This Is Very Aggrivating!

[Ficious]

i just added some guppies to my tank last night...and now that i watch them theyre all dying. ones on the bottom about dead, anothers doing crazy spinning upside down dive bombs to that floor of the tank. WHAT THE HECK!! whenever i get guppies they die after 3 days. my other fish have been doing, and are doing, ok for a month

stats

Nitrite .25ppm
Nitrate 20ppm
Ammonia 0
Temp 78

filters pushing 300gph

30 percent water change per week


yesterday they were beautiful, now ones dead...help??

 

[jennakid]

oh. i'm sorry.
i dont know what to do could help.
are you overfeeding them or underfeeding them?
or they might of been sick when you got them
how did you let them into your tank when you first bought them?
xo

 

[Ficious]

i let them float for 4 hours or so...they were fine last night and now, idk if the rest will make it. is .25 too much nitrite?

 

[Tolak]

The nitrite is not a good thing. I would clear this up before adding any more fish.

 

[Ficious]

how do i go about this? clearing nitrite up?

 

[Corleone]

Do daily water changes and wait it out. Could be a minicycle, in which case the bacteria will regrow. It could also be something like food, dead fry, or a dead snail (if you have any) in your substrate, so do thorough gravel vacs with the water changes.

If it doesn't go away, it's also possible the filter is under performing.

 

[JenCliBee]

2 be honest leaving the fish in the bag for 4 hours wont really help theyll be stressed enough been put in that at the start and loss of oxygen in the bag over 4 hours wouldnt be good really 30 mins should really all it take so maybe this could be part of the problem but yes sort the nitrite out first as previous members said do daily water changes maybe 10-20% and eventually it should go


jen

 

[minxfishy]

Yep you need to do daily water changes to keep that nitrite at 0, certainly dont let it get above 0.25. 25 - 50% changes. Test daily for your levels until they return to 0 and do not add any new fish until the tank has been stable for at least 2 weeks to allow the filter to mature a little.

The new fish are dying as they are not accustomed to the nitrite levels, whereas your other fish have been slowly getting used to it. Its not good for them, but the guppies have had a shock of sudden nitrites.

Also as mentioned you do not need to float them for 4 hours. 30 Minutes in the bag (inside your tank), then every 10 minutes remove a cup full of bag water (down the sink or another bowl) then add a cup of aquarium water, do this over another 30 minute period (cup out, cup in), then net the fish into the tank (never put store water into your tank). I suspect that along with the 4 hours and the nitrite levels this is what has killed your guppies.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it sounds like the tank is at the very end of it's cycle, this would be abolut right for one month into it's life. have a read of the link in my sig 'whats cycling' which will explain more to you if your not familiar with this process.

Guppies are weak fish, they've been inbred to produce the fancy colours and tails and as such they're naturally not strong fish, you need to wait until the tank is at least 6 months old before you add them or they're very likley to just keel over as you have seen.

so you need to get the tank cycled firstly, then make sure your fish selection is appropriate for the tank conditions

 

[Ficious]

thanks everyone!!! some good answers! ill just hope the 3 that are left will survive(lost 2). the ones living looks very good actualy and i hope they dont get affected.

as for floating the bag for 30 mins...wow i didnt know this!!!! i always thought it took hours for the water to temps to become the same.