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Tao

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Ok. This gon be long. I tried to get good pictures, but fish b fish ukno
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I've had 5 (6, but one died already from whatever it is that's wrong) female guppies since january. I bought them online from a good seller. They came healthy (and preggo :D), totally fine these past few months. They were healthy, I stared at them for so long to be sure (even with a magnifying glass lmao), so I know their illness has to be on my end??? It's gotta b
Anyways, a couple weeks ago, my female guppies, and only my female guppies (in a tank with some platies, swordtail couple, one Cory, two black skirt tetra, two male guppies, plecos) have started to become emaciated, or what looks like wasting disease. There is also occasional flashing (only the female guppies), although they have been doing it less and less as the days pass. Most hang at the bottom of the tank, flash occasionally against the substrate, and they 'wobble' while they stay in place like it takes great effort to swim?? (Not all the time, sometimes they swim around normally, forage, explore like a healthy fish) unless they're super emaciated and weak, than it's a constant struggle.
They eat, but don't have an appetite like a healthy fish should, (but they do eat enough to not cause emacitation) but obviously bc there's smth wrong. Aside from these things, there are abso-fukin-lutely no other symptoms. No spots, fungus, stringy/white poo, bloating, erratic swimming, any kinda visible outside skin irritant/symptom that is obvious even with a magnifying glass.
There are two guppies I raised from birth that I put in this tank recently (both been fine for the 6+ months they'd been in a seperate planted 10gal). One was preggo, she had a large gravid spot for awhile, and had been anticipating her giving birth. A few weeks, or less, after being put into my problem tank she seemed fine. No outwards signs or behaviour that was off/wrong. Only, she looked extra fat. I thought it was bc she was hella ready to give birth, but no. Instead, even though she was acting completely fine the entire time, the next day I found her dead. I cried internally, examined my baby gorl's body and saw nothing. She was just extra swollen/bloated. NO dropsy. No constipation. No...nothing.

I haven't been able to find anyone else who's had this problem. I've scowered the internet, been looking everywhere trying to find what the hell is wrong. I'm so tired of having sick fish. I can never keep them alive for more than a few months in this tank, at max. So I'm angry at myself bc it's obviously smth I'm doing wrong AHDKKDNDBSJJDBFKDK

SORRy back on topic: now. Aside from my guppies, there is another thing going on in the same tank. Dunno if it's a problem or not bc they act fine, but my female (not the males!!) platies, and female swordtail have swollen? Bloated? Stomachs/abdomens. I think it's swollen...they aren't as thin looking like the healthy fish pics I've found online, and I'm...90% positive they didn't look like this when I first got them...? No, it's not dropsy, scales are fine. Nope, not overfeeding, or constipation. No, they aren't preggo. They don't have a gravid spot...they're just,,,thICc...this can't be right? My female swodrtail gave birth to the last of her babies a few weeks ago, (at that time she did have a gravid spot) yet she remains round, swollen, like she still has yet to give birth.
Ok now, on top of that, there is a problem as a whole; all of my platies, (not the swordtail pair, tetras, or Cory) are ? listless sometimes, likes smths wrong? Or rather, they kinda sit down in a spot, n sometimes clamp their fins. As soon as the food comes out, everyone's fine and the bahaviour goes away for a bit until they stop foreging (aside from a few of my sicker looking guppies).

Ive had my two tetras (plus a Cory) for 6+ months and they have remained healthy as fk thru all that's been going on in this tank (I'll explain 'everything' next paragraph), which confuses and frustrates me more bc all the oThEr FISh keep getting sick and die off. but heyy, plecos are completely fine; they came from the same place I bought my platies/guppies.

I'm really wondering if this tank is just contaminated as fuk because for the past few years I have NOT been able to keep fish alive in it for long.
This tank has been treated for velvet disease (at the time, my Cory, tetras, and pleco) with a copper treatment. I wasn't completely sure if it even WAS velvet disease because they didn't have actual visible dust, specks on their skin, tho they had a few of the other symptoms. I think it did help though, and maybe it saved a few of my fish. Can't honestly say.
Ok so after treating with copper, I redid my whole tank. The one thing I did keep out of the whole tank cleaning was the substrate. It's called contrasoil, a mix of volcano and dirt, or smth like that. Anyways, it's for a planted tank, so I kept it after rinsing it the best I could. This is just a few weeks before I added my new fish (the platies, swordtail, guppy, pleco). Everything checked out fine, so I added the new fish. Now you're caught up on the timeline, and can move back to the top of this wall of text where everything began to happen
:___)

