Please help, skinny guppy

[belarskio]

My guppy is not eating at all, is very skinny, has red swollen cheeks and is having trouble swimming. Medicine and water testing is out of the question for obvious reasons last time I checked the water parameters with my last test strip ph was way too low 6.4 and kh was 0 anf water hardness was low. I cannot go to the store and idk what to do. One of my guppies already died and I think if this keeps up they will all die.

 

[kallililly1973]

Your PH is low and maybe your cycle has stalled. I would do a 50-75% WC and treat the water with Prime Water conditioner.. And in the future invest in a liquid test kit so you can test Ammonia as well. The red gills are usually an indication of Ammonia in your tank which is poisionus to fish.

 

[Blueberrybetta]

Have a way to test ammonia ? Red gills sound like ammonia poisoning. Your best bet is to do a water change. For low Ph, crushed coral helps raise it.

 

[SM1199]

The things that they tell you to test for - pH, KH, GH, etc - are actually quite pointless to test in a beginner tank with easy fish.

What is most important is ammonia. Unfortunately, it sounds like you don't have a test for that. What you'll have to do instead is assume you just have a lot of ammonia in that tank, and start doing daily 75% water changes.

How long ago did you set up this tank? Did you attempt to cycle it? Have you changed out the filter cartridge recently?

 

[belarskio]

Your PH is low and maybe your cycle has stalled. I would do a 50-75% WC and treat the water with Prime Water conditioner.. And in the future invest in a liquid test kit so you can test Ammonia as well. The red gills are usually an indication of Ammonia in your tank which is poisionus to fish.

The ammonia was 0 and so was nitrites the reason the ph is so low is because the tap water is so bad, a water change won't do anything.

The things that they tell you to test for - pH, KH, GH, etc - are actually quite pointless to test in a beginner tank with easy fish.

What is most important is ammonia. Unfortunately, it sounds like you don't have a test for that. What you'll have to do instead is assume you just have a lot of ammonia in that tank, and start doing daily 75% water changes.

How long ago did you set up this tank? Did you attempt to cycle it? Have you changed out the filter cartridge recently?

I changed the filter cartridge a week ago and my ammonia was 0 last time I checked and so was my nitrites, I did a 30% water change yesterday already

 

[SM1199]

I changed the filter cartridge a week ago and my ammonia was 0 last time I checked and so was my nitrites, I did a 30% water change yesterday already

You trashed your cycle when you threw away your filter cartridge. In the future, do not change the cartridge until it is absolutely falling apart, and at that time, put in a new filter cartridge alongside the old - keep it there for a week or more to allow the bacteria to colonize the new cartridge - and then remove the old filter cartridge.

You are essentially in a fish-in cycle now. You must treat it like it is. That means daily water changes - 75% is ideal - until your ammonia and nitrites start leveling back out on their own, at which point you can slowly decrease the size and frequency of the water changes.

Edit: as to your comment about how a water change won't do anything - the water change is not to correct the pH. The pH is the least of your worries right now. The water change is to lower the ammonia (that damages and kills fish) to make the tank a safer place for your fish.

 

[belarskio]

Have a way to test ammonia ? Red gills sound like ammonia poisoning. Your best bet is to do a water change. For low Ph, crushed coral helps raise it.

Like I said I have no way of buying stuff because of coronavirus because I don't want to expose me and and my family to it and everything that would sell

 

[Blueberrybetta]

Like I said I have no way of buying stuff because of coronavirus because I don't want to expose me and and my family to it and everything that would sell

Theres always Amazon, they're delivering still