I Cant Keep Guppys Alive

[joshuaedgington]

Guppys - probably my favourite community freshwater fish. I recently upgraded my tank, but had kept guppys before that, but they all die on me with no reason why, and there is no ammonia or nitrite spikes at the time.

new tank:
set up for 3 weeks with a filter that had been running for a few months in the previous tank, sand substrate lots of live plants, 26C temp, 7.1-7.5PH, few pieces of bogwood inhabitants was just 1 golden apple snail and a couple of month old ish guppy.
on saturday i added 3 male guppy, all was well til i woke up this morning (3 days after they arrived) to find 2 were dead with no explanation. please can somebody help me with why i cant keep guppys aliv? they are the only fish ive had that die as well.

any advice please. thank you alot

 

[ZoddyZod]

Sounds like you doubled the stock in your tank in one go. General rule is to increase at a max of 50% at any time so that the filter bacteria has a chance to multiply and handle the increase in fish waste. Therefore did you test the water for ammonia or nitrite levels after you added the new fish?

 

[joshuaedgington]

I dont have a water testing kit right now, i run out and havent had chance to get another one. as stated in my OP, when i have had guppy deaths before there has been no spikes. and if it was ammonia, i dont understand why it would take 3 days? thank you for your quick reply though

could there be any other reasons to why they died possibly? im starting to think that maybe the bogwood isnt too good for them?

 

[KittyKat]

Most Guppies nowadays are very inbred and this makes then notoriously difficult to keep. If you want to keep Guppies, I suggest you find a good, reputable breeder. If you are in UK or US, both countries have some sort of association which has records of breeders.

 

[nurglespuss]

Hi there,

I've given up buying guppies.

The tank i set up for the lab in work looks fab, thriving, planted, the glow lights, pearl gourami and zebra danios are doing brilliantly, growing quickly, and the glow lights are starting to breed.

However, the 6 guppies have disapeared 1 by 1 until only 2 remain. They look healthy, feed well, have a nice sheen and are active, just commercialy available cheap guppies have gone worse than fancy goldfish in terms of quality.

 

[joshuaedgington]

thanks for your replies both of you. i did question is it cause of bad quality? i got these from my nearest lfs, not the one i favour that could be why. i will look out for local guppy breeders.

few questions: is the bogwood causing problems with guppys?
when could i next safely add fish and how many at a time now?
if i were to give up on guppys, what would be a just as good alternative?

thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Bogwood should not be causing problems.

You should be able to add fish next weekend, assuming there are no problems with your tank. I think, because of the very low stocking for the best part of three weeks, you might need to be careful about not adding too many fish in one go.

If you are after Livebearers, Platys are a good alternative. Otherwise Rasboras and Tetras.

 

[RustedKnight]

I had a case of mysteriously dying guppies also, but figured out what the problem was when it was too late.

Internal Bacterial Infection

Apparently this is common among pet store guppies, and most stores sell treatment for it.. It's worth a try atleast, I would say.
I hope you fix the problem.

 

[WILDER]

You are best buying guppys from a good breeder.
Most lfs guppys are taken from the wild and have diseases.
I've had no luck with lfs bought guppys either, so gave up.

I bought guppys from the lfs which had camallanous worms.
Symtoms are as follows.

Fish will look skinny or bloated.
Sunken in belly.
Enlarged anus, red inflamed anus.
Long stringy white poo, clear mucas poo, red poo.
Red hair like worms sticking out of the anus.
Bent spine.

 

[KittyKat]

Most lfs guppys are taken from the wild and have diseases.

Incorrect: Guppies are (essentially) extinct in the wild. The vast majority come from farms in SE Asia, here is one example.

 

[joshuaedgington]

That is quite horrible, the guppy farm.
thanks for replies all of you, ive also been doing a lot of reading on the internet and have decided, to give up on guppys. will take a trip to my most trusted lfs this weekend to have a look what theyve got and get different fish.
thanks

 

[KittyKat]

You do realise that the vast majority of commercially bred fish in the hobby are bred in a similar way? Just curious: which specific aspect(s) did you find distasteful?

 

[joshuaedgington]

I belong to PETA, haha dont think i need explain anymore. thank you for your help though

 

[fishy16]

You are best buying guppys from a good breeder.
Most lfs guppys are taken from the wild and have diseases.
I've had no luck with lfs bought guppys either, so gave up.

I bought guppys from the lfs which had camallanous worms.
Symtoms are as follows.

Fish will look skinny or bloated.
Sunken in belly.
Enlarged anus, red inflamed anus.
Long stringy white poo, clear mucas poo, red poo.
Red hair like worms sticking out of the anus.
Bent spine.

Hi Wilder
Will these worms survive if left in the tank?

 

[RustedKnight]

Most Guppies nowadays are very inbred and this makes then notoriously difficult to keep. If you want to keep Guppies, I suggest you find a good, reputable breeder. If you are in UK or US, both countries have some sort of association which has records of breeders.

This. Guppies these days are too poorly.

We've bought over 20 guppies in the small period of time we've been in fishkeeping, and only 1 survived. Most of them died to a strain of what we believed to have been internal bacteria infection, but they wouldn't take to the medicine anyway and perished.

So, as said above, find a good breeder, it'll cost you a bit more, but it'll be worth it.