Losing Guppies

[glyndawn]

hi folks ive started to lose my guppies


my statesare

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 0
ph 7.6

do these sound ok

 

[KittyKat]

You have ammonia, nitrite (both are quite toxic to fish) and a very inbred species mixed together. You need to finish cycling your tank, while keeping ammonia and nitrite readings well below 0.25 as guppies are quite fragile usually.

 

[Harlequins]

Has kat said above.

Perform a large waterchange to bring your stats back to zero.

 

[glyndawn]

the tank as been set up for 12 mouths now why should it nedd cycling again ???

 

[KittyKat]

If the tank has been set up for 12 months, why is there ammonia and nitrite in it? The whole point of cycling is that the filter grows bacteria which deal with these so that they always remain at 0ppm without you having to do anything.

Have you done anything recently which may have crashed the cycle? Have your tank or tap water parameters (pH, hardness) changed very drastically? Do you dechlorinate and dechloraminate water before adding it to the tank? Do you wash the filter regularly only in old tank water? Have you used any medication? Have you added anything else to the water?

Has there been a power cut? Or maybe one which you might not know about, if you were out (for example while you were out of the house/away for a few days - ask neighbors)?

 

[glyndawn]

just checked the stats again nirite is now 0 but amina as gone to 0.50

could it be the filter

i have 10neons 6guppies and a sucking loach in there

90ltr tank

fluval 3plus filter

 

[KittyKat]

What maintenance do you usually do on the tank? Is it planted?

just checked the stats again nirite is now 0 but amina as gone to 0.50

To me, this would indicate that the filter has somehow crashed and is either going through a "mini-"cycle or a full cycle. Your only course of action here is to assume a fish-in cycle is happening and keep the ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm with water changes. Reduce feeding.

If this is only a mini-cycle, then everything should be back to normal within about a week or so.

 

[glyndawn]

i did a 50% water change i added new gravel and when i topped it back up i added tapsafe as per instructions

 

[KittyKat]

i did a 50% water change i added new gravel and when i topped it back up i added tapsafe as per instructions

Did you add the water or the dechlorinator first?

 

[glyndawn]

i mix it in a bucket first water and tapsafe then slowly poor into the tank

 

[KittyKat]

So chlorine was not cause..

Did you warm up the water to the right temperature before adding it?

 

[glyndawn]

to be honest i have cleaned the filter pads for a while

 

[KittyKat]

OK, you might want to check that they're not completely gunked up.

At the moment, I am thinking that either cold water or something in the new gravel caused it.

 

[glyndawn]

i use hot and cold water but i only test it by hand

 

[KittyKat]

Not cold water then, you'd have felt it if it was.

Was the new gravel for aquarium use? Did you wash it before adding it?