Guppy only diseases

[Snowman]

On Saturday i picked up a couple of fancy Guppies from Hollywood Mt Roskill, unfortunately my quarantine tank has some platties in it that my g/f unexpectedly bought for me which i didn't want to put in with my swords and guppies, so the new guppies spent 45 mins getting accustomed to the new tank and in they went.

Following morning one had died so i took it back and got a replacement on Sunday.

Tuesday night i noticed a few seemed umm heavy and were sinking to the bottom having trouble staying up higher in the tank, Wednesday night i took out 4 dead guppies and saw about 4 more that didn't look well, started to dose with melafix.

Got home tonight to find 27 dead guppies oops make that 31 now, 37 now, 10 in just under 2 hrs & about another 10 looking sad.

30 odd swords, 3 x GBA & 2 x clown loaches all looking good and healthy.

They are in a 4 ft 190 ltr that has been setup for nearly a year running an Eheim 2213 filter & air curtain.

Ammonia, nitrite are 0, nitrate is 20 which it has been since just after the tank was setup & ph is 6.8, no salt in the tank, weekly 20% water changes.

Does anyone have any idea of diseases etc that affect only guppies?

[Lucid]

hey snowman,

We had something similar, we purchased 6 guppies from animates and over a period of 2-3weeks they died and took out all but 6 of our guppies plus 3 neon, 3 rummy noses and a couple of small hara hara cats.

Not sure what it was, but some did the same as you have explained, some were fine one day and dead the next while others had the tail disintergrate, but left the sinewy bits that support the tail.

Conclusion, don't buy guppies from your lfs, and since this has happened we got a refund on the 6 we purchased and both animates here in wellington will no longer stock them.

no help, but at least you know you are not alone in it.

B

[Snowman]

I was thinking of getting another tank to keep the guppies and swords seperate but at this rate it will be a sword only tank in a few days.

Cheers Ballistic

[BK]

Having same kind of problems with Guppies, Rummy Nose and Lemon Tetras.

Last couple of weeks have been losing about 1 a day on average. Looked like

every thing was ok as noting over weeken but Tuesday had 7 Rummynose dead since then 1 more, i Guppie and 2 Lemons. What to do, Have tried large water change, aquaflavine and furan but no luck?????? Any one had any luck with what I think is Guppy Disease.

[Pegasus]

Wow Snownan... How distressing can it get to lose that many fish in such a short time.

It seems pretty obvious from what you say that the fish have died from a very rapid change in environment.. as it appears your tank was well established.

Only a few thoughts on the matter, and these are:

Is the shop getting their stock from a "Local" supply.. or are they ones brought in..?

Were the fish you bought in "Quarantine" prior to you buying them..?

OK.. Let's consider this:

If the fish were from a local supply.. then the answer is simple. The company in question should scratch the breeder from their lists.

If the fish "were" in quarantine for a period of time... then chances are they were kept under what I term as "Hospital Conditions".. in other words an absolute sterile condition... no bugs.. no infections.. and possibly with UV sterilization running.

OK... You get taken into hospital for some ailment (I hope not.. but this is my example).. and you are there for a week or so under very hygenic circumstances.

You come out feeling pretty groggy and weak.. but hey... you have your freedom.. but your resistance to ANYTHING is now at the lowest it can ever be... Colds.. Germs.. you name it.. so the next thing is you are flat on your back in bed with some sort of ailment.

Just the same with the fish.. "if" they had been in quarantine.

The water they were in was possible almost like distilled water.. no germs etc. The fish (over the Q period).. had become used to this... Nice temp.. Regular feeds.. No bugs etc.. but come time to move house (being sold or moved into the shop).. they get a sudden shock to the system.. and only the fittest survive.

Along comes Snowman that sees these "apparently" great looking healthy looking fish.. and hey... he whips them off home and plops them into his tank of "soup".. which it is to the fish that have been in quarantine.. but not for the fish that are used to it.

So.. the fish are now faced with all manner of things that they have no resistance to.. so along comes M'r Germ.. and BANG.. it goes through the pack like a fire fueled by petrol.. and before you know it.. half your fish are dead.

OK... So what the hell can we do..?

First off..

Find out EXACTLY if possible the conditions the fish were kept in PRIOR to them going on sale.

If old stock... then find out EXACTLY the water conditions etc.

