# Vertical Guppy?



## nedla

Hi,
I am a novice in fish keeping.
I recently bought a used 20 gal. aquarium. It was used for fresh water only. I stocked it with 3 mollies (fe), a platy trio, and some plants. A few days later I added a guppy trio. A few hours later I noticed what I thought was ich on two of my mollies and maybe a platy female (not sure).
I bought COPPERSAFE and API Aquarium salt, and added the directed dose.
Sorry don't know my water perameters, temp is about 78F - 82F. No real change in the ich, but I only added it yesterday. Fish were bought at a chain pet supply store.
My question is this:
Today I found that my male fancy guppy is swimming vertically (nose up,tail down).
Any Ideas? Is he a loss?
Any info would be much appreciated,
Randi


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## Guest

hey Miranda,

any signs of redness on the gills?

and Welcome aboard!

Cheers!


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## nedla

He's died... during that few minutes it took me to post. I would still like to know what it was. Yes he looked like he had some red on the gills.


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## Guest

redness in the gills could indicate ammnoia poisoning. any other fish swimming/lazing at the surface gasping for air?


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## nedla

Not lazing around, but a female guppy constantly keeps her gills flared out. I think she was like that before I got her. I think at least in the bag on the way home.

Ammonia Poisoning, that would be caused by dirty water, right?


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## Guest

when did you do your last water change?


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## nedla

I cannot get a test kit right now, but could this be helped by water changes in the mean time? If so what pecentage, and how often? I havn't done a water change yet. Only been stocked about a week give or take a few days. With my 10gal. I do a full water change (including scrubbing) about every 3-4 weeks. Also if water frequent changes are what I need right now, I only bought my guppies 2-3 days ago (Wednesday), will it cause them too much stress?
Thanks for your help.
Randi


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## Guest

it could be caused by a lotta reasons.....but i suggest a 40% WC at the earliest.


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## Guest

i do a 20% wc every week. sometimes if i feel the water is dirty i do a quick clean WC.

(WC = Water Change)


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## Guest

no offence but you might be a lil over stocked or pushing the limit to the 10gl tank Miranda.

keep in mind that you for every inch of the size of the fish, you need a gallon of water for it. how big are your mollys and platys?

what is your filteration like?


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## nedla

Thanks for all your help.
The female guppy W/ the flaring gills...this nomal? 
I will do that wc now.


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## nedla

If you think so, I will reduce the numbers.


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## nedla

Mollies and platties are in a 20 gallon. Mosquitofish and Johnny darters are in my 10


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## nedla

10 gal. filter is a Aqua-Tech 5-15
20 gal. filter is a Bio-wheel 100. up to 20 gal.


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## alliecat420

ok i'm just gonna add a couple of things.. one is did you cycle your tank.. and did you add fish slowly (as in 2-3 per week) the second thing is.. i would go look for a bigger filter.. it's a good brand you have.. but if your having water quality problems you might want more filtration to help you through it.. 
it sounds like new tank syndrome.. which is when you add too meny fish too quickly to an uncycled tank.. you will need to do water changes.. like zakk said.. %20 weekly (maybe more for now) until you can get your ammonia to 0.. purchase a water test kit (ammonia test is the most important.. and avoid strips) and test daily.. anything over 0 means do a %20 water change

as for your 10 gallon.. when you do a water change no more than %20 is really nessisary unless you have a problem.. you also dont need to scrub your tank (dont ever use soap) except for alge off the walls.. your tank needs a bit of funk to it (funk as in "dirty" suff) it will help your fish out.. i hope this helped.. good luck


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## nedla

Thanks for your in put allie. 
Cycleing: the tank was used, and came with used (but not old) filter media, and was set up about a week or so before any fish arrived were permanantly put in.
I never use soap on my 10 gal. and I have never had any problems in it such as diseases, parasites etc. I will limit my water changes to partial.
I will try to get a new filter for my 20 gal. 
I guess I did put too many fish in at first , 3 platies and 3 mollies. 

I never had to care for livebearers, other than my mosquitofish. I hoped they would be good practice for guppies, but as I never had any problems with them I don't know what to expect. 

Thanks again, 
Randi


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## alliecat420

i bet adding 6 fish to the tank caused an ammonia spike.. unless you where feeding the tank (ammonia/food) some of the bacteria in the used filter cartridge could have starved (being used to the amount of fish waste it got before) also if the filter cartridge dryed out.. the bacteria died.. therefore.. you started basically new

your plan sounds good to me.. you should be set once you get everything in order.. remember keep your ammonia level at 0.. this is probably whats going on.. ammonia can not only poision your fish.. but it can also weaken it's immune system and it can catch other diseases which often leads people to belive that everything just "went wrong"
as for what to expect with livebearers once you get your water quality good.. expect babies... livebearers are in my opinion the most rewarding beginner fish.. nothing tells you your doing a good job like babies do! keep us updated on how your tank is improving!!

ps.. once you get a new filter.. throw your old filter cartridge in with a new one (granted your new filter has room for two.. i seguest the penguin 150) that way your new one can build up what it needs so you can change out the old one with no problem


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## Guest

thats a good idea what Allie suggests. either way i wouldnt suggest throwin out any old aquarium stuff. i still have rocks, plants, caves, filters, airstones, god alone knows how much tubing and fake plants in my selves. just in case.


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## nedla

:Thank you, I didn't realize the innitial reason for stocking small numbers was for the ammonia. I just thought it was somthing like stress. I am going to be needing a lot of help...

As for livebearers being rewarding: My mosquitofish are livebearers and have produced fry a few times, but in small numbers. The biggest batch was 5. 

Adding low numbers, does this apply to a fry tank? Or are these changed often enough, to add a whole batch of fry? 

I completly spaced on that the bacteria died off.I need to change my filter media in the 10 gal. should I put the media in the bio wheel with my current media? It has 2 room for 2.
Suffering severe novice-ity,
Randi


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## nedla

A few more point questions:

I cannot get test kits right now. Would daily 20% water changes be ok till I can?

My guppie are gravid, I had what I think is ich in ( think )my tank, If when the females drop, if I put her in a seperate container just before she drops with clean water, remove her as soon as she quits dropping fry, will the fry have to undergo treatment too? 

Aqurium salt (API) is fine with my mystery snail, right? 

And those guppies, will they drop with all my problems, or will they hold?
Thanks.


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