Water Almost Perfect.. So What Happened?

[Lyra0727]

Last night I spotted 5 guppy fry in my tank, I didnt know who the mother is until an hour later. All females were pregnant so it was easy to spot her afterwards but she was at the top. I figured she may have still been going through the process of dropping more. Later that night I notice her acting weird and saw that she lost color around her mouth, nor could she move it. She died not long after. Thinking it was a fluke I let it go until this morning I saw my male had fin rott.

So I checked around the tank thinking something had to be off balance, my youngest guppy was dead in the plants with red dots all over her. Thinking maybe it was my dawrf frog trying to eat her because she was so much smaller but found out she was to big. But she wasnt dead for that long in there so I know that couldnt have caused it.

Ph:7.6
Amonia:.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0

Just did a 10% water change today before testing. Didnt have the kit until just a few minutes ago. Can someone explain whats going on? I just put in both melafix and pimafix just in case since they are not chemicles I know they cant do much harm. Will have a picture up as soon as possible.

 

[OldMan47]

You have toxic levels of ammonia in your tank at 0.25 ppm. A 10% water change is not nearly enough to deal with that, try a 50% water change instead. I use water changes to deal with almost anything bothering my fish. I don't know enough to correctly diagnose much more than simple ich.

 

[Lyra0727]

So it is the amonia?!? Thank you! I didnt think that, that could be it because it wasnt really that high compared to the kit charts.. but it was the only thing that made sense. I'll do a bigger water change after their done eating. But Im also second guessing that it is fin rot. The top fin that is rotting has a spot on his body there that is losing his color completely. When I searched fin rot they only talk about the fins not the body.

So I'm really hoping thats what causing it and that he will heal soon. He didnt eat tonight though which is really worring me He was perfectly fine last night.. its crazy how fast this issue occurs..

But all the other fish are perfectly fine. Well besides the two I already one. (one due to the frog trying to eat her.. i think?)

 

[OldMan47]

If you can get a picture of that ailing fish, start a new thread in the Tropical Emergencies section of the forum. There are some folks there who actually do have enough experience with diseases to help you. My own amateur inclination would be to compare your fish to one with a columnaris infection but please, post the picture and get help from the experts.

 

[Lyra0727]

I have now, thank you. Also thanks for letting me know about the amonia, I didnt think it could do that much harm if it was barley there. But a big water change should fix that right? Or does it take time?

 

[OldMan47]

For a new tank, it will take regular large water changes to control ammonia for quite a long time. For a mature tank that has had something die and cause an ammonia spike, a single large water change should clear it out.

 

[Lyra0727]

Alright I'll do that now then, hopefully that should at least help. It may be a while for someone to respond in the emergency section.. just hope not to long or to late. Not sure what would have caused the amonia spike either the water was actually perfect just last weekend. everything at 0 and ph was at 7.6. I guess it's time to cut down on food hmmm.

 

[Lyra0727]

Well no one ever answered on the emergency thread.. but eventually I did find out what it really was. Sadly it was more serious than fin rot It's a high case of columnaris. In these cases it spreads to quickly to cure which seems to be exactly whats happening.. What was a small spot has become his whole body! I read that lowering the water temp would help but I dont even use a heater and its at 78. Florida is just to hot Plus my room is the clodest in the house and it still doesnt cool the tank down. Not sure what else I can do about that.

But its actually very common for FEMALES to get it right about birth around the mouth which explains why my female died right after dropping. Do you think if I scrubbed the tank down it would harm anything if I use a old filter from a bifferent tank? Left over food could cause it to spread more drastic too, and considering the amount of plants I have and how I cant get around them.. there could be a lot more than I am seeing.

Maybe taking some gravel out too would help adding more water in it cooling the tank down more? It's 3 inches thick at the moment.

 

[Althamon]

Only a suggestion but maybe if you have a bottle of tank water (pre treated tap or actual) stick it in the fridge and add that with the water change and because it's only a small amount it may cool it by only a degree or so. Or get some piping (anything non toxic to the fish preferably plastic) and run lengths of it back and forth like this:
> = direction of pipe ( = bend in pipe

>--------)
(-------<

Once you made that put an end in the tank maybe attach the end to the output of the filter to get constant water flow and train a fan on your piping masterpiece and the water exiting the pipe should cool the tank down.

So sorry to hear about the problems your now getting.

Just thought there isn't such a thing a a water cooler for the tank is there?? There is but stupidly expensive.

 

[Lyra0727]

I actually searched a water cooler.. they cost thousands!I was right though the guppy didnt make it through the night. Found him at the top this morning he was my favorite male too.. But an extra fry popped up.. instead of 5 ive found 6.. looks like there could be more hiding in the plants than I thought.

I woke up this morning to find the temp at 74! I dont know how thats possible, maybe because at night it gets cooler? Who knows!Im starting to think that its the light heating the tank up; the light is only a 15 wat aquarium plant bulb which arent that strong, but not sure how to stop that if thats what it is. They need light at some point. I actually have a little motor/fan type thing in my filter to put air in the water. I thought that would cool it down some too. The fish are to hot and I'm to cold!

I'm still trying to decide rather or not I should do a tank scrub tonight, any thoughts about that would be really good right about now.(for rather or not I should do it)

 

[Althamon]

Night temperatures will generally be cooler anyway, it definitely sounds like your lights are the source of the extra heat as someone I know was using his lights to keep the tank about 26c so he had no need for a heater since it wasn't a tropical tank.

Now we isolated your lights as the culprit for the water being too warm maybe get some lower wattage bulbs or raise the lights and maybe increase airflow to keep it cooler.

 

[Lyra0727]

I'm not sure they sell lower than 15 wat around here. Hmmm ill have to look into that. How would I raise the lights so it will be higher? They sit ontop of the lid :\ which they also need to be replaced because now they wont turn off! So now I have to switch them upside down at night. What my luck, going back to the lfs hoping they'll replace it.

On the bright side I found out the medication I needed for them just in time. The female that still has not dropped (were on week 6) started growing fuzz around the mouth but it is slowly going away only after one night treatment. Finally I did something right!

Less and less fry though, probably getting munched on but the meds said younger fish dont usually make it through the process of treatment. But at least the mama's are going to be ok and the one male that I have left that is starting to go after the females again.

 

[Lyra0727]

Here is a picture of the "6 weeks" pregnant mama. Honestly she doesnt look that square from the back to me though, but I checked my dates, I was even told on here that she was pregnant on March 6. That was when He belly started getting really big so I counted back a couple days since they dont get that big automatically.

Doubled the size of all my other guppies, much older and a big attention hog (until she got sick) Maybe shes just a big girl