If the shop SUDDENLY gets a whole load of new stock... then LOOK.. but don't buy.

Ask for some to be put to one side if you are interested.. then return in a day or so to see how they are.

OK... perhaps the shop won't be keen on this.. but if you leave a deposit, then they might assist.

Hope this helps.

Take care now.

Bill.

[Snowman]

The fish were in a planted tank for just over 1 week before i bought them to make sure they were ok, sold to LFS by a customer i think.

Melafix has made no difference so i was going to try Furan2 tommorrow but by the sounds things with BK it may not make any difference.

Fished out another 27 tonight so that makes 64 all up so far, i thought there were around 100 in there but still looks like 100 or so, hard to estimate how many when they wont stay still.

I bought 5 fish at the same time from Hollywood and 4 are still alive, the swords have been nibbling at the dead guppies and show no signs of sickness, the GBA, loaches, swords and lone Otocinclus are all healthy so it makes me wonder if there is a disease that only kills guppies, seems strange to target one species but anything is possible i guess.

Thanks for the help guys much appreciated

I'll let everyone know what the final tally is and if i find something that stops it.

[rnbo]

Sorry to hear of your problem with the guppies...that tank was looking stunning. Hope you get on top of the problem soonest. Cheers

[Snowman]

14 more this morning, makes a total of 78 so far, not many looking sick now so hopefully the rest have some resistance to it.

Thanks for the support everyone, just be some time for the stock levels to recover and hopefully it is a way of getting stronger guppies.

(gotta think positive ay)

Thanks rnbo

[Caper]

Oh Snowman...I am so sorry about you guppies. All the times you helped me and nothing I can do

I hope you find out what's causing this.

Take care!

[Snowman]

Up to 92 now, its gotta stop soon (crosses fingers) there's still quite a few left but ya get had enough of taking out dead fish.

Thanks Caper

[BK]

Only one lose over the weekend. Almost a week treating with Furan2 and Aquaflavine but don't think its this that done it. Surprise to see that your local LFS gave refund.

[Pegasus]

Goodness Snowman... How many fish did you actually buy... and what are your percentage of losses to date... ?

[BK]

Just about comment that I was surprised about LFS giving refund, my local wouldn't sell me some Blue Rams because they weren't 100% precent so if the lfs new that the Guppies were &?@% it' much the same, HAVE TO GO THE BOSS IS WALKING DOWN THE HALL-WAY TO MY OFFICE!!!!!!!!!

[Snowman]

I already had what i thought was about 150 (looks like its closer to 200) and wanted to add some different strains to see what they would come up with, only bought 5 at LFS and they only replaced the one that died straight away, i wish they would pay me out on all the dead ones but no show.

The other 4 new one are still alive so must have been innoculated against guppy flu LOL

[BK]

Yeh i got some for trade me. The chap said he had Guppy Disease about 1-1/2 to 2 year ago the cleaned out all but a dozen of his and breed from these. So got about 20 and 5 Rummy nose, 3 days later started to lose them. Tank had been set up and cycled with Discus but was empty for a week b4 hand. the dead ones seem to be the weaker fish with tails looked like they had been burned. after about a week of losing at lest 1 fish a nigth thing seem to had slowed down with say 1 lose every other day. I went away for work for 3 days and during this time my girlfriend got some fish because they were to good a deal to turn down, Neon's at $0.50 Rummy's at $2.00. So 50 'small' fish get put in to this tank as its the only one that we could use. lost one guppy first nigth, one lemon tetra the next nigth so on and them 5 Rummy nose 2 guppies and 2 lemon tetras al on one nigth after about a week from adding the new fish, one or two lost the next couple of nigths while treating with Aquaflivane and Furan2 which was added after Rummy nose lose's. Treated for a week with 1/4 of each product stated on packet and gave 50% water change this weekend and add carbon so far since Saturday only one guppy lost and it had been looking bad for a week with bent spine weak. Don't think the treatment had any thing to do with this and before you all say to many fish to soon etc etc. The tank is 220 ltrs and these no Amonia,Nitrate. etc The thing is if these are now carry's were do i put them?

[Snowman]

Ummmmm, white worms love them, they've had all mine so far (dead ones that is) swordtails seem to be all right with them (no probs at all)

Could have a small tank just for them is my only suggestion.

