What is wrong with our male fancytail guppy?

Question

First time aquarium person. Purchased a 10 gallon tank. Let it cycle for a week. Added two tablespoons of aquarium salt, "Stability," and "Prime" as directed during this time.

My daughter for her birthday purchased 3 male fancytail guppies from a local pet store. They seemed to be doing fine but on the 6th morning, we found one had died---this was hard enough. Now, one of the remaining guppies is active and seems fine (but so did the one that had died) but the other one is in a treasure chest, not active, and is twitching about every 7 seconds.

We feed them Spectrum for small fish, freeze dried blood worms, and sundried baby shrimp. One of the bloodworms seems stuck/attached to the distressed fish but I don't think that is the problem.

We have live plants in the aquarium and live in a community with softwater. As well as I can read them, our tank stats are:

GH: 30

KH: 40

PH: 6 to 6.5 (earlier in the week this seemed higher 6.5 to 7)

Nitrite: 0 to .5

Nitrate: 0

Temp: 73. We have a heater but have not yet used it. Florescent light is on about 8 hours a day.

Any help would be so appreciated. We have become so attached to these little guys in just a short time. Thank you.

Answer 1

alright well you should have cycled the tank for at leaste 2 weeks.   a month is probably your best option.

now  you also could have been feeding them something there used to. like a good tropical fish food.   feed them little by little until 2 min is up.  

you could have added too many fish to the tank at once so try to add one fish, and wait 2 days, then add one more fish, wait 3 days, and do that until your satified of the numbers,   dont over do the tank tho.  it should be 1 gallon to every 1 inch fish.  

good luck.  and any other questions let me know

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Answer 2

use the heater the temperature drops at night

it should be about 24c

Answer 3

Wow, looks like you actually did some research! Many first timers just stick some fish in and expect it to work! Well, when you set up the tank, did you use anything other than warm water to clean it out with? Chemicals from cleaning supplies can hurt the fish. I think that is your problem. Even an old washrag that has a little soap on it can kill your fish. What is the ammonia? If it is high then that could be your problem. How did you cycle the tank? Did you just let it run for a week, cuz that does not cycle it. To do a fish less cycle you need to put food in it every day to add ammonia and bacteria should build up and stop the ammonia. If you did not do that, you need to start cycling with fish. Check the ammonia every day! If it gets high, do a water change. There will be a point the ammonia will spike and you need to keep a close eye on the tank. I think it is either ammonia building up or chemicals from when you washed out the tank. Here is a good article of cycling to help you out- http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

Good luck. If it is ammonia, he will be ok after a water change.=)