Ill Guppie Help Please

mark pitman · Jul 28, 2011

I have a 3ft tank, 90cm long,35cm high water,30cm wide.I have a bubble stone, internal filter new but with old sponges in but they only 2 months old, 10 live plants and some ornaments.
Had a test done 2 days ago at pet shop which they used drops and said all fine nitrate little high but ok.All fish seem fine feeding twice a day on flakes with blood worm twice a week too.
For about 3 days had a guppie on top of water not moving much just staying at topa all the time not seem him feed either no sign of bad gills or fins. done a 40% water change yesterday.
Was doing water change every 3 days as told nitrate levels high and put in the bubble stone and bubble curtain, i removed curtain after 2 days as it seemed to hectic in there.so i have been in the tank alot moving stones and water changes so maybe just stressed? have no where else to seperate it and worried may pass something on?
did cycle tank for 3 weeks before anything went in and been running for about 4 months now.
8 neon tetras
3 zebra danios
5 platties
10 guppies,5 of which are small young.

Any idea what could be the problem?
Also is my stock level ok? not put any in for around 3 weeks.

thanks, any help grateful. mark.

tatuny · Jul 28, 2011

well i dunno about your guppy i have guppies too but none stay on-top..anyways your tank is not 3ft long if its 30cm long....and i think your a bit overstocked for that little tank...27l in total its to small for your fish...zebra danios need a long tank for swiming they swim very fast...personally i whould give back 5 guppies 3 platty all danios and 3 neons..dunno just my opinion someone correct me if im rong..

mark pitman · Jul 28, 2011

sorry made a mistake its 90cm long not 30!

tatuny · Jul 28, 2011

mark pitman said:
sorry made a mistake its 90cm long not 30!

edit the post

tatuny · Jul 28, 2011

and then your tank is not overstocked at all...Get some cory catfish to help cleaning..And you should remove the problematic guppy maybe its sick and if you dont take it out you might end up with all you guppies sick !Puth the fishy in a hospital tank...And maybe its swim bladder disease...Some pics will help also check for lumps,and is it with its belly up ?Check if its dead...Also sorry for double post

mark pitman · Jul 28, 2011

the guppie is no more

it was at the top just keeping itself mainly in one place,not belly up and no visible lumps.will look into getting cory catfish to help with the cleaning.
thanks for your help/advice.

tatuny · Jul 28, 2011

mark pitman said:
the guppie is no more it was at the top just keeping itself mainly in one place,not belly up and no visible lumps.will look into getting cory catfish to help with the cleaning.
thanks for your help/advice.

sorry about your guppy..may i ask if it was a male?
glad to help...
:fish:

mark pitman · Jul 28, 2011

yes it was a male.

tatuny · Jul 28, 2011

mark pitman said:
yes it was a male.

female guppies are more hardy..check pH,temperature,amonia,nitrate,nitrite...

fluttermoth · Jul 28, 2011

tatuny said:
...Get some cory catfish to help cleaning..

I'm not having a go, tatuny, but no, no, no, no, no....

No fish will 'help cleaning'. They might help pick up some food that falls to the bottom, but they need their own proper food too, and will still produce poo, which will need cleaning up.

It's your job to clean your tank,; you should only ever add fish because you want them and your tank is suitable for them for their whole lives, not to clean up left over food, or algae or s**t.

Corydoras need to be in shoals of 6+ and a sand substrate to be happy.

OP; your stocking is fine, apart from the danios, which need to be in a larger shoal.
Nitrate is not harmful to fish, except in very high concentrations; if your tank is still fairly new (less than 6 months) and you've moved filter sponges, you may be experiencing a 'mini-cycle', in which case you need to be testing for ammonia and nitrite.

I'd recommend doing 40 or 50% water changes every day for two or three days, until you can get the ammonia and nitrite tested again. Of course, your guppy could have just been sick or old; it's not unusual to lose the odd fish here and there.

mark pitman · Jul 28, 2011

thankyou for that, il get three more danios to keep them happy.Thought it might be something to do with too much cleaning and moving bits about stressing them out.i will do the water change again tommorrow.
but as i done one yesterday and again doing one tommorrow 50% will that be ok and not lose the good bacteria in the water? when i get the other 3 danio il be at 29 fish
.does that sound ok for tank size and would i be able to get anymore same size fish? think im near my limit

thanks for your advice. glad i came on this site

fluttermoth · Jul 28, 2011

There is no good bacteria in your water; it lives in the filter :good:

Yes, that amount of fish will be ok in your tank; keep up your regular water changes (25 or 30% weekly) and it'll be fine; you shouldn't add any more though.