[scalare]

HI

See if you can test for koper as well I have heard that some older houses still have koper pipes and that a lot of the live beares don't respont wel to it. Russel of ouwer aquarium club told us this. An other problum is with live beares is in breeding they get alot weaker frome thisand more prone to ilnes. If I order in frome my suplyers I order the live beares in frome 3 differend places so if people thake hame home there is less chance of brother and sister in the tank and I don't take them of custumers for this fakt.

I hope this can be of some help to you

scalare

[Snowman]

Thanks Scalare, thats one thing i haven't tested for.

It's up to 150-160 now so the tank is looking a lot more spacious, took out a lot of the water sprite so i could find the dead ones to avoid pollution.

I have bought from a few different people and LFS's to try and avoid the inbreeding but of course there is no way to ensure they mate with the new ones (wish i had that much tank space).

Think i'll call down to LFS and pick up a copper test kit to check that out.

If it is excess copper in the water how do you remedy that?

[Caryl]

Don't use the house water supply if it is copper pipes in the house.

[Pegasus]

Don't use the house water supply if it is copper pipes in the house.

Gonna make keeping fish a pretty expensive hobby if you have to ship water in

As far as I understand.. only water that has been static in copper pipes for a prolonged period, "may" have slight traces of unwanted elements... but even then I can't say I have ever heard of "copper poisoning" in fresh water fish due to household pipes.

All the pipes were Lead and Copper in years past.. but we managed, and even now.. (despite being on tank water).. all my tanks are filled from the hot water cylinder.. which is copper.. and I don't have a prob.

I think you are "looking under the wrong rocks" for the reason to your problems

Bill.

[Snowman]

Didn't get a chance to get a test kit, we have been in this place for 8 mths and had the guppy prob for the last 3 odd weeks, no other fish are showing any signs of poisoning, that includes GBA from fry to adults, several types of loaches, swords, angels, rams , ottos, normal b/nose and platties, the taps get a lot of flow daily.

[Lucid]

we have been having the guppy prob for about a month, but we seem to have had no losses for about 3 days now.

It was an old fashioned clean, dismantled everything and gave it a good clean and set everything back up.

Then aquirred guppies through private breeders rather than through the lfs, so fingers crossed.

B

[Snowman]

Hope that works for you Ballistic, tempted to do the same if i had somewhere else to put the fish and time to do it, may not be any other option though.

[Alan]

An other problum is with live beares is in breeding they get alot weaker frome thisand more prone to ilnes. If I order in frome my suplyers I order the live beares in frome 3 differend places so if people thake hame home there is less chance of brother and sister in the tank and I don't take them of custumers for this fakt.

I completely disagree with this point.

Even to say it is ridiculous.

You say you buy from three differnt suppliers, but who says that the suppliers weren't supplied by the same source??

Also the use of breeding parents with siblings and siblings with siblings is always/often done for improving the colour, finnage, size, etc of guppies.

It may be done, but it is done in a selected, chosen, purposeful way.

Not to take fish from "local" suppliers is also wrong.

You can see the conditions they were raised in, check the stock, and only have to buy once if not satisfied.

You also don't have to pay GST or cartage on the item either.

Probably pay the breeder less than the wholesalers price as well, but then sell them on using the price of the wholesalers as a benchmark.

Don't say this isn't done, some of the members of the NZKA will vouch for this.

They have had less stress and are more likely to survive than the "others".

The local ones are use to the local water and not like the majority of the LFS ones that have come from importers,

that have had them in sometimes very heavily medicated water, this helps keep them alive until sold onto the LFS and then onto the public.

DON'T think this is slinging off or all crap.

I use to know, and go, to a lot of importers Q stations and have seen it with my own eyes.

One I recall, even employed a vet FULL TIME for the care and meds of the fishes.

The tanks had the doses of the meds used and when.

So give me home-grown fish as first choice any day.

The importance of a quarantine tank can now be seen from the sad results of what has happened.

Remember a $5 fish can kill thousands of dollars worth through one little omission.

Think of it as a neccessary insurance.

Cheap too.

Alan 104

[Snowman]

I even had a Q tank all setup but then the missus turns up with some platties that i didn't want to put in with the swords and ...well you know the rest. In hind sight i should have put the new ones in with the platties, better to lose 6 platties than a tank full of guppies. Dont you hate hind sight :oops: :lol: