I'll update how it goes!
 
Are you mentioning minerals for general health of the guppies? I noticed the alkalinity was too low, but I thought guppies and cories could live together with pretty much the same conditions?
Yes. Guppies are hard water fish and your water is extremely soft. It looks like 0-50 mg/l or ppm which is 0- 2.8 dGH. You also have low pH (6.2-6.8) and KH (0). They won't thrive in your water unless you add minerals. You would need a separate tank for the guppies as cories are soft water fish. Alternatively, don't replace any guppies and just have very soft or soft water fish going forward.

I suspect that your information came from the seller who is just interested in your money. Seriouslyfish.com has reliable information on conditions and compatibility.

I strongly recommend that you follow Colin's advice for the health issues.
 

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