Inexplicable Death!

[crabbylion]

Ok, lately i've been losing an unusually high amount of Guppies from my 29 gallon community tank. There are Mollies and also Neon Tetras in there. There is even a Cherry Barb that's pretty recluse. But what i'm not understanding is why all of a sudden am I losing young Guppies. The main difference between now and a few months ago is that I finally have a piece of Driftwood in there. Now I do notice that the water gets periodically discolored from the wood. I understand that more frequent water changes can help combat that. Also, another main difference is a snail population explosion. I'm a fan of live plants so needless to say, I purchased a lot of them lately. I also understand that snails can "infiltrate" your home by coming in on plants.

Question: Can snails contaminate your water? Can they kill off fish? The Guppy carcasses look like they have been chewed on and i'm wondering if that has something to do with the mystery. The ironic thing is, the other fish species seem to be doing fine and check this....the father of the young Guppies have been doing really well. Beautiful, healthy, and vibrant. I would say that its the month old fry that are dying. Your opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[MewMew42]

do you know what your water stats are? ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH?

how long has the tank been set up? how long have you had the guppies?

 

[Duck and Dive]

The snails are just scavengers and are just trying to eat the dead fish. First of all what are your water parameters as these would help greatly to us finding out the problem.

 

[Duck and Dive]

do you know what your water stats are? ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH?

how long has the tank been set up? how long have you had the guppies?

beat me to it!

 

[Night61]

some times it just the guppies, i had babies die soon after being born, while stats may play a role...i think the health of the newborns are sometimes questionable. guppies themselves espeically breeding guppies do not live very long. at least thats what my experience has been.

and just to be clear, while i am not fond of the pest snails, i will not throw them under the bus. i think they are most likely innocent in the direct death of your guppies...however a population boom could lead to higher stats as well. so while they may not be the direct cause, they may be the indirect cause.

 

[Duck and Dive]

some times it just the guppies, i had babies die soon after being born, while stats may play a role...i think the health of the newborns are sometimes questionable. guppies themselves espeically breeding guppies do not live very long. at least thats what my experience has been.

if you stats are ok then this might explain another reason;

The problem with fish that dont live very long is that you don't know how old you are when you get them, plus the fact guppies are no way near as hardy as they used to be.

 

[crabbylion]

I will need to check the stats but how do you explain my Mollies, Tetra, Cory, and Cherry Barb still going strong. Are the aforementioned more tolerant to a change in the water stats? Additionally, I want to throw out the notion that the ones that have been dying are old. As a matter of fact, the "great grandfather" is still alive, beautiful, active, and healthy. He's actually outliving his grandkids.

I'm glad that the snails aren't the direct cause of this. But i'll make sure and try to control the snail population in case they are the indirect cause.

I'm sorry guys/gals, I have not been able to acquire a water tester. Since this seems to be very important, i'll try hard to get one and update you later. Thanks to all.

 

[Gilli]

Are they interbreeding ? (meaning did the original ones you bought have babies and these babies are mating with each other or the parents?)If so this could weaken the breed.

The bogwood shouldn't be a problem - dont worry about the water colour thats natural and wont cause harm - in time it wont leech brown any more. It can lower your PH in the tank but again that shoudn't be a problem if you are doing regular weekly 30% water changes.

If its not that and your water stats are good then it just bad luck. Guppies are notorious for dying - they have been bred and interbred so much to get different colours and strains that it has made them a very weak species prone to all sorts - one minute they look healthy one minute and dead the next!

Anyone who keeps fish should have a kit to test the water - its important for the health of the fish - you can test on a regular basis and nip any problems in the bud before they become major ones. Dont buy the paper strip test kits they are useless - get a proper liquid test kit from your fish shop or online.

As for your snails, keep the population down by not overfeeding your fish and if there are too many squsih them and drop them in - your fish will fight for them (they spit out the shell) and its a free source of protien for them!

 

[fishnovice]

It could well be the new fry have some inherited genetic defect due to excessive inbreeding, as others have suggested. Is the Old Grandad the father and grandfather of them all?Guppies used to be hardy beginners fish but many strains today are prone to disease due to excessive inbreeding as has already been pointed out.
It's definitely not the wood -I have bogwood in my guppy tank as I have baby bristlenoses with them and it hasn't done the guppies any harm. My cichlid tank is always yellow as the huge piece of wood in there is still leaching tannins after 5 months but this hasn't affected the cichlids either.
My guppy tank has loads of snails -MTS, pond and apple. They do breed but not excessively. I use snails as scavenvers to clear up excess food, especially raw veg.Snails don;t kill fish though they may feed on decaying bodies as do other fish. All fish including guppies will eat their dead tankmates. If you have a snail populatoin explosion it culd be a sign you are overfeeding your fish, which means that the tank water may have higher levels of ammonia and nitrite from decaying excess food.KI would recommend doing daily water changes to keep ammonia levels low until you get a test kit.