Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => The Emergency Room => Topic started by: Resa on June 03, 2013, 05:39:11 PM
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Hi Everyone,
You probably can't help much but I have a problem and I am worried about losing any more of my fishies. I had posted that one of my coral platys had died, followed not long after by another, (Friday night).
I took his little body out and did a water change. I did test the water first and everything seemed ok, but I wanted to do one anyway just to keep the nitrates really low for my pandas and peppers.
Last night, I noticed one of my guppies (one of my first fish) resting on the bottom of the tank with his fins quite clamped to him. He roused himself for his supper but to be honest, I braced myself for the worst this morning. Unfortunately, I was right. This morning he was dead...no marks of any kind on him. The only thing that sets him apart from the rest, is that he is the one that gets harassed by one of the others.
Later today, I noticed that one of the other guppies (I only have 3 left at this stage) was doing the same thing...just laying on the bottom. I tested the water again and it seemed fine but I did a small change ...don't really know why, the need to do something, I suppose. Anyway, he seemed much improved and has been swimming around with the others and eaten.
Well now he is back on the bottom, fins clamped again, so I fear a repeat discovery. I can see nothing wrong with his scales or signs of injury. The only thing I did notice before....and I'm sure it has been the same with all the fish that I went on to lose, was that their eyes seem to go very black.
Any suggestions would be very welcome, I couldn't bear it if I lost the whole tank :(
Thank you,
Resa
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The first thing to say is that guppies are notorious for dying. So long as it's just them.....
To save me going back through all your posts to check - how hard is your water? You probably won't have a test kit, so something like does your kettle/shower head get furred up (hard), or does soap lather really well (soft)? Livebearers like guppies and platies come from hard alkaline water, so if yours is soft that could be why they are being affected while other fish are OK.
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Hi Sue,
Yes...so far, just guppies, I'm hoping and praying it stays that way. Having said that, the little sickly guppy is busy swimming around the tank with his mates at the moment ???
Our water is very hard, I forget the exact readings. We got the measurement off of the water company's info. EVERYTHING furs up....and kettles last a nanosecond...well, not quite..but you know what I mean.
Is it just this breeding that they do now that causes the guppies to just die? I thought that if you got past the first couple of weeks they were ok....but perhaps that was just the otos?
Anyway, thank you for your help, Sue.
Resa
:)
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It's the otos that will be OK if they survive the first couple of weeks (usually!).
Guppies suffer dual problems from being so popular. They have been selectively bred to develop the various strains, which means breeding father/daughter, mother/son, brother/sister etc. If there is a weak gene in that particular line, it is bred into that strain. And because breeding guppies is now big business, any old guppy is being used to breed from. Once upon a time, it would only have been choice specimens. This last one also applies to neon tetras, which used to be hardy fish years ago. That and the conditions neons are bred and raised in (lots of meds to keep them healthy and when they are exported the meds stop and they become prone to all sorts of diseases. This is also the problem with dwarf gouramis)
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Sorry to hear this Resa. Guppies seem so fragile, I think that I've just got everything settled'n'sorted and a 'nice healthy mature tank' when one of the guppies goes and turns up it's little fishy toes for no apparant reason.
>:(
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Really sorry to hear about this Resa :-( Hoping that it's a one off and all your fish are OK