# My guppies keep dying



## sandman17897

I have a ten gallon tank, with filter, heater, temp is at 77 degrees Fahrenheit My tank had been cycling for three months it took me a while to get the water right. I always dechlorinate and treat my water. I did add aquarium salt, by the instructions. I was feeding them Tetra's Tetra Color Tropical Fish Flakes and I was also feeding them freeze dried bloodworms. But later I read that it makes them fat if bloodworms are fed too often so I thought that was the problem but then I stopped feeding them that and the rest still ended up dying. Parameters: Ammonia 1ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Nitrate .50 ppm. I know the ammonia is a little high but Ive been doing water changes and adding Ammo Lock to detox the ammonia. The 4 guppies all seemed to have died from the same issue I had 5 total (all 5 were male), they are swimming around just fine and then eventually their stomachs started getting larger, and they looked bloated. One of them got so bloated they were swimming upside down! Eventually they would either sink to the bottom and just lay there, or sit at the top and lay there and overnight I would find them at the bottom of the tank dead with a very swollen stomach. (This all happened over the span of 5 days the first day being the day I first put them in the tank, with one fish dying the third day, one on the fourth, and two on the fifth day) Now there is only one left and Im worried it might happen to him soon, he doesn't look sick yet he is swimming healthily just like the other fish did before their stomachs started swelling. I know its not an overfeeding problem because I really do not feed them alot. Very small pinch twice a day. Im thinking it might have something to do with the water, but does anyone have any idea or diagnosis? Please help if you can.


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## TheOldSalt

1- Quit using Ammolock as a crutch. It never works out in the long run. Just stop using it and let the tank actually cycle.

2- Try different foods, preferably some right & proper guppy food

3- The bloating is probably from an infection which won't be cured by the previous steps. They'll help a lot, though.


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## sandman17897

Ok I will do these things. What are right guppy foods though? And what can I do about the infection?


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## betta0fish

they might hav some parasites or dropsy.. put aquarium salt and feed them some cooked peas


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## hXcChic22

Or canned peas... if they seem to be constipated, like you never ever see them poop, that can be part of the problem. 
Either frozen (cooked) or canned peas. Take the pea and squish out the insides into the tank. They can't or won't eat the skin; I think it's indigestible to them, but the insides help unstop their little bowels. 

Funny though... I wonder if something is "happening" to guppies. We have had the worst luck with them. We must have gone through 30 since we started fishkeeping, and we've lost most of them for whatever reason. The water is fine, and all the other fish are ok, it's just them. Weird.


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## DevinsFish

I have never had luck with guppies either. They are great looking, but neon tetras seem to last way longer and are, in my opinion, equally as eye appealing.


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## TheOldSalt

Lots of people have problems with new guppies, because guppies often have trouble making big adjustments to new conditions, especially the more "bred" they are. However, if you can get some fry out them, the fry will usually do very well, giving you a new line of guppies perfectly suited to the conditions you can offer them. Kind of a pain, I guess, but worth the effort.


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## hXcChic22

I did notice that. The pregnant mothers we bought would have their fry, who would do very well. Usually the mothers never recovered from birth, though, and kicked the bucket. 
We had some fry with crooked spines, but other than that, they lived the longest. I think we still had a couple left when we downsized, that we sold back to the store.


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## mousey

guppies should really only be fed once a day I think. male guppies get "chesty" very easily and I read they then are prone to heart attacks. Guppies also do better if they can forage for algae in the tank.Heck, most fish can go at least 10 days without food if they are healthy and previously well fed.
Cut back on the food and let their guts empty.
they also seem to expend a lot of energy chasing each other around and I find that if you can get them to survive longer than 8-9 months you are doing well.
I did have 3 male blues that 2 of them survived for 1 1/2 years and the 3rd survived for just over 2 years. They were brothers.
I have had guppies for over 8 years and currently am housing 28 of them.


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## ThatDude

Lucky you. My wife has guppies and every month we have over a hundread babies. The one female has had 11 batches of fry. And is normally 3 times the size of any of the males when she isn't full of babies. If you want a constant supply just let me know.


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