dead guppies!

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siang

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 16, 2010
159
2
18
cheltenham
hi, i hope someone can advise me. i have a 25 gallon tank, which had 3 lyretail guppies and an endlers lyretail guppy as well as some other fish. i bought cherry barbs which managed to kill two of the lyretails through nipping their fins, i think the stress killed them. so i went to the petstore, had my water tested to check it wasnt that, and the water was perfect. so i bought 3 more male guppies, and a smaller tank to keep the five guppies in. it came with a filter, and i bought a 28watt heater. tank is 24.5 cm long, 22.5 cm wide and 20cm high. no idea how many gallons it is. i think the heater warmed the water too much, i think it was too high wattage. it did say on the packaging that it would heat the water to 26 degrees celsius. i put an ornament in, and a plant, set it all up and filled it with water from my original aquarium like i was told. now my lyretail and one of the other fancy guppies are dead, the other 2 fancy guppies are dying and the endlers lyretail is missing completely. please help :(
 
Was the tank cycled? You are right, could of been the possibility the tank was too hot. Although if you check it you can tell. I do not know the size of the tank either, sounds like 1 1/2 gallons I think or something close. BTW, get rid of those barbs, they are notorious nippers.
 
thanks hun. the tank wasnt cycled no, but the petstore told me that by using the perfect water from my other aquarium it would be fine. the cherry barbs are now in with 4 dalmation mollies, 2 red honey gourami, 2 dwarf red/blue gourami, and 4 cory's. they dont seem to touch any of them, it was only the guppies. and they are also now the smallest (by over an inch) fish in the tank. i dont want to get rid of them, but maybe i could put them in a tank on their own if needed ( i have just aqcuired 3 tanks today)
 
Maybe the big tails of the guppies made it irresistible for the barbs. But I advise if you see more problems by them consider getting rid of them. Adding tank water to a new tank does nothing. However, adding filter media will be helpful. If you do not know what this means. It's like taking a used cartridge and putting it in the new filter.
 
siang;4507714; said:
thanks hun. the tank wasnt cycled no, but the petstore told me that by using the perfect water from my other aquarium it would be fine. the cherry barbs are now in with 4 dalmation mollies, 2 red honey gourami, 2 dwarf red/blue gourami, and 4 cory's. they dont seem to touch any of them, it was only the guppies. and they are also now the smallest (by over an inch) fish in the tank. i dont want to get rid of them, but maybe i could put them in a tank on their own if needed ( i have just aqcuired 3 tanks today)
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The tank wasn't cycled. The petstore was misinformed is what is sounds like to me. There was no bacteria to break down the ammonia and nitrite into nitrates. the bacteria isn't in the water column, but is on the surface of your filter media, as well as decorations etc. Use the media from the first tank and put on the new tank or at the very least some decorations

Good luck!
 
im sorry the pet store didnt give you correct information. you should use filter media and or gravel, plants etc from another tank. the good bacteria that keeps the fish alive sticks to the media and the gravel and plants and then helps build it up in your new tank. when you just transfer just the water it doesn't do really do anything

edit: dirtbikerider beat me to it lol
 
ok thanks guys. so i am going to take the fish back to the store tomorrow, and see if they will give me a store credit to use at a later date. i am going to cycle the tank for a fortnight or so and then get some more fish. i have also been given a bigger tank today which is 61cm long, by 30cm deep and 38cm high, which i am going to clean and set up tomorrow and also let that cycle for a couple of weeks. i have some apple snails to go into the little tank, and i think i will keep that one for a grow out tank for when molly has her babies, and have gone off keeping guppies, so i will get some platies and swordtails for the 61cm tank, probably a bristlenose plec too.
 
the cherry barbs and guppies were put into seperate tanks today, and all the guppies have now died, including the 3 that i bought today. they will be going back to the store tomorrow and hopefully they will give me a credit note for future use.
 
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