Help they are dying

[Bansmo]

My new female guppies are dying one by one.
40L tank tall tank.
Cycled for the last 6 months.

I introduced 6 female over the weekend to the tank which was already established with 5 males mix + 3 existing females.

I have one kuhlI loach and one mystery snail to keep the algae at bay.

What am I doing wrong?

Readings;
neutral pH 7.4-7.6
0 nitrite, ammonia, nitrate

Mystery snail was added 1 week ago.

 

[JJfishes]

Where did you purchase the new female Guppies? It's possible they transferred a disease from the tank where they originally were held in. Were they acting weird before they started dying? Are the other fish acting weird?

 

[Bansmo]

It was from a proper Aquarium store but this is the first time I’m buying from them. Not PetCo or PetBarn.

Today I lost 5. 3 females and 2 of my males.

I can mix the types of guppies in a tank right? Like cobra, male blue and etc.

Temp is 24C atm. I noticed one of them has red gills like ammonia burn today. But my ammonia reading is 0.

 

[JJfishes]

Thank you for the response and the posting of the test results. Very odd they're showing a sign of Ammonia poisoning yet no Ammonia, Red gills can also happen with Chlorine poisoning (If using tap water and conditioner, it's possible your local municipality has added more Chlorine for Water Treatment, causing a standard dose of your water conditioner to not work effectively, you should check online on their website to see if there is a notice about it.), OR your 10-gallon might not have enough oxygen in the water from all the inhabitants, happened when I had too many fish in my tank, do you have a bubbler or enough surface agitation by your filter or another kind of pump? Keeping different Guppies together is fine and many do it.

 

[ProudPapa]

You said your tank is cycled for the last 6 months. Please elaborate. It's probably not true for you, but some purple new to the hobby think letting a tank just sit with water in it is "cycling", and for a typically cycled tank I'd expect to see some nitrates.

Also, I had trouble keeping guppies alive in a new tank. They came from multiple sources, and others have reported similar issues.

 

[Bansmo]

You said your tank is cycled for the last 6 months. Please elaborate. It's probably not true for you, but some purple new to the hobby think letting a tank just sit with water in it is "cycling", and for a typically cycled tank I'd expect to see some nitrates.

Also, I had trouble keeping guppies alive in a new tank. They came from multiple sources, and others have reported similar issues.

I own 4 tanks and this one is definitely cycled.
The water parameters are as per my previous post. I’ve had guppies breeding in this tank before (3x).
If anything that changed was the addition of 1 mystery snail and more females a couple of weeks later.

That’s what stumped me.

 

[Bansmo]

Thank you for the response and the posting of the test results. Very odd they're showing a sign of Ammonia poisoning yet no Ammonia, Red gills can also happen with Chlorine poisoning (If using tap water and conditioner, it's possible your local municipality has added more Chlorine for Water Treatment, causing a standard dose of your water conditioner to not work effectively, you should check online on their website to see if there is a notice about it.), OR your 10-gallon might not have enough oxygen in the water from all the inhabitants, happened when I had too many fish in my tank, do you have a bubbler or enough surface agitation by your filter or another kind of pump? Keeping different Guppies together is fine and many do it.

Since the last post, I’ve transferred them to another tank. Kept 75% the original water and did 25% water change with dechlorinator . No substrate just empty tank with heater(24.5C) and filter(seasoned not brand new). Bubbles are agitating surface. Fingers crossed.

Do you think I should do anything else ?
And it’s just them in that tank. No one else.

 

[JJfishes]

Since the last post, I’ve transferred them to another tank. Kept 75% the original water and did 25% water change with dechlorinator . No substrate just empty tank with heater(24.5C) and filter(seasoned not brand new). Bubbles are agitating surface. Fingers crossed.

Do you think I should do anything else ?
And it’s just them in that tank. No one else.

Since we still don't know exactly why or what caused the multiple deaths. I wouldn't go ahead and do anything else or do anything drastic, such as adding medications or anything, let them stay in that 'Quarantine' tank for now and keep an eye on their behavior.

 

[PascalKrypt]

Just an observation but it seems a bit odd to me that 15 guppies in a 10 gallon would result in 0 nitrates. Is it a heavily planted tank? How often did you do water changes on it?

 

[ProudPapa]

You might have just gotten hold of guppies that have poor genetics.

 

[Bansmo]

Just an observation but it seems a bit odd to me that 15 guppies in a 10 gallon would result in 0 nitrates. Is it a heavily planted tank? How often did you do water changes on it?

It’s not densely planted. It’s 40% coverage. Water change every 2-4weeks.

 

[PascalKrypt]

That is too few water changes. That may have very well contributed to your problems. Weekly is best but bi-weekly is really the very minimum.

 

[Bansmo]

Ok... that’s it. I have 1 death every day.

I have no issues with Cichlids, breeding Anglefish, plecos and all the other fish.

But I can’t breed guppies. What’s going on? Ughhhh so over it. I’ve spent so much money on these “supposedly easy to breed fish”

 

[MacZ]

I'll put it this way:
A small highly bred guppy that comes from a bad (= disease ridden) source is more likely to die quickly than a bigger fish that is not overbred and not coming from a bad source. To me it sounds like you introduced some disease with the guppies.

 

[PascalKrypt]

Water change every 2-4weeks.

I seriously suggest you start with weekly water changes to try and turn things around before blaming bad genetics. Not that that couldn't be it, just that that often causes seemingly random deaths. Look up Old Tank Syndrome.

