# new guppys dying



## ngp (Feb 24, 2013)

Hi Folks, looking for some ideas. Two weeks ago i bought 4 Endlers Guppy's and 3 Green Cobra Guppy's from the same downtown store. I believe they arrived in the store around the same time. The endlers went in my tiny tank and the Cobra in the small tank. All but one of the fish had died (1 Endler left). Generally they have just stopped eating, laid or slowly moved around the bottom until just dying. They haven't really lost color, or bloated, and don't seem to have any parasites that i can see. They were all fine for 1 week then just started to die. Here are the setups.

Fish were acclimitised using a separate container and gradually added the water from their respective new homes (removing some of the overall water each time)over 4-6 hours before then being netted and placed in their new homes. 

Freshwater, heavily Planted, medium light, excel and nutrients weekly. 50% water change weekly. Pre water change values 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate, 0 Ammonia, 12 gal 7.4ph, 5 gal 6.8ph. Temps are room tempo so around 24-26c. 

12 Gal
Amazonia + Colorado Sand
Heavily Planted
Eheim 2213
1 Dwarf Honey Gourami (+2 months)
4 Lemon Tetra (+3 months) 
3 Ember Tetra (2 Years)
3 green Cobra Guppy (2 weeks deceased)
2 Cherry Shrimp
Several Pond Snails

5 Gal
Amazonia + Colorado Sand
Heavily Planted
Aquaclear HOB
3 Ember Tetra (+3 Months)
Several Pond Snails

For now the other fish seem to be fine, but i guess that there is an incubation period so i am expecting the possibility of losing more stock. Of course i should have quarantined however i had been checking these fish at the store pretty regularly to see if they stayed healthy before i bought them. 

Any thoughts about what went wrong. I'd like to try again with the Guppys but of course now i will wait 2 months or so to see what happens in my tanks before trying anything else.

regards

ngp


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## C-kidder (Aug 2, 2014)

Curious was the store Aquariums West where you purchased the fish?


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

In general, live beaver will require much harder water and more salt in a tank.


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## ngp (Feb 24, 2013)

yes.. all my fish have come from there for the last 2 years.


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## Dawna (Jul 29, 2013)

Bought some moscows from there before, learnt my lesson afterward. They were raised in brackish waters (because they grow faster and all) before being imported to the store (which they dont tell you) and in the store they are slowly being acclimated. When you purchase it soon after it arrived usually its still in a high salt water condition so you got to have an aquarium with a decent amount of salt in it and even then you still need to acclimate it before putting it in or it destroys the organs over the next 3 weeks. (Thanks to a member here who told me a year back)


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## C-kidder (Aug 2, 2014)

I noticed when I was in there 2 weekends ago that they had a very bad problem with at least 2 of their tanks being infected with something nasty that looked like fin rot or a fungus which is usually connected to other diseases and bacteria as well. It didn't look like it was being treated very well either because none of the tanks were marked as quarantine tanks, but I don't know what sort of system is used in that store since I am not in there to often. Also the reason why I was worried as lots of stores run their tanks on the walls in sump systems and they generally can be connected so if that's the case there is going to be lots of sick fish in that store not just the ones in the tanks that are showing the signs of disease.

I would ask to see if they have had any other complaints recently and if they are willing to do something for you. I can't say about the guppy's since I kinda skimmed over them to be honest, but I was honestly very sad at the condition of their fish that day I was in there. 

The staff were very helpful, friendly and the store was spotless which was a shame because that was my first time there and I had really high expectations.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

charles said:


> In general, live beaver will require much harder water and more salt in a tank.


GH and salinity were my thoughts as well.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

effox said:


> GH and salinity were my thoughts as well.


Never figured out the difference Epson salt and Aquarium salt? Which would a livebearer keeping want to add?


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## kim86 (Sep 5, 2012)

Suppliers should be decreasing the salinity at their facilities when they receive new shipments of livebearers, before shipping to stores, so they're more compatible with our city water. At our store I dose a small amount of salt on the livebearer wall when a new shipment arrives to help them adjust and throughout the week the salinity goes down with water changes. It's best to add aquarium salt when adding any livebearer to your tank and slowly decreasing the salinity yourself as well. Better safe than sorry


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## ngp (Feb 24, 2013)

Thanks for the help folks, poor research on my part. 
regards

ngp


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## Livyding (Feb 6, 2013)

Reckon said:


> Never figured out the difference Epson salt and Aquarium salt? Which would a livebearer keeping want to add?


