Unexplained death

[ChrisWilliams47]

Hi All,

I am quite new to the hobby and am struggling with sudden fish death.

I have recently moved up to a 40L tank from my old 20L, with 6 cardinal tetra and 6 cherry shrimp. I used completely new water but carried over my old pump alongside my new pump to help the bacteria establish.

My tetras and shrimp seem to be loving it and when I do water tests the results are always in the "ideal" area. I brought four male guppies a few days ago thinking they would be good tank mates but after 48 hours 1 of them sudden became ill and died within a few hours. He was fine up till that point, and the others are showing no signs of stress. I am really worried that I am doing something wrong and killing the fish. As it had only been 48 hours I had not done a water change since I had the guppies.

The other only other thing is that I have a snail outbreak and am generally trying to keep the population under control by picking some out with a net.

Any advice I could get would be much appreciated.

 

[itiwhetu]

Cardinal tetras and Guppies need totally different water parameters so one or the other will suffer.

 

[P J]

Hi Chris, It rather depends on how quickly you upgraded from your original tank, from what you say it seems that it was an instant change, you would fair better to allow the new tank to cycle for full maturity then move the the fish, moving the existing filters does help but there are no short cuts to a correct cycling. If you can resurrect the existing tank then you could save the remaining Guppy fish, if it had been a fully mature tank the guppies should be fine.

 

[ClownLurch]

If you tell us your water temperature, water hardness and water PH an answer may be easier to give.
Of course that guppy may already have been ill. It happens a lot.
Lot of inbreeding in guppies and they’re not the robust domestic creatures they were when I kept them back in the 70s.

 

[ChrisWilliams47]

Thanks everyone for your replies, here are some of my water parameters

pH~7.3-7.4
Temperate 25C
Nitrate 40
Nitrite is 0.5
Ammonia below 0.02 ppm
KH 80-90
General hardness 160-180

 

[ChrisWilliams47]

I forgot to mention, that the fish shop got new guppies the day before I brought the guppies, not sure if they would need more time to settle in the shop?

 

[P J]

Hi All,

I am quite new to the hobby and am struggling with sudden fish death.

I have recently moved up to a 40L tank from my old 20L, with 6 cardinal tetra and 6 cherry shrimp. I used completely new water but carried over my old pump alongside my new pump to help the bacteria establish.

My tetras and shrimp seem to be loving it and when I do water tests the results are always in the "ideal" area. I brought four male guppies a few days ago thinking they would be good tank mates but after 48 hours 1 of them sudden became ill and died within a few hours. He was fine up till that point, and the others are showing no signs of stress. I am really worried that I am doing something wrong and killing the fish. As it had only been 48 hours I had not done a water change since I had the guppies.

The other only other thing is that I have a snail outbreak and am generally trying to keep the population under control by picking some out with a net.

Any advice I could get would be much appreciated.

You’ll still need a full cycle, the biological filtering in the new tank will not be fully effective otherwise. There is no short cut method.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Tank is not cycled, and trAtes are too high.

 

[Tacocat]

Cardinal tetras and Guppies need totally different water parameters so one or the other will suffer.

I have a tank with both in them, and I have the balance that's right in the middle, and they have been living perfectly fine for a month.

 

[P J]

Cardinal tetras originate from the Orinoco river in South America and must have crystal clear water with very low bacteria content, that will take at least four months to achieve with good biological and mechanical filtering. They are not an ideal fish for new tanks at all.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Cardinal tetras originate from the Orinoco river in South America and must have crystal clear water with very low bacteria content, that will take at least four months to achieve with good biological and mechanical filtering. They are not an ideal fish for new tanks at all.

Tank raised cardinals are more common in the hobby than wild caught, and the TR are more tolerant with varying water conditions