Sheepsnana Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Hey guys, for the last week my female guppies have been dying off, one or two a day. I find the corpses in various states of floating / half eaten. Finally managed to get a water test done today. Results came back clean. A0, N0, N0. pH 6.5-7.0. Only the adults have been dying. The large ones first, with the exception of the largest two. Only one male has died. All of the fry are untouched. I'm about to browse Google for anything that I can find, but I thought I would ask on here also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Nitrates 0???, unusual, and your tanks don't have enough plants for that to be the cause. pH: 6.5-7.0??? Mount water supply known for being hard to drop, and even worse to keep stable once down, unless the wood is extremely acid. I would not be surprised if there is a bit of harrasment going on as well, especially if the krib fround out the girls were food producers. are you on atm????, I can pick up a sample today, and test it for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted August 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Sure, if you haven't left yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Are they imports and have you added any new to them or have you added any NZ bred guppies to the tank? How long have you had them? There is definitely an issue with imports atm. It appears that once the females drop fry both adults die off followed by the fry themselves in larger numbers than would be natural. I had heard of it but thought it pertained only to one batch. However I purchased a pair three weeks ago, the female dropped fry a couple of days later on the Thursday. The male died the following Thursday, followed by her 7 days later. At this stage 3 of the 4 fry are still alive. Before someone asks my tank is clean and healthy with no water issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 I had an unconfirmed rumour that the water they are being shipped in has testosterone added to prevent excessive breeding of stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted August 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 That's interesting Adrienne, The first to die off were from one particular supplier, then their kids... the two that have remained alive were supplied by L.A. Should I expect many of my fry to start floating? I have had these guppies for about 6 months, maybe longer. They have bred often before without these effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinox Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 arghh! i hope you find the cause, i had this issue not long ago, were i lost 100+ guppies for no apparent reason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 ok, test results in pH: 7.0 - 7.2 phosphates: minor reading less than 0.5ppm Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: slight reading? less than 0.05ppm (colour chart not very accurate at lower levels, but definate reading) Nitrates: 40ppm, thats where the test maxes out so may be higher, tested 3 times to make sure may have had a mini cycle causing the fish to keel over, but the Nitrates are very high, reccomend doing a water change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted August 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 OK, will do. How can two pet stores have such varying results? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 I would more question the person testing than the results. 6.5 - 7.0 is a massive range really (considering +/-0.1 difference in pH is 10x more/less than the previous reading.) I'm not saying that my results are 100% accurate, just that they are done with the test's I use for my tanks and are accurate anough for my useage (plus I use different brands for different tests, and stick with the ones that are best for each measurement) plus if you went to a certain store I would be surprised if they actuially performed the tests at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 I would doubt that imports are treated with hormones (particularly if they have since bred). I have heard of breeders dosing females with traces to enhance the colours they are carrying but that is probably an urban myth as well. I have also been told that many guppies are rared in large ponds on outlying islands where land is cheaper and that in many cases there is a lot of saltwater ingress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 More likely the imports are carrying a disease and hence the requirement for more extensive testing of imports. Presumably any locals with the disease have already died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 More likely the imports are carrying a disease and hence the requirement for more extensive testing of imports. Presumably any locals with the disease have already died. It does appear so unfortunately. I know it has, for a long time, been an issue particularly when mixing with NZ bred guppies however in my case I had hoped to avoid problems by purchasing just imports. Of note though, I have found the fourth fry and they are looking good atm and are colouring up. Have you lost any more of yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted August 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 No, yesterday and today have been death free. I am unsure as to whether the water changes have been helping or that I ran out of those particular bloodlines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 how did the new water change system go?? sorry I couldn't come and get water for testing, im home sick :sick: today and didn't want to go round infecting people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted August 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 It worked well. Tank had a 50% water change in half an hour. Much less bucket carrying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephanie Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 I've been experiencing similar things, only with imports, my plain old guppies are doing well. It's so frustrating because I love guppies, and they're supposed to be "beginner fish"! This is part of the reason I hardly keep any fish anymore, it's too upsetting when you lose them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 In the last few months I have lost nearly 100 guppys, these are all males/females/fry. Every one of them came from imported stock supposedly so there must be some type of disease or maybe genetic problems? that they come here with, I have noticed it can't be contagious though as all the other guppys that I keep that arn't from imported stock all look healthy as, even in the same tank. Fingers crossed anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 maybe a genetic predisposition to a disease Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 In the last few months I have lost nearly 100 guppys Terrible! Were they special in some way regarding colour/shape? Ie. why were they bought from an importer vs a local breeder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 Terrible! Were they special in some way regarding colour/shape? Ie. why were they bought from an importer vs a local breeder? Not particularly special in any way, just clean colours and nice patterns. As to why they were bought imported, if you lived in Invercargill you would understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 if you lived in Invercargill you would understand. Heh .. lived there for 6 months in the late 1970s! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 Sad thing is there were probably more suppliers and breeders down here around that time We only have 1 dedicated pet store that sells a pretty limited supply of tropical fish and one kid on trademe who breeds and sells a few mongrel guppies constantly. The nursery shop sells a few tropical fish but they're only small time, maybe 10-15 different species at any given time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxximuscool Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 I have similar issues with Bristlenose (8 death). But now everything in the tanks are happily married to the water. Guppies are swimming freely with the Siamese fighters (lol) and many other fishes. My Siamese fighters didn't even eyes-balling my guppies at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 fighters normally only nip back if the guppies nip them first. I have moved my 4 fry into a big tank now (250 litres) and they are looking good. However it appears that a yellow male may have gotten at the orange female in the shop because they appear to have yellow and black tails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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