Jamie Gale
- #1
Hey guys and girls,
I've had Guppies in my tank for around 2 weeks now (first 5 at beginning week 1, settled in well velvet purple bodies with orange/black tail fins. Second 5 at beginning week 2 whom seem to have settled faster than the first 5, these are a silvery front half and yellow rear half).
However.... before week 1 was up, I lost one of my first batch, found him hiding down the bottom near/under my bog wood and I initially put this down to him burying his way under and getting stuck or something (he floated only after moving the wood).
This morning I lost another (from the original first batch again), I found him hiding down the side of my driftwood piece.
This has caused me to observe them quite closely over the past few hours once home from work. I have spotted a few things, and I cannot quite put my finger on what it could be.
Aty this point I should state that my parameters are:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20-30ppm (tap water in my area is at around 10-15ppm)
Firstly my observations are that they seem to take it in turns to sit at the top of the tank, sometimes taking mouthfuls of water and air at the same time (unsure if normal behaviour to do this). They are doing it less after a 30% water change, but they are still doing it. (most recent water change to todays was 2/3 days ago).
Secondly I have noticed that some of the scales on the velvet purple guppies have turned a silvery white, it's quite obvious in cases as on some of them its clearly only on individual scales, on others its on groups of scales (but not smothering the scales, which is what's throwing me away from thinking ICH).
Thirdly I have noticed The reddening of some of the frontal scales between the dorsal and the head, some of them have more than others, but in a similar fashion to the whitening scales at the back.
Fourthly I have also noticed on 3 of the newer yellow guppies, the skin/scales behind the head towards the dorsal fin is almost translucent, where the other two are showing the full silvery frontal scales like the rest of the front half of their bodies. Similarly on a couple of my velvet purple guppies I have seen darkening of the scales/skin in this same area, but not translucent.
Fifth thing of note is that two of the velvet purple ones have (and had...the one which died overnight last night was one of the little buggers) have worked out how to get in to the rear of my tank (3D background with my heater and filter tubing (external filter) is housed there too). I had to hook them out about 4-5 times yesterday, haven't a clue how they are dong it (jumping? I made sure to mesh up any water flow holes I made in the background to stop them sneaking through that way). One of these two, the one whom died last night, was beginning to get much paler in colour, nothing noticeable growing on him, no scale colour changes (apart from the paling).
From what I have researched, there are signs of several different possible diseases/parasitic issues, so I am pretty stumped as a newbie as to what to think of this issue.
Another thing to note is I do have live plants in my tank, Anubis (although he isn't attached to a rock) and Gigantea (I forget the exact names). The Gigantea is growing well, but some of the leaves are green, some are a translucent brown/red (all still growing though) is this normal?
They are feeding well, getting fed algae flakes 3 times a day.
I know this is a very long post, and I apologise, and thank you for making it to this point! I'm just a bit lost with it and worried about my remaining fish, it's been disheartening to lose two, let alone loosing any more before their time is up through nature.
All help is greatly appreciated, and if I have missed any details please let me know.
Many thanks,
James
NB: It's difficult to get pics of these guys as they don't stay still long enough
I've had Guppies in my tank for around 2 weeks now (first 5 at beginning week 1, settled in well velvet purple bodies with orange/black tail fins. Second 5 at beginning week 2 whom seem to have settled faster than the first 5, these are a silvery front half and yellow rear half).
However.... before week 1 was up, I lost one of my first batch, found him hiding down the bottom near/under my bog wood and I initially put this down to him burying his way under and getting stuck or something (he floated only after moving the wood).
This morning I lost another (from the original first batch again), I found him hiding down the side of my driftwood piece.
This has caused me to observe them quite closely over the past few hours once home from work. I have spotted a few things, and I cannot quite put my finger on what it could be.
Aty this point I should state that my parameters are:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20-30ppm (tap water in my area is at around 10-15ppm)
Firstly my observations are that they seem to take it in turns to sit at the top of the tank, sometimes taking mouthfuls of water and air at the same time (unsure if normal behaviour to do this). They are doing it less after a 30% water change, but they are still doing it. (most recent water change to todays was 2/3 days ago).
Secondly I have noticed that some of the scales on the velvet purple guppies have turned a silvery white, it's quite obvious in cases as on some of them its clearly only on individual scales, on others its on groups of scales (but not smothering the scales, which is what's throwing me away from thinking ICH).
Thirdly I have noticed The reddening of some of the frontal scales between the dorsal and the head, some of them have more than others, but in a similar fashion to the whitening scales at the back.
Fourthly I have also noticed on 3 of the newer yellow guppies, the skin/scales behind the head towards the dorsal fin is almost translucent, where the other two are showing the full silvery frontal scales like the rest of the front half of their bodies. Similarly on a couple of my velvet purple guppies I have seen darkening of the scales/skin in this same area, but not translucent.
Fifth thing of note is that two of the velvet purple ones have (and had...the one which died overnight last night was one of the little buggers) have worked out how to get in to the rear of my tank (3D background with my heater and filter tubing (external filter) is housed there too). I had to hook them out about 4-5 times yesterday, haven't a clue how they are dong it (jumping? I made sure to mesh up any water flow holes I made in the background to stop them sneaking through that way). One of these two, the one whom died last night, was beginning to get much paler in colour, nothing noticeable growing on him, no scale colour changes (apart from the paling).
From what I have researched, there are signs of several different possible diseases/parasitic issues, so I am pretty stumped as a newbie as to what to think of this issue.
Another thing to note is I do have live plants in my tank, Anubis (although he isn't attached to a rock) and Gigantea (I forget the exact names). The Gigantea is growing well, but some of the leaves are green, some are a translucent brown/red (all still growing though) is this normal?
They are feeding well, getting fed algae flakes 3 times a day.
I know this is a very long post, and I apologise, and thank you for making it to this point! I'm just a bit lost with it and worried about my remaining fish, it's been disheartening to lose two, let alone loosing any more before their time is up through nature.
All help is greatly appreciated, and if I have missed any details please let me know.
Many thanks,
James
NB: It's difficult to get pics of these guys as they don't stay still long enough
