Dead female Guppy

[Nimka]

Hi,

I am a new owner to a fish tank. I have had it for two weeks and I have had my guppies for a week. Last night I had all 7 guppies and 1 Pleco alive and happy. I fed them this morning and went off to work. When I got home I went to count them and notice I was missing one. I look in my fake plants, mainly for the future fry, and found a female bent and a white film over her.

I removed the dead fish immediately and did a 25% water cylce. My tank is 10 gallons by the way. The other fish seem fine and my water readings were perfect, including the temp. The other fish seem to be fine, they have gained weight since having them. My friend (she use to breed guppies) said its normal because they're on a better diet then the pet store.

The fish that died seemed to love the plants and to hang out around the water heater. What could have killed her?

 

[tanker]

What are those perfect water readings? The tank is cycled, right?

 

[Tifftastic]

It could be bad stock or it could be an uncycled tank. If you've only had the tank for a week before fully stocking it, you may be dealing with a cycling issue. I'm also curious to know what your water parameters were. One person's perfect is not necessarily another person's perfect.

 

[Nimka]

What are those perfect water readings? The tank is cycled, right?

The tank cycle for 3 days before I added fish. I took the water into the pet store to be tested and got the all clear, I wasn't confident in my test at home. I don't have the paper in front of me but the ph was rough 7.6, I can't remember the numbers but they in the safe zone. The only semi low but still safe was the hardness of my water.

I cycled 25% of the water once I took the dead fish out and added the starter and fresh coat to it, as directed on bottle. I just don't want any more fish dying. This morning they're all still alive.

 

[Nimka]

It could be bad stock or it could be an uncycled tank. If you've only had the tank for a week before fully stocking it, you may be dealing with a cycling issue. I'm also curious to know what your water parameters were. One person's perfect is not necessarily another person's perfect.

I don't have the readings in front of me. I'll look once I get home. There is just so much different information on starting a tank. A guy at the fish store said it should only take a hour, but I knew better. The most consistent information I found said 48 hours before adding fish. I used filtered water to fill the tank.

 

[dougall]

Be sure to take the readings yourself too, rather than relying on readings given by someone whose job it is to sell you fish; if you take a dead fish back to them they may well say the water was the problem here.

The important part of water chemistry here is not necessarily the source of the water, but the availability of beneficial bacteria to handle waste from the fish. Testing with frequency is important, especially with a new tank. Test results will be different when it is new, and then when you put fish in.

 

[Finster]

. A guy at the fish store said it should only take a hour, but I knew better. The most consistent information I found said 48 hours before adding fish. I used filtered water to fill the tank.

Your tank is not cycled. You need to read up on cycling a tank. If you have biological media filtration you may be able to save your fish by doing large daily water CHANGES until the media grows a sufficient amount of beneficial bacteria.

 

[Tifftastic]

The tank cycle for 3 days before I added fish. I took the water into the pet store to be tested and got the all clear, I wasn't confident in my test at home. I don't have the paper in front of me but the ph was rough 7.6, I can't remember the numbers but they in the safe zone. The only semi low but still safe was the hardness of my water.

I cycled 25% of the water once I took the dead fish out and added the starter and fresh coat to it, as directed on bottle. I just don't want any more fish dying. This morning they're all still alive.

Three days is not long enough to cycle a tank, especially if you were just running water through the filter and not adding anything to spike the ammonia to allow the beneficial bacteria (bb) to grow. The bb takes about 6 weeks at best from a non-seeded source to establish if you are adding a source of ammonia. The reason you likely got an all clear was that all readings were likely zero because there was no organic matter in the tank to break down to trigger the nitrogen cycle.

When you say you cycled 25% of the water, do you mean you changed 25% of the water?

The best thing for your fish now would be to invest in a good liquid test kit (I like the API master kit) and test your ammonia. Test it and change your water daily til it starts to go down. When it starts to go down begin testing your ammonia and nitrites, then when those start dropping start testing your nitrates. Ideally you will see your ammonia spike and drop, then your nitrites will spike and drop, and finally your nitrates will read. These can only be removed by plants and water changes.

 

[Nimka]

Hello all,

Thanks for all the help and sorry for not responding sooner. The female fish I was talking about did pass away. I have another female sick who gave birth about a week ago. I located a tropical fish store and the rep was very helpful. It seems that my fish have parasites. After the expert asked a few questions and tested my water, she was 99.9% what was happening. I did a 50% water change and added the medicine. I added it this morning, we will see how the sick fish is feeling soon enough. Lets hope I can save her.

 

[Nimka]

I also added 4 live plants to help with my water.