Right now, I am treating this tank with prazipro. I just started the second dose. I'm treating for internal parasites. That's honestly the only thing I can think of, or what few things the internet forums and few comments online say. Sadly, I haven't seen any improvement. I'm used to this shiet by now

This tank is planted with some added ferts. I will add, bc it's making me super frustrated on top of my sick fish, that the plants aren't growing well. They are honestly...just slowly withering away, even with nutrient rich substrate and ferts. They are super "resilient, easy!!" plants, as every single person says. Hey guppies are easy, ppl can't seem to stop them from breeding. Me, I can't keep any **** alive.
EVERHYthing is so healthy in my 10gal planted tank. The plants are beautiful and the water is pristine, I've copied everything I did for it, to this 30gal tank and yet it's not working ?????? CoNfused????

Sorry for being so wordy, just wanted to explain my situation the best I could without ppl telling me "ur tank is too crowded, ur tank's not cycled, that's your problem".

The water parameters for this 'sick' 30gal tank
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

Thank you for reading. If you have any advice, please help mee...I want to make my fish healthy again
 
Well, first off, your nitrate is at the highest it should be, so you should probably do a water change on that. That, obviously, is not your problem though. The one detail that jumped out at me right away is that it's only your live bearers that are having issues, and not the other fish. This, to me, seems important because live bearers are hard water fish, and the other fish need soft water. What I'm thinking is that your water is too soft for the live bearers, causing them to get sick but the other fish are unaffected. I would test your water's KH and GH to see how hard your water is, and if my hunch is right, then I would rehome the live bearers and re-stock your tank to fit your water parameters.
 
Can you give us your water parameters (PH GH ) and is your water soft or hard. Also have you tested your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates lately.
 
What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

---------------------
What sort of pleco do you have?

---------------------
Livebearers like guppies, platies and swordtails need a GH above 200ppm and a pH above 7.0. Mollies need a GH above 250ppm and a pH above 7.0.
If your water is too soft they will have issues.

The other fishes you have come form soft water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0.

---------------------
Fish rubbing on objects is normally caused by external protozoan infections like whitespot, velvet, Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina.

Salt will treat Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina.
Add 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water and keep salt in tank for 2 weeks.

Whitespot will show up as small white dots on the fish.

If you shine a torch on the fish after the tank lights have been turned off, you can look for a gold/ yellow sheen on the fish. If they have a gold/ yellow sheen on their body, they have velvet.

I doubt this is whitespot or velvet but could be one of the other external protozoans listed.

---------------------
The only picture that shows anything is the guppy that appears to be developing cream/ white muscle tissue under the skin. This can be caused by a Microsporidian infection (muscle wasting disease). The muscle tissue in the body turns white and the fish die after a few weeks.

Salt can sometimes help.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. Keep the salt in the tank for 4 weeks. If you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the buckets of new water to keep the salt level in the tank, stable.

2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres might not work but is the highest level of salt the catfish and other fish you have can tolerate. If you had the livebearers in their own tank, I would use 4 heaped tablespoons of salt for every 20 litres of water. But that dose rate could cause problems to the other fishes.

---------------------
If the fish are remaining fat and not giving birth after several months, they probably have a bad case of intestinal worms. You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm, and Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find those medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both types of worms.

You treat all the tanks at the same time. Treat them once a week for 4 weeks.

Remove any carbon from filters before treating.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24 hours after treating.

---------------------
You can use salt and deworming medications at the same time.
 
so i have a ph of 6.8, my kh is 9, and my gh is around 5ish....

i have a live bearer tank which is doing...pretty badly tbh :( the plants wont' grow, most die, and the fish don't seem happy, if they're not already 'sick'. the only thing left, that i can think of, that might be causing some problems in my tank is the kh/gh.....?

anyways, are the above readings in the range for keeping plants and livebearers? aside from the ph, ik it should prolly be higher.
i'm having a hard time reading the api kh gh test kit. it confuses me, so i don't know where my numbers should be.


can someone just tell me what i'm doing wrongg with this tankkkkkkkkkkkk aaa
 
my gh is around 5ish
This is the problem.