Epsom salt is a pure mineral compound of magnesium sulfate in crystal form, so it looks an awful lot like salt. But it has no sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is salt. Salt is sodium chloride.

Aquarium salt is usually just plain kosher table salt (sodium chloride) whereas *Marine* salt is a mix of a lot of different minerals

(Chloride, Cl2 19,500 
Sodium, Na 10,770 
Magnesium, Mg 1,290 
Sulfur, S 905 
Calcium, Ca 412 
Potassium, K 380 
Bromide, Br 67 
Carbon, C 28 
Nitrogen, N 11.5 
Strontium, Sr 8 
Oxygen, O 6 
Boron, B 4.4 
Silicon, Si 2 
Fluoride, F 1.3 
Argon, Ar 0.43 
Lithium, Li 0.18 
Rubidium, Rb 0.12 
Phosphorus, P 0.06 
Iodine, I 0.06 
Barium, Ba 0.02 
Molybdenium, Mo 0.01
Arsenic, As 0.0037 
Uranium, U 0.0032 
Vanadium, V 0.0025 
Titanium, Ti 0.001 
Zinc, Zn 0.0005 
Nickel, Ni 0.00048 
Aluminium, Al 0.0004 
Cesium, Cs 0.0004 
Chromium, Cr 0.0003 
Antimony, Sb 0.00024 
Krypton, Kr 0.0002 
Selenium, Se 0.0002 
Neon, Ne 0.00012 
Manganese, Mn 0.0001 
Cadmium, Cd 0.0001 
Copper, Cu 0.0001 
Tungsten, W 0.0001 
Iron, Fe 0.000055 
Xenon, Xe 0.00005 
Zirconium, Zr 0.00003 
Bismuth, Bi 0.00002 
Niobium, Nb 0.00001 
Thallium, Tl 0.00001 
Thorium, Th 0.00001 
Hafnium, Hf 7 x 10-6 
Helium, He 6.8 x 10-6 
Beryllium, Be 5.6 x 10-6 
Germanium, Ge 5 x 10-6 
Gold, Au 4 x 10-6 
Rhenium, Re 4 x 10-6 
Cobalt, Co 3 x 10-6 
Lanthanum, La 3 x 10-6 
Neodymium, Nd 3 x 10-6 
Lead, Pb 2 x 10-6 
Silver, Ag 2 x 10-6 
Tantalum, Ta 2 x 10-6 
Gallium, Ga 2 x 10-6 
Yttrium, Y 1.3 x 10-6 
Mercury, Hg 1 x 10-6 
Cerium, Ce 1 x 10-6 
Dysprosium, Dy 9 x 10-7 
Erbium, Er 8 x 10-7 
Ytterbium, Yb 8 x 10-7 
Gadolinium, Gd 7 x 10-7 
Praseodymium, Pr 6 x 10-7 
Scandium, Sc 6 x 10-7 
Tin, Sn 6 x 10-7 
Holmium, Ho 2 x 10-7 
Lutetium, Lu 2 x 10-7 
Thulium, Tm 2 x 10-7 
Indium, In 1 x 10-7 
Trebium, Tb 1 x 10-7 
Palladium, Pd 5 x 10-8 
Samarium, Sm 5 x 10-8 
Tellurium, Te 1 x 10-8 
Europium, Eu 1 x 10-8 
Radium, Ra 7 x 10-11 
Protactinium, Pa 5 x 10-11 
Radon, Rn 6 x 10-16 )

Here's a recipe from A practical approach to freshwater aquarium water chemistry

*A Simple But Effective Rift Valley Cichlid Salt Mix (but it's good for Central American cichlids, livebearers, goldfish and community fish too!)

You can buy cichlid salt mixes from aquarium shops, but you can make your own very inexpensively. You'll need baking soda and Epsom salt, which you can get from most grocery or drug stores, and marine salt mix, which your aquarium shop will have. Note that marine salt mix isn't the same thing as "aquarium salt" or "tonic salt"; you want to buy the stuff used in marine aquaria. If in doubt, ask your retailer for salt to use in a marine aquarium. Common brands include Reef Crystals, Instant Ocean and so on. For our purposes, all are good, so get whatever is cheapest.

Per 5 US gallons (20 litres) add the following amounts of each ingredient:

* 1 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
* 1 tablespoon Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)
* 1 teaspoon marine salt mix (sodium chloride + trace elements)
*


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

I only get guppies who were not in salt at wholesalers. But I also buffer my water with calcium. Not salt so new owners don't have that problem. Low ph or high nitrates they don't like also.
I use either equilibrium to add
Minerals, trace or a pinch of African buffer. 


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby


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