Guppies flashing then dying

Hi, I have 6 neon tetra, 2 guppies soon to be one I suspect.

My parameters are. Ammonia and nitrite 0 and nitrate 30-40 which I can't get down even with daily water changes of 50%

anyway I had 2 guppies then introduced a third, I never saw this one flashing but he was always timid and quiet compared to the other 2. Within a week he became more and more lethargic until he just used to sit on the bottom. He died within 7 days of introducing him.

Since he died the other 2 guppies have been flashing against leaves, one of these guppies is now in trouble, facing upwards at the top of the tank and drifting around. I first thought it may have been ich but there are no white spots. the other one is ok but I can see him going the same way. I slowly turned up the tank water to 30 degrees as I thought it was ich. And I wanted to treat it with heat.

I now think it may be something else?

What could it be, could I have introduced something into the tank with the 3rd sick guppy? My neons show no sign of anything.

Any advice please?

 

I wish I could help you, but a similar thing just happened to me. I introduced 3 trios of guppies and within a week I started loosing them one by one with no outward sign of disease. like you said they seem lethargic then within a day or two they die. my water perameters were normal too and didn't affect my platties at all. After I lost about 30% of my guppies I started treatment with melefix and pimafix.I lost another 30% of my guppies in the first few days of treatment, but things have stabalized now and I haven't lost a guppy in about 10 days which seems like forever after watching them die at least one a day for 10 days.

 

I would suspect that your tap water contains nitrates and that is why the water changes are not lowering them. Have you tested your tap water?

 

I would raise the temperature up as you did and leave it there for about two weeks before slowly raising it down. I would also keep up with water changes every couple days as well to help remove the parasite. Sometimes it's hard to see the white spots of Ich. I read before that you can only see the spots at a certain stage of the life cycle. Even if it is a different parasite than Ich, the heat should also help with that too. The temperature cure is what I've had the best luck with in the past. There is a "sticky" post that I think Catsma did that should be very helpful.

 

Would that level of nitrate kill fish? I thought that 30-40 might be a level that you would want to do a water change, but not a level that would kill.
Wonder if it might be something else?

 

Hi,

@jdhef: yes I have nitrates of around 10-15ppm in my tap, so I'm taking some out when I do water changes then putting some in, vicious circle!!

@tpasser2: yes ive read you don't always see the spots, I think when I added the third guppy, it has brought it with it. I just hope the other one will be ok. I don't want to use meds. my tetras are fine, been in there for about 8 weeks, grown quite large compared to how they were. I have read that people do have problems with guppies, and some people just can't keep them, strange, ill just keep the temp up for 2 weeks and keep hoovering the sand rocks etc every couple of days and hope it goes away.

@karenmolloy nitrates of 40ppm or less are safe, mine never get higher than 40 before I do a change of water, when you start getting above that, the fishes organs have to work harder, therefore decreasing their immune system and in time causing stress and increased chances of disease. but water changes each week should keep it in check so it never gets that bad.

so do we think it is ich then? I'm hoping ive caught it in time with the heat but not quick enough for the other fish, he died in the night by the way the other one is swimming normally, and I haven't seen him flash yet, but he never did it as much as the other anyway

 

Sounds like a good plan. Whenever I have dealt with Ich so far, it has actually been while I've had guppies in my tank. I don't know if they are more susceptible, but it seemed like it. Good luck. I would say it most likely is a parasite like Ich because of the flashing the fact that deaths occurred. I think the temperature treatment will help you out.

 

Thanks a lot tpasser2