Tragedy.... Turned Awesome Experience/story

So this morning I got up and went to my fish tank to turn on the light ( I am not fancy or affluent enough atm to have a timed light, I'll get there) and I notice that one of my guppies is laying upside in the bottom of the tank.

I was stricken at first, and so with a sad hand, I went to grab him out... well, he moved.. still upside-down but he tried to run. Then he stopped.. this repeated for a few moments till I finally netted him. I put him into a smaller container with some aquarium water (just in case) and then set about testing my water.

Well my nitrates were screaming high (this is something I deal with off an on.. all I can figure is I am doing something wrong or someone is feeding the fish other than me.) So I set about a 50% PWC. I also changed the water in the small container and dosed it with some Melafix and Stresscoat.

I get the tank squared away with a PWC and good vacuum and then set about cleaning my mess. When it came time for me to decide to dump the little guppy or give him a chance, I noticed while still upside down he was at least moving his fins. So I put his little container in the sunshine and went on about cleaning and errands and running to my wife's restaraunt to tell her about the guppy and fix her phoine.

I just came home and the little dude is swimming around his small container.. he has to rest from time to time but when I moved the container to look at him he bolted around like crazy. So, for now, he is in his own little container on our balcony and swimming around in the sunshine.

I tested the water in the tank... Nitrates still very high so I did another 50% PWC and am letting it settle. I am a bit worried about putting the single guppy back in the tank, but I don't have a way to regulate the water temp in his tiny container. But he is alive and kicking.. well finning anyway.

Any suggestions?

 

You really need to discover the cause of your nitrates getting out of control. As the amount of nitrates are the end result of the amount of ammonia and the amount of ammonia is caused by the amount of food ( the more you feed the fish the more waste they produce and any uneaten food rots and creates ammonia) then over feeding may be the issue. If you are not overfeeding then are you overstocked? How big is the tank? How many fish are in it? . Another issue is how often do you change water? And how much do you change? I would continue doing water changes every day or two until you get the nitrates to 10-20 then change enough each week to stay there. What about other parameters ( ammonia , nitrites, pH, KH,GH ) are these all good ?. I wouldn't return the ill fish to your tank until it is 100 percent healthy. Ideally you would have a hospital tank for the ill fish but you should try to keep it at a stable temperature as best as you can and change its water regularly as I assume it has no filter either

 

Ammonia is under .25ppm Nitrites are around 0 (under .25mppm) pH is 7.2 it seems. I do not know how to check KH or GH. I do a 40% WC every week. There are 5 (4 atm) guppies, 1 cherry shrimp and an Inca snail. it is a 10 gallon tank. I will try to go get a little 5 gallon tank for the solo guppy and get him situated tonight or tomorrow. Only other things in the tank are 3 plants 2 lava rocks and a piece of drift wood.

 

Any amount of Ammonia or Nitrites is not good. Did you test your tap water?

 

My tap water runs about .25ppm to almost .5ppm. So I have been using Amguard when changing the water as well as Prime.

So we ran out to get a 5 gallon tank/heater and pump.. got back and the lil dude is dead. All other fish in main tank are fine. But I guess it was too much for him to keep fighting. I am not sure.

 

Good to have the 5 gal as backup. In the future if you are ever caught having to separate a fish, I have floated or clipped a clear container in my tank with an air stone run from a separate air pump. An airline valve will make it so you can control the bubbles. This will temporarily manage your temperature as the tank should heat the container water as well. Sorry you lost your guppy.

 

So looking into it. I am not sure he died just from whatever was wrong with him. Our roommate saw the fish in his container on the back porch and brought it inside so that his cat wouldnt eat it. I am thinking the water temp got too low.. it felt very cold when I stirred it around trying to see if he would move. I just have to get the tank straight asap. My nieces will be over next week and will be wondering where their fish went.

Thanks everyone for your replies so far. I will not let this defeat me. I will get it figured out... Or I will move them to a 20 gallon where maybe they will be better off.

 

Although guppies are quite Hardy fish I have found that by the time the appear ill they are often beyond saving. I always try to treat sick guppies but less than half actually recover.

 

Being upside down is a swim bladder problem that is very hard to cure. It usually winds up being fatal.