mhighsmith

I have a female guppy I'm having some problems with.

A little history first: I've had fish tanks in the past, but not for many years. I set up a 10 gallon for my kids about 3-4 months ago. Started with 3 tetras.....finally got the tank cycled after 8 weeks (and miraculously did not kill the tetras-forget to check for good cycling fish before starting). Since then, water quality is stable-no ammonia or nitrite, nitrates 12.5 or lower, pH 7-7.5, temp around 80.

About a month ago I aquired 4 guppies and had them in quarantine in a small tank. About 3 weeks into quarantine, one the of females started acting weird and died. She was fine Friday morning, we were gone until Sat afternoon and noticed she was hanging out at the back, bottom of the tank not swimming much. Still had some interest in food. By morning, resting on the bottom, occassionnaly seemed to 'drift' in the water but could right herself. By afternoon, floating aimlessly on the current (I thought dead at this point). Moved her to a small fish bowl by herself-after barely hanging on another 24 hours, she died. No visible external lesions, did seem a bit thin-had lost that normal 'belly bulge'. Salt level in quarantine tank was 0.3% (added gradually over 3 days). The remaining 3 guppies are still acting perfectly fine (2 weeks since death).

The original fish are now in the main tank, and the replacement for the one we lost is in quarantine. She's been fine the last 3 days (just got her), but today is just sitting in one spot in the tank (not swimming around as she was). She's near the top, but otherwise acting like the last fish before she crashed and burned. Eating some, but not like yesterday. Tank was treated prophylacticly with prazi the day after fish arrival, salt level at 0.2%. I did see what might have been nematode eggs in her poop on the microscope, but the sample had been floating around the tank for unknown time-I just saw it and fished it out to test.

Any thoughts on what might be going on here?

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore mhighsmith!!
Im very sorry for the loss of your fish
I have a few questions if you dont mind..what test kit are you using? do all your tanks have salt in them? and why did you have salt in your QT tank?

most of the fish we get now a days, have not seen or been exposed to salt and it usually acts as an irritant as well as it shocks the tank bred fish we acquire from the pet stores......its more of an old school method as we have many things that work better and arent as harsh as salt is ....

Tony G.

Hi welcome to fishlore!
im sorry about your lost.
One question. How many females/males do you keep?
echoing shawnie on the salt. Most fish we get lately arent used to salt.... only saltwater fish
maybe the salt shocked her
good luck

Blub

Yes, Salt is stressful for freshwater fish and can add to the problem rather than detract from it as the popular myth states.... There are so many untrue myths from about 50 years ago floating around that EVERYONE believes about fish (l3 second memorys etc.), so make sure you do lots of research before assuming, because as a begginer you never know when somehting done with good intentions can be bad. (As I learnt the hard way!)

Oh, and please don'tr put your fish in a bowl again. Bowls are not only too cold, but are unfiltered (meaning lots of nasty ammonia and nitrites!), have poor oxgene... I could go on for hours. Long story short they are about as unpleasant as a cold shower for a fish. Of course, you didn't know that but in the future only keep it for really really desperate measures, or never at all.

I think the salt probably shocked her... I must third Shawnie's qestion about why you added it? I'm assuming you heard it was beneficial somewhere, but asking can never hurt.