Guppies Still Dying.

[Betta_Shark5678]

Hello
 
I've been having a problem with my guppies dying recently.  I thought it was just because my NitrAtes were really high, but I've been doing daily water changes, my Nitrates were lower than they've been in about two weeks, and I still lost another guppy last night! My first death (other than snails) in a week. 
 
Tank size: 55 US Gallons
pH: 6
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 20 ppm
kH: Unknown 
gH: Unknown (haven't been able to get kH/gH test kits yet!)
tank temp: 82 

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): No symptoms.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 10-20% daily for the last week.  

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: I currently have sponges, biomax, and carbon in my filter.  Only additive is dechlorinater, and when the deaths started some liquid fertilizer for my plants.

Tank inhabitants: Currently 2 Guppies, and 4 Platys.  When the deaths started 10 Guppies, 5 Platys, 1 Striped rubbernose (L444) Pleco, and 1 Golden Gourami.

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): 4 Snails, after deaths started.  8 Guppies about a month before.  2 Crypt wedntii green, and 2 water wisteria (which both died shortly after planting), a few weeks before deaths.

Exposure to chemicals: None.

Digital photo (include if possible): No photo because there are no 
 
Any clue what this could be?  Because I'm out of ideas...  I'm taking 7 Glowlight tetras from someone I know who doesn't want them anymore as soon as tonight, and as late as Sunday, and I'd like to get this figured out before then if possible! 
 

 

[BerryAttack]

well you probably didn't cycle your tank... and then if you threw in a bunch of fish at one time with the uncycled tank your just asking for all of them to die.
 
for the plant you NEED proper lighting... if you don't have it then you might at well not even have live plants.... and then you need plant food... fertilizer if always good to put down under the gravel before setting up the tank.. and then you need that to run for about a week or two before putting liquid plant food in or fish to let the plants root without disturbance.
 
also lower your temp to 78... i find that it is too high for the type of fish you have in there.

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

Thanks for your answers.  
 
I fishless cycled the tank for two months before adding any fish.  Then I added the fish I had in a temporary 7 gallon.  I had been given all of those fish before some people I know, who were supposed to bring me the tank, gave me the tank, after almost 6 months of telling me that they'd bring it to me "within the week".  Three weeks later I added 8 guppies.  My friend is overrun and surprised me with 2 more guppies than I had asked for.  

 
 This was the first time I'd seen it at 80, so I was planning on lowering the temp, I have my heater set to 76, but it's been heating 2-4 degrees higher than it should.  I'm going to get a new one as soon as I can, for now I'll just set it lower.
 
 The roots on the plants looked dead when I got them, but my Dad wouldn't let me throw them away, even though I was pretty sure they were going to die.  I didn't know that you weren't supposed to put in liquid fertilizer right away.

   I'm not sure if my lighting is good enough, I've been planning on replacing it, but I'm really short on money... The whole setup is over 18 years old I was told, so I'm not surprised if some of the equipment isn't working quite right!
 
I'm just confused about why my guppies keep dying... They show no signs of illness, the most recent one was actively swimming around, and acting normal last night before I went to bed, and when I woke up he was dead.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Interesting that you say your Nitrates are the lowest they've been in 2 weeks. Depending on how high they got it could have been that they were too high and you're just noticing the effects now.
 
Changing the water is key to get them down as low as possible and as already been mentioned the temperature is a bit high. 
 
Something else worth mentioning is that Guppies prefer harder water with a PH of 7-8.5. Your tank is lower than that at 6 so this could also be causing a problem.

All in all, it seems your conditions are less than ideal and your fish appear to be suffering.

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

The nitrates got up to 80, so I was doing daily water changes to get them down.  Do you think it was just too late to save him then?  
 
I have lowered the temperature a bit, I knew it was too high, but my heater's been heating a lot higher recently.  Hoping for a replacement soon, but I'm not sure if it's possible right away.  It's set to 74 right now, and it's around 78...
 
I didn't realize guppies liked harder water! That makes sense then.  I tested on Saturday night (I didn't have time to do a water change) and the stats were:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 20
pH - 6
 
My tap water pH is 6.4, so from now on I'm sticking to fish that like more acidic water! 
 
I recently was given a bunch of Glowlight tetras (7), and then bought 3 more to up the school to 10.  They are doing amazing so far.  I also have 2 albino bristlenose plecos as of yesterday, they're also enjoying the tank.  It was only one of the guppies, and one platy that showed any signs of illness before dying though... My remaining guppies, and platys are fine.  The youngest guppy (only a few months old I think!) will school with my tetras, and the other guppy is the same color as my platys, and like to hang out with them 

 
One question, I have never seen any nitrite results other than 0 with my test kit.  Not even while cycling, I got to the point where it was processing 4 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours for over a week, and I had over 160 nitrates, so I was pretty sure I was done cycling.  Is it possible that I have nitrites, and that my test is just bad?  I have an Api freshwater master test kit.

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

(sorry for double post)
 
I just realized I actually have Incandescent light bulbs, which give off a lot of heat, so my heater probably isn't the problem! lol lights are going to be changed asap anyways, good to know that I actually don't need a new heater too!

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

Turns out all my Platys have internal parasites! They just started having white stringy poo, and there fins clamped 2 days ago, though they're not really clamped, the fish just keep them together, I guess? (Just saw them swimming fine!) They still eat.  One of there stomach's is weirdly shaped, like caved in as of today.  It happened with one (only one) over the summer, but I cleaned the tank a lot and it went away, so I thought it was because of overstocking...  Guess I know why my guppies were dying?  What treatments do you recommend (US)?  Should I quarantine, all I have in a 3.5 gallon tank.  In my community tank I now have:
4 Platys
2 Guppies
10 Glowlight Tetras
2 Bristlenose Plecos
 
Most of the new fish were given to me, I did add to the school of Glowlights because the tank was fine for over a week! So frustrating...