# Sick Fishie



## Dana and Jay (Dec 27, 2005)

We brought home 3 male Guppy's last night. I noticed one was swimming in the same spot for a while. When I woke-up this morning he was dead. I cleaned him out and now, tonight one of the other Guppy's is acting the same way. He is hanging out next to the filter and doesn't swim around the tank. What should I do???


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

Examine him very closely and make sure there isn't anything wrong with him visibly. Are his fins clamped close to him? Does he have white spots on him? Does any part of him look irritated or red? Do the edges of his fins look ragged? Also, please check the water parameters and post those and the answers to these questions. That will make it a lot easier to tell you what you should do. And, good luck!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

It sounds like Transfer Shock to me. For "beginner fish," guppies are pretty sensitive and have to be moved with care. If the differences between your tank'e water and the water they were in at the petstore are very great, then your fish can have a lot of trouble.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Lets see, you got this tank for Christmas, if I remember correctly. So it's been a little over a week. Its about time for ammonia to start showing up. Do you have an ammonia test kit???? Did you look into "cycling" before you started the tank?


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## Dana and Jay (Dec 27, 2005)

he looked healthy as fas as i can tell, he was the prettiest of the bunch, he was a bright orange guppie so it was kind of hard to see any visible red spots but there were no white ones either. So I got home from work today and he was floating. You are right, it probably is time to get some water test kits. Any suggestions on the basic but important tests would be greatly appreciated.

thanx guys


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

There are many little kits available which have all the most useful tests in them.

pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are the big 4 that you absolutely need. Hardness is another one that's nice to have but rarely critical.


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## honmol (Jan 2, 2006)

Aquarium Pharmaseuticals has a good master test kit.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

check the post that ron v made about cycling, that should really help you out.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The addition of some "Molly Bright" tonic might also be a help with the shimmying.


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## Dana and Jay (Dec 27, 2005)

I did the pH test, Ammonia test, and Nitrite test yesterday and all was good. The Ammonia was zero, the nitrite was zero and the pH was 7.5. All the other fish seam to be just fine. I can't think of anything but transfer shock. I put the bags in the tank first before I put the fish in the tank. If anyone has any other ideas please share them with us.


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## lochness (Jan 10, 2006)

Dana and Jay said:


> I did the pH test, Ammonia test, and Nitrite test yesterday and all was good. The Ammonia was zero, the nitrite was zero and the pH was 7.5. All the other fish seam to be just fine. I can't think of anything but transfer shock. I put the bags in the tank first before I put the fish in the tank. If anyone has any other ideas please share them with us.


hrmm...the water from the bag is long gone - it sounds to me like it was a PH shock - the store you got it from may have had a lower PH - 7.5 seems a bit akaline to me for guppies - but just to be sure, see if u can contact the fish person that sold them to you and ask them what the PH is in their guppy tank (best if u go in person if u can recall the tank you got them from) but a call is good too.


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