What happened? 2 days - 2 guppies die :'(

:'(

On Tuesday I woke up and could only see 3 guppies in the tank, so I had a look in the tank looking under some of the rocks and I found one of them dead. I did a water change and then had to go to out, so didn't have time to test the water.

Anyway, on Wednesday, I woke up and I could only see 2 guppies, so again I looked around the tank and he was dead. Again I did a water change to make sure the water was actualy clean, but didn't do a test (Don't know why, I know I should have.  :-[ )

Anyway, since then nothing been wrong with the other 2. What could have happened?
I know that I hadn't done a water change in about 2 weeks because I had exams at school and didn't have much time.  :-\

Could this be what caused their deaths?

Before the first of them died, I kind of knew he wasn't going to last very long, because he was spending a lot of time at the surface resting on the plant or on top of the heater, or was lying at the bottom on his side, but the other one seemed really healthy and they were all eating fine. I know I should have put him in the Q tank, but again, because of my exams, I haven't set it up, so even if I did set it up and moved him there he would have probably died because the tank wasn't cycled, so I thought it was best to just leave him where he was.

I will get tank readings for you later, and will post them here to see if they help.

Thanks. I'm confused at why this happened.

Gwenz :-\

 

Levels are:

ammonia - 0
NitrAte - 5.0
NitrIte - 0
PH - 7.0

Gwenz

 

Sorry but it sounds like you have had a sick fish and he is passing it along to the others. Did he have any other symptoms but the lack of activity. Clamped fins, reddened gills, spots, lack of color, swimming oddly, not eating, anything at all unusual that you can remember. Have you changed anything at all, food , any decorations or plants. No new fish? What is the tap water testing at?

My suggestion is to do a major water change and watch the remaining fish closely and if they start to act in any way the same as the other ones remove them even if you have to put them into a bucket with dechlorinated water in it. It does not have to be cycled. You can do a manual filtration through water changes until you see what it is that is wrong. This way at least maybe all of them won't come down with it.

The only other thing you may want to try is some Melafix just in case. You can safely use it on guppies as they do not have Labyrinth organs.

Rose

 

Thanks. I remember that his gills were slightly redder than the others, but was eating and was swimming fine when he came to the surface to eat, then he would just rest at the bottom again. :-\ I haven't changed anything I the tank.

What do you meen when you say "What is the tap water testing at?" ? Do you want me to test Ammonia, NitrAte,...etc. straight out of the tap?

I have done a big water change and am watching the 2 I have left closely. Joe, (one of the guppies), hasn't been swimming so much, and stayes towards the back of the tank. But I think he is just lonely because I did have 3 of the same colour (mix of orange, black and yellow) and Bruno who is blue. It was 2 of the orange/black/yellow ones that died and Joe always swam with them while Bruno was always fine by himself, so I think Joe is just missing the others. Do you think I should do what you said, by putting him in a bucket just in case I'm wrong?

I have melafix. I might try it.

Thanks Rose

Gwenz

 

Unfortunately, since he spent the most time with them the little guppy who is hanging at the back of the tank is also the most likely to get sick. So I guess I would separate him from the rest just in case. I would also try the Melafix since you have lost two now.

Yes, I mean test the tap water before you add any dechlor or anything to it for at least nitrates and nitrites, but ammonia would not be a bad idea either. In some cases, I have had fish get sick just from a change in our water supply that I was unaware of. Their gills are so tender and if there is a change of something they are going to react even if it is not harmful to us necessarily.

I am just guessing at this point since he doesn't seem to be having any other symptoms. Could they be having a problem with constipation? I have never heard of it in guppies but just in case do you think you could have perhaps been letting them overeat and they may need to fast a day or have some veggie flake. I do not know much about guppies, I am so sorry.

Please let us know how things are going. I am going to be off tomorrow but I hope someone will check in or I will perhaps late in the day.


Try to have a Merry Christmas. Realize that you are doing what you can for them and that sometimes these things do happen. Sometimes we never do find out why. We will just do the best we can to help the little ones, okay?


Rose

 

Thanks. Sorry didn't reply sooner. I've been busy.

He seems fine now and swmming with Bruno, so he seems much better. They get veggie flakes at least for one of their meals a day anyway and they ahd a day to fast when I went away for new year!

I will test the tap water a give you the results just haven't got round to it yet.

Gwenz