Sudden Guppy Deaths !!!

[mifty12]

Please help if poss.

I bought 6 guppy two weeks ago, two females and four males. Now at the time i had a king blue tetra which subsequently i had to take back to the lfs cos he was nipping at them. He had damaged one of the guppies tales so as soon as it was noticed i put in interpet no 8 fin rot treatment to try and help him on the way although over the last two days it has got worse.

It now transpires that we are missing two male guppies, one which we have found dead and the one with the nipped tale barely hanging on in there. My readings which i have just taken are-

Nitrate- 30
Nitrite- 0.25
ammonia-0
Ph- 7.4

The fish in my tank are those in my signature with an edit now on the guppies.

anybody any clues as to why this is happening. By the way the two female guppies are in perfect health


Cheers



Just

 

[glolite]

Please help if poss.

I bought 6 guppy two weeks ago, two females and four males.

Gupps are better off with a ratio of 2 females to one male as the males will harrass th females constantly. Your nitrites should be nil but other redings fine. I'd do a 25% water change and carry on with the finrot treatment. Good luck.

 

[mifty12]

Thanks for that but does it answer my question? are you saying that .25 nitrite would be enough to kill only male guppies and leave everyone one else in fine looking health ? i've been wracking my brains and am at a loss as to how i could lose these overnight.

 

[wwestar2000]

Female guppies are known to be hardier than male guppies so maybe water changes are what you need.

 

[glolite]

I agree with wwestar. Nitrites can kill fish at any readings above nil. The weakest are affected first. Do you do partial water changes regularly?

 

[Annastasia]

The males might be picking on each other, since there isn't one female for each one, much less 2-3 per male. I have seen males nip each other's tails. Sometimes they kill each other, it's happened.

I'm betting this is what happening in your tank. I do not think Nitrites at .25 would kill fish, even though Fancy Guppies are very weak from the inbreeding. Still, do water changes to get it down, along with your nitrates.

 

[mifty12]

Well now all the guppies have died despite on everyones advise doing a water change. I changed about 40% of the water last night but came home to the remainder dead after work today. The nitrite is still at 0.25 and i noticed that all my glowlight tetras were at the surface looking like they're gasping, please someone help before all the others go the way of the guppies, its so confusing cos there's no sign of disease. Anybody any ideas on the cause/ remedy/ how to drop the nitrites.


Cheers



Just

 

[WILDER]

Do a water change, add an airstone for extra aeration, can you list your fish to see if you can add some salt to the tank.

 

[mifty12]

Water change was done last night, air stone on for the last week non stop and my fish are exactly as my sig although the guppies have now been edited from it.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry never seem to notice the signature, no salt clown loaches, just have to carry on with the water changes, alot of fish to cycle the tank with.

 

[mifty12]

thats the thing, i'm not cycling the tank, its been up and fully cycled with good readings for the last three months

 

[WILDER]

How big are the clown loaches, and the plec are big waste producers, you might need another filter adding as the filter you have is probably not coping.

 

[mifty12]

the loaches are only about 1.5" and the plec is about 3 "

 

[WILDER]

What filter is it, if you are having problems with your nitrites in a tank that has all ready cycled, to many fish overstocked, big waste producers, do you overfeed,or the filter is not up to the job.

 

[WILDER]

Also how often do you maintain the tank.