Sudden Death Of Both Guppies In My Tank

[crmpicco]

Last weekend I bought a male and female guppy from my LFS. Amazingly, on the Monday morning there were three fry floating at the top of my tank. I have since managed to safe just one unfortunately, however it seems to be doing well in the hatchery tank I bought for it.

Yesterday (Friday), I noticed the female guppy swimming constantly at the top of the tank against the water flow from the filter. She wasn't gasping for air, just swimming towards the top. An hour after looking at her I noticed her upside down at the bottom of the tank - dead. Today, the male guppy went through the same routine and ended upside down and is now dead.

I have 3 x Harlequin, 3 x Neon Tetra and 1 x High-Tailed Platy in a 70ltr tank.

What is likely to have caused this? I lost a Red Dwarf Gourami a couple of months ago after a short period in my tank. Are Gouramis and Guppies more sensitive fish?

I haven't done a water levels test yet,I just wanted some advice on what _could_ have went wrong?

 

[bikerfish]

Hi sorry for the loss of your fish How long has your tank being running for ? If not long then it most probaly cycling so ever high readings in ammonia or nitrite which are both possibles for your fishes dying
If you could please put details of your tank on here , water readings aswell please , ammonia, nitrite and nitratre and ph water temp sorry can not be more help at mo ,
Hope you can get tank sorted soon with no more loss of fishes
cathy

 

[WILDER]

I agree. We do need to look at your waters stats. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Did the fish show any of these symptoms before death?
Gasping at top of tank, laboured breathing?
Fish looked pale, or darker in colour?
Did the fish look bloated, or thin?
Did the fish lean to one side when resting?
Where the fish able to maintain balance in the water?
Did the fish swim in circles, turn upside down?
How long did you climatize the new fish for?
Where fish acting listless, lethargic?

Sorry for your losses.

 

[crmpicco]

Hi sorry for the loss of your fish How long has your tank being running for ? If not long then it most probaly cycling so ever high readings in ammonia or nitrite which are both possibles for your fishes dying
If you could please put details of your tank on here , water readings aswell please , ammonia, nitrite and nitratre and ph water temp sorry can not be more help at mo ,
Hope you can get tank sorted soon with no more loss of fishes
cathy

Thanks for getting back to me. I've done a 30-40% water change this afternoon, so i'm guessing my water readings will not be worth as much now anyway. My tank has been up and running with tropical fish since May.

What i'm trying to understand is - do I need to adapt the way I care for my fish when introducing fish such as guppies and gouramis? Are they more delicate and sensitive fish that maybe need more frequent water changes and more checks of the water levels?

What i'm finding hard to understand with he loss of these guppies is when I lookup "low maintenance tropical fish" one of the first types of fish that appears is the Guppy! Take this quick search I done on Yahoo! Answers. There's a comment saying that guppies live in drains in Sri Lanka. So this makes me wonder what I done wrong with these guppies, or could it be the case that the guppies were diseased when I bought them? It's hard to understand how that would be the case though, considering the female dropped 3/4 fry days after entering my tank. Also, someone commented that my tank must be in good condition to have produced fry.

So, how often should I be doing water changes with fish such as Gouramis/Guppys who, both, lasted around 1 week in my tank.

I agree. We do need to look at your waters stats. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Did the fish show any of these symptoms before death?
Gasping at top of tank, laboured breathing?
Fish looked pale, or darker in colour?
Did the fish look bloated, or thin?
Did the fish lean to one side when resting?
Where the fish able to maintain balance in the water?
Did the fish swim in circles, turn upside down?
How long did you climatize the new fish for?
Where fish acting listless, lethargic?

Sorry for your losses.

Neither guppy was gasping for air, although they both swam close to the top of the water and notably against the flow of the air filter. The female looked slightly bloated I would have said, but no real change in the male. No balance issues and both certainly seemed to suffer a very quick death. When I put the fish in the water (last Saturday evening), I left the float in the bag for around 30 mins before letting them in.

I understand that water readings would be needed here to give a proper diagnosis, i'm not going to do them now as i've said i've done a 30-40% water change, but i'll leave the thread open for the broader questions i've asked here. Hopefully that'll help me the next time I buy guppys (or gourmais).

 

[bikerfish]

Hi I will leave the best person to answer most of your questions which is wilder as all ways great advice
I always do a weekely clean of 25% water change , clean substrate and a monthly filter clean as have an external filter. I wash filter sponges and carbon in tank water.
Sounds like when you introduce your guppies to tank you done it properly by leaving bag in tank to reach same temp, but did you slowly add some of your own tank water over a small period of time before letting fish into tank? as this climatizes them to your tank water also did you have your tank lights out during this and for at least half anhour after fish had been released as this helps with fish stress , also try not to put any water from the lfs bag into your own water in case there are any hidden nastys in there . tip fish and water through a net , so water goes in bucket and fish can then be put into tank . hope this helps
Wilder will be able to help you more with proper info
cathy

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Guppies aren't as hardy as people like to say. They've been so breed for appearance that they no longer are as healthy as they should be. With my own guppies, I've been trying to breed them (very small scale mostly for my own purposes) for health... seems to be a real minority though that are really strong!