Sudden Guppy Death

[Marius]

I bought 3 guppys yesterday, drove about 40miles to my hometown with them sins we didnt have male guppies here.
2 males 1 female,had only 4 female guppies in my new fish tank. the new female was in great condition,but this morning when i checked on them,she lost all the colour on her body and fins,i removed her from the tank,she got weaker and her colour started to turn white... Could it be the stress and the adapting to the new water??? But all my other guppies are looking good.. She died btw,dont know how she died so quickly.

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid we can't really answer unless we have some more information.

How long has your tank been set up and was it cycled at all? What size is the tank, what filtartion does it have and do you have any results of tests on the water you could post?

 

[Marius]

Tank has been running for 1weeks,ill have to test the water tomorrow and reply again. Tank size is about 60-20-30... i have a corner filter and 1 earthstone, ive been out of the aquarium world for a while,just started again and want to make it work.. Dont understand y just the one died and not the other 2 i bought yesterday as well

 

[fluttermoth]

I expect the problem is that your tank isn't cycled (ie; it doesn't have a colony of good bacteria growing in the filter to process the ammonia from the fish from ammonia, through nitrite into nitrate).

Some fish will be more sensitive than others. Until you can get your water tested, do some large (50% or more) water changes with warm, dechlorinated water.

There are some great articles in the beginner's resource centre that will explain what's happening better than I can; you especially need to read the one on 'fish-in cycling', which is what you're going through. The link is in my sig.

Best of luck.

 

[Marius]

o i see,Weird,i had lots of fish long ago,weird i never noticed,thanx ,lots i need to learn now,i just need to get the personal mesaging working,dont know how to fix it,says im not allowed to use it

 

[fluttermoth]

I think you need over a certain amount of posts before you can PM; this forum has had a few problems with spammers in the past

I think the difference in fishkeeping now is that our tap water is a lot more treated and has less of the good bacteria loose in it compared to years ago, so it's harder to get that initial colony going.

 

[Marius]

Jaaa,feelind down since i didnt know aboud the cycling stuff,do u think my other guppies will sirvive??? But ill check the petshop tomorrow for the water test kits and post it as soon as posible, i have 2 preety male guppies,almost the same,dont want to lose them

 

[fluttermoth]

Just keep up the water changes until you can get a test kit (please do get one of the liquid/tablet ones, with test tubes; those paper strip dip ones aren't much good); 50% every day should be enough for the moment.

 

[Marius]

i finnaly got it tested,ph is about 8 ?
The guppies are still looking good,,how long shoul i let the water stand before placing the new water in the tank??

Sorry,me again, Is the ph all i should test?

 

[fluttermoth]

pH is pretty well irrelevant for most things; you need to be testing for ammonia and nitrites at the very least and nitrates if you can.

If you have dechlorinator you don't need to let it stand at all; it works instantly. As long as it's roughly the same temperature as your tank, testing it with your hand is good enough (you can use water from the kettle or hot tap) it can go straight in.

 

[Marius]

We only have the ph test stuff.. The Declhlorinator,that blue drops,,"Neutrilises harmull clorine,chloramine and heavy metals" thats the stuff i use for the fresh water,, Ill ask the petshop if there is any way they can get that amonia and nitrites testers. NO other way to see if that levels are okey? So i should leave my ph level at that?

 

[fluttermoth]

There's no other way of telling apart from testing, no. You can pick up an API master test kit that does pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for about £20 online; it's well worth the money and lasts for ages; I've had mine 2 years and it's still going, and I have 4 or 5 tanks running at a time.

Keep doing the water changes!

Don't worry about the pH; it's fine for guppies anyway, and a stable pH is more important for fish than the actual number, so it's not a good idea to try and fiddle with it.

 

[Marius]

Okey ,Thanx alot,ill try to get that API tester tomorrow and reply yet again,i guess the amonia and nitrite should be close to okey with the fresher water??

 

[fluttermoth]

Guppies shouldn't prodcue too much ammonia, no. Your aim in a fish in cycle is to keep the ammonia and nitrites as close to zero as is humanly possible with water changes until the bacteria grow.

So, you'll be testing your water every day and if those go above zero, you do a water change. Eventually you'll find that you'll have tested for a week and there won't have been any ammonia or nitrite and then your tank will be cycled

How big is your tank and what kind of filter do you have bu the way? I forgot to ask before

 

[Marius]

i have a normal corner filter and a earthstone,so theres enough bubles,lol
Where does the bacteria grow? in the filter? I read that the bacteria isnt in the water but on plants where it kind of sticks.. So i should only refresh the water a bit but i should leave the filter and the rest as is.. So bacteria is a good thing and how do u know if theres to mush?? i can keep on going with the questions,thanx for helping out so much