Question on guppies?

Question

my guppies have all died. let me tell you what i have changed with my tank recently for a better answer:

1: i got a new heater set to 78 degrees

2: i got live floating plants but removed them a few days ago cause i thought they were getting caught in them

i put a plastic breeder box for a pregnant guppy, but removed that also becuase it was stressing the female

3: i got a new female guppy from a locally owned pet store

4: (this is the most important one in my opinion) i started to see bacteria growth on the glass probably due to the heater and scrubbed it off from a wash cloth (clean) Could excess laundry detergent in the rag have killed them?

i would really like an answer, only one of my guppies has survived (luckily the most pregnant one in the tank) and i have 3 guppy fry. im going to do a full cleaning of the tank to get rid of the detergent or bacteria or whatever's left in the tank that killed them. thanks and sorry for the huge list of details. (im actually out of lette

Answer 1

You've removed the stressers so that's a start. That will def. help. And yes, excess detergent could be the cause of a sporatic death of your fish.

For a complete tank clean "don't let others tell you, you can't, cause I do it every week and my fish are always fine."

You'll need Chlorine Remover "I suggest Jungle Right Start with Allantoin", Stress Coat "I suggest API Stress Coat with Aloe", and Bacteria Supplement "I use Top Fin Bacteria Supplement".

First clean the tank with super hot water, do not use chemicals of any kind. When it's spot clean, fill it again with hot water and add a ton of salt "I use Gourmet Kosher Salt", this will kill any remaining harmful organisms, and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Then rise thouroughly to make sure all the salt is gone. Fill the tank as normal, add the decorations and so forth.

After it's all set up, add the Chlorine Remover, and wait like 2 minutes to take effect. Then add a bit more Stress coat then the directions say, not much more but a bit more. Do the same for the Bacteria Supplement.

After all your chemicals are added, let the tank run like if there was fish in it for about an hour.

You can either next add a bit of salt to the tank, not much, like a teaspoon per gallon, or add the fish. Make sure the water is the same tempertature as the water your fish were staying in, you can get past with a bit of difference, as long as it's not drastic.

This should help. Good luck!

Answer 2

DO NOT change all the water and clean the tank. That will just stress out and kill your surviving fish. There are several things that could have happened:

1. If you changed the water temperature too quickly that can kill the fish. They need time to adjust.

2. The plants shouldn't be a problem, but it's possible that they were carrying some kind of disease.

3. This is the most likely cause. A new fish can introduce diseases and wipe out an entire tank of fish.

4. I doubt there was enough laundry soap on a clean rag to hurt the fish. I don't think that's anything to worry about.

The fish you still have were apparently tough enough to survive whatever happened, so they'll probably be fine. Good luck.

Answer 3

ok,first of all,dont use tap water,that kills fish!

well,yes the soap detergent in the rag killed your guppies,if I were you,I would take my aquarium out side and rinse it down with the water hose(non-tap).then take it inside again and set it all back up,wait a day,and move the guppies back in.

Answer 4

Yes, the detergent on the rag killed the fsih. Take the guppy out of the tank and wash it out with warm tap water. If you use soap, you will have the same problem. I doubt many of the fry will survive, cuz you will have to re-cycle the tank, the water is contaminated and needs to be removed tho.

Answer 5

1. it was probably algae growing on your tank and a not a bacteria. Algae is harmless, other than it looks bad on the glass.

2. Did you test your water for ammonia, nitrites or nitrates? My guess would be that one of those levels got to a level that poisoned your fish. If you haven't tested the water, get a liquid test kit and test first before cleaning out the tank and starting over.

3. It could be soap in the rag killed your fish, but it would have killed ALL the fish, not just a couple.

Answer 6

Well Matt, you sure have been messing with that tank alot!

I know.. I am guilty of the same. Nit picking everything, arranging rearranging adding, fish dying.. it was awful!

But there IS help for you!

Step one: Keep your hands out of the bowl. I know! it's hard! play with a rubber band.. or a musical instrument. Whatever works for you to keep your hands busy.

You have done like way too much with that tank in the past what 24 hours?

live plants are beneficial to any aquarium.

You can plant most all plants, even ones that can be floated can also be planted. I suggest planting the plants around the edges/back of the aquarium or sides to if you have enough.

fish get stressed with nothing to hide in. they NEED something even if you wont want live, get fake ones.

A new heater should be added and then left alone with no fish for the water to circulate for at least 24 hours so that it's evenly warmed.

you cant box up a guppy that's really close to giving birth it will stress her out.

It's slightly possible your new guppy might have been sick and gave it to your other fish. But most likely it's the 'washrag' you picked up off the floor and cleaned your tank with....

Please use only fish accessories for any and all of your fish cleaning needs. and even a SMALL amount of detergent can kill a fish....

Please do not do a 100% water change! Your fish are barely hanging on by a thread!

Now. take a breath. and go and do a 50% water change. and DO NOT TOUCH IT until tomorrow morning! If you must you can test the water, but DO NOT test it every 5 minutes. That will warrant you to want to do something else with the water. STOP!

You must leave the tank ALONE in order to get it balanced again. Make sense?

Do not wipe off 'bacteria' growth from the glass, they make scrubbers for that. Or you could simply stop leaving the light on for longer than 8-10 hours, or get it out of the sunlight if it is near a window. that was most likely algae, which the fish will pick at and eat as long as it's not alot.. you should fix the root of the problem instead of just wiping it off, so it can grow back.

You can get an algae eater if you like, he would appreciate green algae growth for his dinner.

BUT NO MORE FISH YET!

Your already going to stress your tank further when the momma gives birth, and sorry to say they most likely will not survive because the tank now is "clean" and there's little or no good bacteria left in there.

So what are you going to do? A 50% water change, right?

Then tomorrow your going to check your water and you are not going to arrange anything, or stick your hands into the tank again for AT LEAST a week.

Give it some time to balance itself out. It will, take a little time.

Answer 7

my first thought would be ------ how sure are you that the 78 degrees F  heater--  was actually 78 and not something higher

Second of all ---- the newly acquired plants could be also be suspect

Good luck with cleaning the aquarium but dont expect miracles ---  a clean aquarium might even put more stress on the fish than you already have

Check your PH level and verify your new heater temp