# Guppy Die after Birth



## Sorafish (Sep 15, 2011)

I've kept guppies in the past. Had a 10 gallon a few years ago that started with two females and a male (and four ottocats) and ended with around 70 in the little tank. As I was younger, I hardly EVER did water changes, or cleaned the gravel, but they still thrived.
As I know better now, I have 6 females and 2 male along with three julli cory. I've been doing water changes every other day (10%), though sometimes I opt for a 50% once a week, have some of the ammonia absorbing gravel in the tank.
HOWEVER, I've been noticing that in this particular tank, and my other breeder tank, which has the same amount of guppies in there, after, or right before the female gives birth, they will DIE!
I'm very confused, as the tank I kept years ago had much WORSE water conditions and lighting than the ones I keep now. Should I stop doing water changes so often?
I just got my tanks over a bad disease(still not sure what it was exactly) and they are no longer experiencing symptoms of whatever they had, but it seems as though my females are giving birth to an EXTREME. They will become COMPLETELY flat in the stomach, something else new to me this time around. I've had a few females live after giving birth, but only the ones that don't empty themselves completely.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

I don't think you should do so many water changes. I do mine every Saturday and vacumm the rocks out good. I've had one die before birth, but she wasn't eating. Not sure what happened with her....
The constant changing could be stressing them. I had to do my water change early though because i found some weird looking babies last night  prob from my blac platy.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

There are a couple of possible water problems. 

When you use an ammonia absorber, it is possible to starve the 'cycle' and then have high ammonia spikes when the absorber is used up or overwhelmed . Test for this by testing for ammonia, esp. when a fish dies. 

The other possibility is "too soft" water. The only real advantage of not changing any/much water is that minerals build up when you top off evaporated water. Livebearers and African cichlids likely did do better as water got "harder" leading early fishkeepers to believe 'old water' was better.. Things like calcium carbonate are good for bones. A quick TDS or gH test on you tap water will give you an idea if the fish might benefit from additions to the water.

More likely is that your guppies are weak from fighting the disease. Pregnancy is draining and stressful and even females in top condition can die giving birth.


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## Sorafish (Sep 15, 2011)

Zebradaio- I only do so many water changes because the tank is slightly over stocked. Usually I just do a quick gravel vac.

Emc- I heard that AZ has some of the hardest water out there. I've been looking in our LFS for a dh tester and a modifier, but haven't been able to find one thusfar...Even the stores I go to that offer free testing don't have tests for it. 
The absorber isn't all I use. I use something that also converts the ammonia into what the bacteria eat. I had a LARGE amount of ammonia when I first started the tank, again, because of how many fish are in there. The absorbing rocks have been in there less than a week, but they seemed to help.
I'm thinking the disease picked off the weaker ones, as one of the females that had the disease laid eggs rather than giving birth, before dying. (only my second time ever seeing this)


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

Well.. one large change (50%) a week is better then several small ones. I would stick with that.


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## finnedfish123 (Oct 26, 2011)

I would do a reasonably large one a week too. It will not stress your females as much so they will be relaxed and hopefully make it. Mine don't seem to mind 1 a week cleaning out and the tank doesn't get infested with algae because of my female 10cm long bristlenose catfish! She is a fish tank hover. Her only problem is that she doesn't mind adding fry onto the menu!!!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Another possibility is any sort internal parasite or malnutrition problem. If making eggs takes too much out of the fish, she may not survive birth. Do you see sunken bellies or wierd/no poo?


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