# My guppies are STILL dying



## Cheetah2120 (Apr 8, 2013)

Greetings fellow fish enthusiasts! I am new to posting on the forum but have visited quite often for advice. I thought I would post my problem to get some specific advice

1. What is the size of your tank?
40 gal or 150L= 4ft tank
2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
PH- 7 NH4, NO3, NO4- 0 hardness150
API test used

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Freshwater but I do add aquarim salt at the specified rate 1tsp/10L
4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
8mths
5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
1 kuhli loach
5 bumblebee gobys
3 dalmation platys
2 bristlenose catfish (~5cm)
2 albino corydoras
1 dwarf gourami
6 glass catfish
4 Indian glass fish
7 coloured widows
Some glass shrimp 
11 Guppies (m&f) just added

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? No

7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
28
8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
Yes
9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
Otto power filter PF800n sponge, bio balls & purigen. Weekly clean
10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
No

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
No direct sunlight, lighting 6400K sunlight LED 10hrs

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
20L changed last Tuesday 2/4/2013 + vacuum
13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
Tetra flakes fed in the evening

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
Guppies are currently dying. New guppies were added 28/3/2013 & they are slowly dying one by one. No other fish appear to be affected. I did notice one of the guppies with reddish gills, 1 with a white spot on its mouth but all have swam at the top of the surface for a couple of days then died. 

Previous history: I have kept guppies since I started keeping fish & had no problems until I purchased 5 from a store that I don't normally source fish from. Stupidly I did not quarrantine & the new additions came down with sadleback columnaris within a day or 2 of adding them to my existing population. By then it was too late and within a month it had wiped out my 20 odd population of guppies despite quarrantining and treatment. No other fish (platys) appeared affected. 

After a mishap with my daughter (she tipped 2 whole containers of fish food into my tank, so it was emptied, stripped, cleaned, & then refilled & cycled. KIDS!!) I thought it would be safe to add some guppies again. They are not showing any clinical signs of columnaris but there is obviously something in my tank that is affecting them & causing them to die. I've probably lost 6 since the new additions in March. All the new additions came from the same supplier & one I've used repeatedly without hassles.

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis. 
I have not treated them with anything as yet but I have some aqua septic on hand (aminacrine HCL) & was thinking that I should add this to the tank as I suspect I am dealing with a bacterial infection, not fungal.

I don't have a QT on hand 
I appreciate your advice & if you need any more info....
Thanks heaps 
Cheets =)


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## OSagent23 (Feb 10, 2013)

I can't imagine what could be happening to all your guppies at the moment. Is it just the guppies that are dying? Do any of the fore mentioned fish have any signs of the same illness? 

One thing I did notice is that your 40 gallon aquarium is over stocked with fish. This might stress the guppies out and being new additions cause them to die. The rule is one inch of fish per gallon. In a 40 gallon tank you have well above 40 inches of fish.


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## Cheetah2120 (Apr 8, 2013)

*Thanks*

Thanks Osagent.
i ended up dosing the tank with aquasafe as a precaution to treat anything that may have been introduced. Yes, it only my guppies that are dying which is why i thought 'disease.' Nothing else seems to be affected. i think you are right, an overstocked tank is bringing out some aggression & as a result guppies are stressed and succumbing to it or opportunistic bacteria. I witnessed one of my gobies snapping at a guppy so who knows what goes on when im not watching. 

Ill try to sell some fish & see how i go.
thanks :thankyou:


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

notoriously poor genetics associated with livebears? i know that's my go to reply with livebears but to often is the cause of sudden deaths or mysterious deaths *shrug*


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## Cheetah2120 (Apr 8, 2013)

Hi Mitch, 
I don't believe it's poor genetics as I kept large numbers of guppies for ages prior to getting them from this one particular LFS. Whatever they brought in was nasty & is only affecting my guppies, no other fish.
Might have to have a break from guppies for a while.
Cheers
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

personally id recommend a break from livebears, to often do I always see a lot of threads in this section about them. might be the experience of the keepers or the fish? 

cichlids are fun =D


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## easeltine (Oct 11, 2013)

Hey man, 

I have been doing aquariums all my life. I currently have a 30 gallon tank. These guppies are not like we used to get, they keep dying off for me too. 

Get some other fish.


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## beaslbob (Oct 17, 2012)

What type of guppies?


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## easeltine (Oct 11, 2013)

$1.00 Guppies from PetSmart...


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