I Think My Female Guppy Is Sick

[Akasha72]

well I gave two of the biggest guppy fry to my neighbour this afternoon to put in his 4ft tank. He has angel fish though so their survival is doubtful. They were about 1.5 cm long. He also wants some of my platy fry but I told him to take the 2 guppy fry first and if they survive I'll think about the platy fry

 

[FishBlast]

well I gave two of the biggest guppy fry to my neighbour this afternoon to put in his 4ft tank. He has angel fish though so their survival is doubtful. They were about 1.5 cm long. He also wants some of my platy fry but I told him to take the 2 guppy fry first and if they survive I'll think about the platy fry

Mine said she can't take care of any right now, she's too busy with work. -.- Otherwise I would have given her 1 pink fry and a calico.

I'm still watching the plant, hoping to see the 2 fry that remained in the main tank, but no sign from them. I think they were too hungry and ventured too far while not being careful enough.

The ones in the box are eating some pink flakes, but the two calicos are kind of bullying their lighter-colored siblings...

 

[Akasha72]

well it's all gone wahoonie shaped! I did a water change this afternoon on the fry tank as it really stank when I lifted the lid. I must've changed over 50%.

I then noticed all the baby guppies were up at the top a couple of hours ago so I did an ammonia test ... off the blooming scale!!

It's taken until now to catch them all and get them into the storage box for the night and drain the fry tank. Tomorrow it's a good gravel wash and refill. Then I'll have to decide what to do with them all. Clearly the filter can't cope with that amount of fry and so it looks like I'm going to have to split them up.

Can anyone offer any better advice for me?

 

[FishBlast]

well it's all gone wahoonie shaped! I did a water change this afternoon on the fry tank as it really stank when I lifted the lid. I must've changed over 50%.

I then noticed all the baby guppies were up at the top a couple of hours ago so I did an ammonia test ... off the blooming scale!!

It's taken until now to catch them all and get them into the storage box for the night and drain the fry tank. Tomorrow it's a good gravel wash and refill. Then I'll have to decide what to do with them all. Clearly the filter can't cope with that amount of fry and so it looks like I'm going to have to split them up.

Can anyone offer any better advice for me?

I'm lucky I only have 4 fry, the ammonia was zero before water change, but I did a large one anyway. Still I don't feed often, just once a day and the equivalent of 2 flakes, the fry seem to be pecking at the plant I put in their box.
I also change water 10 minutes after feeding.

Well, add more filters or something... No idea how can a bunch of fry produce a lot of ammonia though. What are you feeding them?

 

[TheShrimpGirl]

Don't forget that your new plastic tub tank needs to cycle, even a Fish-In Cycle. Otherwise you'll be right back up ammonia street again.

An overcrowded tank will always have the ammonia problem even if they are just fry. water changes, and frequent ones, are your best bet to control the ammonia. Also adding a bit of carbon to the tank in a small net will help to absorb some of the ammonia.

If you lived in the states I'd have you ship me some of the fry! I'd love to raise some Blue Tailed little ones.

 

[Akasha72]

well the storage tub now has the filter and a bubble stone in there as I didn't want the worry of any bacteria dying off. The filter is brand new but with a small piece of my old media sponge inside it - guessing now it wasn't enough.

It's my own fault. I've been over feeding this last few days due to the shear amount of fry in the tank, this and dropping in algae wafers for the snail before bed has obviously caused a big problem.

So the plan now? ... I really havn't a clue. I've not had to deal with this amount of fry ever before so I'm kind of making it up as I go along!

Common sense tells me to scoop the gravel out and give it a really good rinse in tank water (or clean dechlorinated might be better?) before replacing it. Then refill the tank with clean water. Get the filter back in and Mr Snail first and then the larger fry before adding anything more. I think I'm going to have to try and count up how many small fry have survived and then half the amount and put those in the tank, leaving the rest in the storage tub.... unless anyone else has any better advice ...?

I'm also wondering if some of the newer fry have died in the tank and added to the ammonia problem. Now they are bigger twice weekly water changes are going to have to be in order to keep on top of the ammonia...

 

[FishFanatic04]

Did you put gravel in the tub? Maybe leaving it bare bottom would be better. Then any food left after say..10 mins, can be sucked out with a turkey baster or something. I was feeding my fry really often, but I was going back behind them and sucking out extra food a lot too.

Food falls down into gravel and decomposes where you can't see it.

 

[Joanne_]

Well, I have about 25 fry in a 2 foot tank. When I started the tank I filled it with half freshwater and half water from my established tank. After one week ammonia reads zero, nitrite reads between .25 and .50 and nitrate is at about 40. I know nitrite should be zero, but I had no choice but to do a fish in cycle as my fry tank was not set up early enough. So far there are no loss of fry and they don't look as if they are struggling to live. I put a filter in the fry tank which I squeezed in the established tank first. My established tank is about 170 litres and very stocked. None of the fish seem to have suffered from the water I took out to give to the fry.

All I can suggest is that you start taking water from your established tank and perhaps float the fry first before just changing them into this new water mix.

 

[Akasha72]

I'm now looking at the empty fry tank and it's absolutely filthy with slime and algae. I've checked the fry in the storage container and they all seem fine.

Yes, I did put a thin layer of gravel in the storage tub but it's easily taken out again.

the plan is to wake myself up a bit more!! then start cleaning the gravel and glass on the fry tank. By the end of the day it will be back up and running. I'll do a full water test before adding anything back in, This has been one steep learning curve lol

 

[Akasha72]

UPDATE:

The fry tank is clean and back up and running. The snail has gone back and I've put just 20 of the new guppy fry in there.

I've taken the 5 platy fry that were around 4-6 weeks old and put them into the main tank to grow on in there until large enough to take to my lfs.

I then set about trying to count up how many guppy fry had survived. I counted up to 70 and there were still some in the container so I think that means they have all survived!

Which means there are 50-60 fry in a storage tub so I'm going to have to watch the ammonia in there!


This is a nightmare

 

[FishFanatic04]

Yikes. That's alot of babies.

 

[Akasha72]

yeah it is and a LOT of stress and hard work for me

 

[FishBlast]

Mine just had their first boiled egg yolk meal. After that I changed their water 100% (I put them in some water from main tank) and then put them with that water from main tank in.
Before doing the moving, I mixed water from main tank with tub water so that they'd get used to it.

They're so active, I added more plants to their box. But I hope to find that tiny filter I had for my betta bowl long ago. Might be useful, even though ammonia doesn't build too easy here.
When I get my salary, I'll buy them a breeder net or build them a larger one and put them in main tank. That should take care of their water quality and they'll have like 25L all to themselves if I can get a big enough net.

 

[FishFanatic04]

That's what i was thinking. I only want to save enough to grow out in my 10g, from now on.

 

[FishBlast]

That's what i was thinking. I only want to save enough to grow out in my 10g, from now on.

I feel pretty bad that the choices I've made on who to save were based mostly on fry looks instead of their speed.
I saved a bunch of lazy fry. And left the fittest ones to go for the plant... where they probably got eaten somehow. Haven't seen any of those since yesterday at noon.

Two of the saved just lied there on the sand, next to my hoplo. The other two swam a bit towards the surface but I almost lost them to the male swordie. And there was a 5th... but his tail never straightened and he couldn't get to the surface to get food, had to put him in main tank, unfortunately.
At least the 4 are active now. I hope they stay that way.