Hi,
Sorry to join and immediately ask for help - but i'm pretty desperate.
I have a planted fish tank, home to Male Guppies, Neon Tetras, and Mollies, which has been running for around 5 month with no major issues.
On Sunday I bought some new fish from a petshop I had never used before, I bought 3 more male guppies and an Albino Plec (I had heard they're good for the algae)
I also bought a couple of rocks to help give them somewhere to hide.
I got them home, let the new fish float, washed the rocks, put them in, mixed the water with the bagged new fish etc.
As soon as one of the new guppies was out of the bag it was clear it was not well. He could barely move and (forgive my ignorance with terminology...) could not propel himself with his rear fin - almost as if he was paralised. He otherwise looked healthy, very colourful, no white spots, no red gills, fins in good condition.
The other fish saw he couldn't defend himself and had a couple of bites - I couldn't bare to let it happen so I seperated him into a sandwhich bag (it's all I could find) and left him in the top of the tank. He dies about 30 mins later.
The next day one of the other new guppies was found dead at the bottom of the tank - no obvious reasons why, again the fins look ok, no spots, no sore gills.
On Tuesday I checked the fish and was horrified to see two Neons and a Guppie (not a new one) had all died, and yet again I couldn't see why. Realising this could no longer possibily be a coincidence I took a water sample down to the pet shop, (they use a four-test-tube kit) and they said there is nothing wrong with the water at all - which agree's with the tests I do weekly at home (strip-style).
Woke up this morning to find two more dead Tetras... Went to work and come back to find another neon that looks like it is fighting for life, and my two other remaining neons are looking pale and their fins are almost looking a bit... flakey? - But this hasn't been visable on any of the other casualties.
I've done a 25% water change and I've found a tiny snail stuck to the glass. How the hell did that get in? Could that be an issue?
The Albino Plec has settled in great. He doesn't do much. But he seems happy just relaxing.
Has anyone got any ideas? I have no idea what else to do.
Thank you,
Tom