# 2 guppies dead...???



## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

Well i just woke up to 2 dead guppies :'( Another one died a week ago, it had been hugging the heater for days then was lying on the bottom on it's side for days b4 it died, then just recently another one has been staying beside the heater a lot too so i was half expecting him to go soon, but instead today i wake up and of the two that are dead its not even him he's still alive. They've been in the tank for a month along with some neon tetras and the tetras r fine. I immediately checked all levels and they're fine, not even .25 of ammonia. I'm just wondering what could be the possible cause of two sudden deaths like this???


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## FRIENDLYFISHIES (Aug 7, 2012)

Was there any fuzz on or in the guppies mouth? I had 8 guppies, 6 were wiped out within the first week I had them, turned out to be columnaris...I treated with either melafix or pimafix and AQ salt for a couple days and saved 2 of them, they never contracted it and I still have them today, healthy boys too, my orange is really filling out. I would inspect the white fuzz senario and look up columnaris.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

it seems the tank is still cycling if you have ammonia readings...you should be getting nitrite readings as well..how often are you doing water changes ..and how much..what is the tank temp..


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

tank IS cycled...ammo/nitrIte= 0
Temp is 78


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2012)

How long did you cycle the tank before adding the fish? A tank needs to cycle at least two months before adding fish.


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## FRIENDLYFISHIES (Aug 7, 2012)

Im still thinking disease...did you look for white fuzzies on the fish?


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## bullseyejoey (Aug 30, 2012)

What's the pH? The pH may be too acidic. I've learned myself. Test your water. Do a water change. And get neutralizer. I am in the process of doing this.


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## bullseyejoey (Aug 30, 2012)

Or possibly too basic


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

Sh!t another one's dead...down to 1 guppy. and no fuzz mouth. 
tank was cycled for 2 months, although b4 i added fish it was taking 48 hours for my dose of ammonia to turn to 0, not 24. I'm thinking disease too or maybe over feeding. Well off to the lps for more guppies tomorrow.


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## bullseyejoey (Aug 30, 2012)

Once again what's the pH?


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Ph normally doesn't drop to quickley, and if the fish have been living in that water for two months the ph couldn't have killed them as they would have gotten used to it by now.


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

that's not it...PH is almost perfectly neutral about a 6.8-7.2 the last couple times i checked. The 7.2 is from this mourning.
And also i've been doing weekly 20% pwc


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## bullseyejoey (Aug 30, 2012)

Ok then that's not a problem


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

All are dead and you have no clue why? And so you want to put more in to die.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

Sometimes it's hard to pin. I lost an entire (very expensive) school of Paracyprichromis in a cycled tank and still have no idea why. All the other fish in the tank are still alive and doing well. This may sound silly, but are you treating your water when you're doing water changes and neutralizing all the Chlorine and metals? Are they in a busy part of the house and possibly stressed? Are they bloated at all? There's a lot of possibilities. I would try my best to nail what could possibly be harming them before adding more fish. Play Dr. House for a little bit and run down the list. Any rocks from your yard that could have possibly been sprayed with bug chemicals? Any chemicals in your water that could possibly be masking the culprit?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I went through like 10 guppies before I ultimately gave up on guppies. I am not entirely convinced they are strong enough to do much with these days. And before anyone asks it was a well established tank (3 years) with no fish death in months when I lost the Betta, who died of old age. Them guppies just wouldn't live. I got some from Petco and some from PetSmart. Not so good, I gave up.


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

thx 4 all the advise!!!...Yes i do treat, with Prime. I do spray my garbage pail with lysol and its about 4 feet away, i guess that could possibly be it. Guess i'll wait n see if this last guy survives for the next couple weeks b4 adding any more.... But what about the beneficial bacteria in the filter, wont it get weaker with less bio load ?? Thats the only reason i thought i should replace em' right away...Also i'm expecting an order from the lps of 2 yoyo loaches this week, just keep my fingers crossed that what killed my guppies wont happen to the loaches :s


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## graceful.04 (Oct 30, 2012)

I'm sorry for your loss. In the future, I suggest getting a separate tank and isolating a fish (or multiple fish) who looks sick to you so his disease doesn't spread to the rest of your fish. The only other thing I can think of is swim bladder disease as you said that your fish were laying on the bottom on their sides, but I don't think that swim bladder can spread... anyways, just some thoughts. Better luck next time.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

From what I understand, Prime does a good job of masking your test results. Because it detoxifies your Nitrites, it shows up on the test as a safe level. But, unless I'm mistaken, Prime can only detoxify so much, and if your levels are really high they could be killing fish and still showing up safe. I may be wrong, but that's my understanding. Someone with much more experience will probably explain whether or not what I've said is true.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I don't know if that is true or not. Time to e-mail the seachem rep.


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

*Possible Culprit???*

i think i may have found the culprit killing my guppies...when i vacumed the gravel today( for first time since they all died) there was a ton of black silt sucked up coming from the charcoal in the filter, and with all previous vacumings there had been NONE...So wondering would a lot of charcoal dust in the water kill fish??? thx!!!!!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

only if they ate it. And I'm not sure even then. Eating carbon is a cure for poisoning.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Charcoal itself doesn't kill I think, but charcoal (if left in the water for longer than 2 weeks) releases toxins back into the water. How recently did you replace the carbon media?


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

Havn't yet, filter/carbon have been in used for 3 months


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

A friend suggested i use Melafix... Do any of you?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I haven't used melafix, but it is supposed to be good for fin rot.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

replace the carbon, 3 months is way to long. Carbon really isn't necessary unless you are removing medicines from your aquarium, so maybe leave it out all together. Another thing is if you use melafix (or any other medicine) make sure that ALL the carbon is removed from the filter as it will remove the medicine before it can do any good. Like I said, I would leave it out all together and just keep some in case you need to remove medicine.


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## Slicey P (Aug 27, 2012)

How long would u suggest i wait b4 replacing them ?? And what if my last one goes, what then ?? Once again my neons r all fine but i'm down to one guppy


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