Colin_T has already said that livebearers need hard water
Livebearers like guppies, platies and swordtails need a GH above 200ppm and a pH above 7.0. Mollies need a GH above 250ppm and a pH above 7.0.
Your 'around 5ish' dH converts to around 90 ppm. As you can see it is far lower than your fish need. If you have only libebearers you can increase the hardness of the tank water by using Rift Lake cichlids salts. You would need to increase GH slowly until it is above the minimum level given by Colin, but you will also need to buy a GH tester so that you can monitor the level.
Dissolve the additive in water before adding it to the tank, ideally add it to the new water at a water change.
 
This is the problem.

Colin_T has already said that livebearers need hard water

Your 'around 5ish' dH converts to around 90 ppm. As you can see it is far lower than your fish need. If you have only libebearers you can increase the hardness of the tank water by using Rift Lake cichlids salts. You would need to increase GH slowly until it is above the minimum level given by Colin, but you will also need to buy a GH tester so that you can monitor the level.
Dissolve the additive in water before adding it to the tank, ideally add it to the new water at a water change.

This is the problem.

Colin_T has already said that livebearers need hard water

Your 'around 5ish' dH converts to around 90 ppm. As you can see it is far lower than your fish need. If you have only libebearers you can increase the hardness of the tank water by using Rift Lake cichlids salts. You would need to increase GH slowly until it is above the minimum level given by Colin, but you will also need to buy a GH tester so that you can monitor the level.
Dissolve the additive in water before adding it to the tank, ideally add it to the new water at a water change.
What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

---------------------
What sort of pleco do you have?

---------------------
Livebearers like guppies, platies and swordtails need a GH above 200ppm and a pH above 7.0. Mollies need a GH above 250ppm and a pH above 7.0.
If your water is too soft they will have issues.

The other fishes you have come form soft water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0.

---------------------
Fish rubbing on objects is normally caused by external protozoan infections like whitespot, velvet, Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina.

Salt will treat Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina.
Add 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water and keep salt in tank for 2 weeks.

Whitespot will show up as small white dots on the fish.

If you shine a torch on the fish after the tank lights have been turned off, you can look for a gold/ yellow sheen on the fish. If they have a gold/ yellow sheen on their body, they have velvet.

I doubt this is whitespot or velvet but could be one of the other external protozoans listed.

---------------------
The only picture that shows anything is the guppy that appears to be developing cream/ white muscle tissue under the skin. This can be caused by a Microsporidian infection (muscle wasting disease). The muscle tissue in the body turns white and the fish die after a few weeks.

Salt can sometimes help.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. Keep the salt in the tank for 4 weeks. If you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the buckets of new water to keep the salt level in the tank, stable.

2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres might not work but is the highest level of salt the catfish and other fish you have can tolerate. If you had the livebearers in their own tank, I would use 4 heaped tablespoons of salt for every 20 litres of water. But that dose rate could cause problems to the other fishes.

---------------------
If the fish are remaining fat and not giving birth after several months, they probably have a bad case of intestinal worms. You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm, and Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find those medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both types of worms.

You treat all the tanks at the same time. Treat them once a week for 4 weeks.

Remove any carbon from filters before treating.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24 hours after treating.

---------------------
You can use salt and deworming medications at the same time.

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

---------------------
What sort of pleco do you have?

---------------------
Livebearers like guppies, platies and swordtails need a GH above 200ppm and a pH above 7.0. Mollies need a GH above 250ppm and a pH above 7.0.
If your water is too soft they will have issues.

The other fishes you have come form soft water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0.

---------------------
Fish rubbing on objects is normally caused by external protozoan infections like whitespot, velvet, Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina.

Salt will treat Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina.
Add 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres of water and keep salt in tank for 2 weeks.

Whitespot will show up as small white dots on the fish.

If you shine a torch on the fish after the tank lights have been turned off, you can look for a gold/ yellow sheen on the fish. If they have a gold/ yellow sheen on their body, they have velvet.

I doubt this is whitespot or velvet but could be one of the other external protozoans listed.

---------------------
The only picture that shows anything is the guppy that appears to be developing cream/ white muscle tissue under the skin. This can be caused by a Microsporidian infection (muscle wasting disease). The muscle tissue in the body turns white and the fish die after a few weeks.

Salt can sometimes help.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. Keep the salt in the tank for 4 weeks. If you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the buckets of new water to keep the salt level in the tank, stable.

2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres might not work but is the highest level of salt the catfish and other fish you have can tolerate. If you had the livebearers in their own tank, I would use 4 heaped tablespoons of salt for every 20 litres of water. But that dose rate could cause problems to the other fishes.

---------------------
If the fish are remaining fat and not giving birth after several months, they probably have a bad case of intestinal worms. You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm, and Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find those medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both types of worms.