 

[MacZ]

I seriously suggest you start with weekly water changes to try and turn things around before blaming bad genetics. Not that that couldn't be it, just that that often causes seemingly random deaths. Look up Old Tank Syndrome.

Missed that one. Only every 2-4 weeks is really much to rarely.

 

[MrCarpy]

Did you quarantine these new Guppies and treat them with medications, medicated food or at least salt? before adding them to this tank?

 

[Bansmo]

Missed that one. Only every 2-4 weeks is really much to rarely.

Because there were only a few guppies (3-4 from memory) to start with.

 

[Bansmo]

Did you quarantine these new Guppies and treat them with medications, medicated food or at least salt? before adding them to this tank?

Yes I did the climatise then KMNO4 dip & all those caper before tank additions.

 

[qldmick]

why do you have 0 nitrate? do you trust your test kit?

 

[Bansmo]

why do you have 0 nitrate? do you trust your test kit?

That’s what the result came out as. I used the API kit. Is that not trustworthy?

This is the tank.

 

[Bansmo]

 

[Bansmo]

Since then, I’ve changed tanks to a 40L longer width than height. Death rate has dropped to maybe 1/week. Took the water to the aquarium shop to test just in case I’m not doing it correctly, he said water is fine.


I’m stumped. I even used distilled water from the pharmacy so that I don’t have chlorine and stuff.
Still I get clumped fins and they die.
this is my last attempt. Ugh! So frustrating. Supposed to be the easiet fish to Breed.

 

[MacZ]

Guppies are mostly overbred, massproduced fish with generally bad health. I suspect you're either sourcing the fish from a store that doesn't adhere to basic hygiene standards or it's the distilled water, as guppies like hard water, while distilled is the softest water you can have.

 

[Bansmo]

I’ve bought more guppies from 6 different stores from different states. I know... call me committed to this guppy breeding project. (Or silly)

 

[MacZ]

I have no words. And no advice for that matter. Hope somebody else with more experience with guppies can help. Good luck.

 

[LightBrownPillow]

In light of all the discussion already had, I'd say get a hardness test kit and see what your GH/KH values are in the tank. MacZ mentioned that distilled water is too soft, and he's right. Livebearers like GH > 250 ppm (14 dH) and KH > 120ppm (7 dH), otherwise their osmoregulation and gill function don't work well (this might be why you've seen red gills even without ammonia issues).

In general, fish adapted for soft water can tolerate hard water, but hard water fish (livebearers, cichlids) don't tolerate soft water at all.

 

[Gone]

That’s what the result came out as. I used the API kit. Is that not trustworthy? View attachment 677025

This is the tank.

Something's not right with the nitrate reading. If your tank is cycled and has been set up or a while, and you're only doing water changes every two to four weeks, you would have a much higher nitrate reading. The API kit is generally considered very reliable. Are you shaking the nitrate indicator solution bottle #2 for 30 seconds before you add the drops, then shaking the test tube for one minute, then waiting five minutes to take the reading?

In any case, water changes, water changes, water changes. It's almost impossible to do too many water changes, and most cases being more aggressive with water changes will be a huge part of the solution to any problem.

 

[Jollypop4321]

Just a beginners thought.....

Is It a possibility that your guppies have parasites carried in by your snail. These parasites can not be seen with the naked eye. They burrow into the fish and can slowly paralyze muscle tissue. They also go into the gills causing the fish to gulp hard or gasp for air.
maybe you could research that idea and see if it pertains to your situation then take appropriate measures
I also had a very rough start with my guppies. I had the same thoughts you did. Why was I failing when so many others couldn’t give their babies away fast enough? It took some time for me to get the hang of it. I’m sure you will too

 

[Bansmo]

Just a beginners thought.....

Is It a possibility that your guppies have parasites carried in by your snail. These parasites can not be seen with the naked eye. They burrow into the fish and can slowly paralyze muscle tissue. They also go into the gills causing the fish to gulp hard or gasp for air.
maybe you could research that idea and see if it pertains to your situation then take appropriate measures
I also had a very rough start with my guppies. I had the same thoughts you did. Why was I failing when so many others couldn’t give their babies away fast enough? It took some time for me to get the hang of it. I’m sure you will too

So what did you do to get the hang of it??

 

[Jollypop4321]

For me it was getting the water perimeters right
It was harder than I thought It would be. Water where I live is extremely hard. Getting that ph down to a 7.6 to 7.8 took some work. (guess who recently switched to distilled water from Walmart lol)
Cutting back On feeding And adding beneficial bacteria to the bio filter with every water change helped to Stop the nitrate and ammonia spikes.
Though not all hobbyist believe in live bacteria so I don’t know if that’s a bad thing here or not. Take it with a grain of salt and form your own opinion.
These are the steps I took after struggling for a while. I hope you find something useful in here. Maybe some thing posted here will give you a good idea?

 

[Bansmo]

For me it was getting the water perimeters right
It was harder than I thought It would be. Water where I live is extremely hard. Getting that ph down to a 7.6 to 7.8 took some work. (guess who recently switched to distilled water from Walmart lol)
Cutting back On feeding And adding beneficial bacteria to the bio filter with every water change helped to Stop the nitrate and ammonia spikes.
Though not all hobbyist believe in live bacteria so I don’t know if that’s a bad thing here or not. Take it with a grain of salt and form your own opinion.
These are the steps I took after struggling for a while. I hope you find something useful in here. Maybe some thing posted here will give you a good idea?

I switched to distilled water at one time and it was disastrous. the water was then too soft.
I’m still trying to get the parameters right. In a 25L tank, that’s almost impossible. My other 400L is so much easier. I have one death/day. There’s always a plep.