You treat all the tanks at the same time. Treat them once a week for 4 weeks.

Remove any carbon from filters before treating.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24 hours after treating.

---------------------
You can use salt and deworming medications at the same time.

i didn't get notifications for replies to my thread, and it didn't show replies until now??? this is late, but thank you all for your advice
i believe the tank dimensions are 36 x 12 x 16, or in that range.
here, i have well water. i tested it with a gh/kh kit, dunno if that counts. it's around the same as the readings i'm getting from my tank. kh around 9-11, gh pretty low.

ok but tell me pls, why is my 10gal tank doing completely fine? it has the same water parameters, readings. i use the same water for water changes as all my tanks. the plants are growing in it (plants will NOT grow in the 30gal. algae won't even grow), the fish (a butt load of baby guppies, swordtail, maybe platy, and 3 neon tetra, bunch of snails) are healthy. is this only because they have now grown up in softer water, thus used to it? and the plants,,,,?


i have four plecos; two bristlenose, one choco longfin, and another small guy i've had for yeears, dunno what he is, but he's small. like a candy can pleco or smth.
i'm going to try raising the gh, ph. but i feel like all these issues i'm having aren't caused just by low soft water.

i've used salt before, but never noticed any difference. i'll still try tho.

the fish flashing has stopped, and the white spots eventually went away on my female swordtail. (obviously not ick, but still annoying and concerning) however, a week or so ago she died. straight up, no blatant warning signals that smth was wrong. she was staying near the bottom acting sluggish 30mins or so before death. that's the only sign i knew that something wasn't right.

yes. my female guppies, aside from 2? that seem alright, are all suffering from different stages of wasting disease. why tho?? soft water causes wasting disease???? what kind of problems does soft water give to fish who need harder water?
 
i didn't get notifications for replies to my thread, and it didn't show replies until now??? this is late, but thank you all for your advice
i believe the tank dimensions are 36 x 12 x 16, or in that range.
here, i have well water. i tested it with a gh/kh kit, dunno if that counts. it's around the same as the readings i'm getting from my tank. kh around 9-11, gh pretty low.

ok but tell me pls, why is my 10gal tank doing completely fine? it has the same water parameters, readings. i use the same water for water changes as all my tanks. the plants are growing in it (plants will NOT grow in the 30gal. algae won't even grow), the fish (a butt load of baby guppies, swordtail, maybe platy, and 3 neon tetra, bunch of snails) are healthy. is this only because they have now grown up in softer water, thus used to it? and the plants,,,,?


i have four plecos; two bristlenose, one choco longfin, and another small guy i've had for yeears, dunno what he is, but he's small. like a candy can pleco or smth.
i'm going to try raising the gh, ph. but i feel like all these issues i'm having aren't caused just by low soft water.

i've used salt before, but never noticed any difference. i'll still try tho.

the fish flashing has stopped, and the white spots eventually went away on my female swordtail. (obviously not ick, but still annoying and concerning) however, a week or so ago she died. straight up, no blatant warning signals that smth was wrong. she was staying near the bottom acting sluggish 30mins or so before death. that's the only sign i knew that something wasn't right.

yes. my female guppies, aside from 2? that seem alright, are all suffering from different stages of wasting disease. why tho?? soft water causes wasting disease???? what kind of problems does soft water give to fish who need harder water?

Keeping hardwater fish in softwater puts their bodies into a state of constant stress because they're struggling to get what they need from water which just doesn't have it. The stress reduces their immune system, much like it does ours, and allows infection to take hold, which is what you're seeing.

The 2 guppies that appear to be fine, aren't. They're struggling just like their tankmates, they're just not showing signs yet. The youngsters that you've bred aren't any more adapted to their conditions than their parents, as it takes hundreds of years to evolve.

So yes, in a nutshell, the problem you're seeing with your guppies is caused by the fact they're in soft water.
 
Keeping hardwater fish in softwater puts their bodies into a state of constant stress because they're struggling to get what they need from water which just doesn't have it. The stress reduces their immune system, much like it does ours, and allows infection to take hold, which is what you're seeing.

The 2 guppies that appear to be fine, aren't. They're struggling just like their tankmates, they're just not showing signs yet. The youngsters that you've bred aren't any more adapted to their conditions than their parents, as it takes hundreds of years to evolve.

So yes, in a nutshell, the problem you're seeing with your guppies is caused by the fact they're in soft water.
I agree:)
 

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