GuppyLog || Not good........

New to Guppylog?
Immediate Help

Conversions and Calculator
Conversions and Tank volume calculator

Add yourself to our guppylog map
Guppylog Members

* Change as much water as often as you can! *
Inkmaker

Front Page · Everything · News · Ask Guppylog · Diaries

Not good........
By RaiderFan92 from the RaiderFan92 department, Section Diaries Posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:27:50 PM PST Tags: (all tags)

I have attempted many times to get my guppy population going and stable, and it went like this:

1)4 guppies, 1 siamese algae eater
4 guppies died

2)2 guppies
2 guppies died

3)4 guppies
2 guppies died

4)1 guppy

Total= 3 guppies (1 male, 2 female) and 1 Siamese Algae Eater

(Yes, I cycled my tank for a month)

I dont know what was wrong, but I tried a whole lotta stuff to fix it. It's gone now, my fish are doing fine and have for about 3 weeks.
But did you notice something kinda odd, but cool about the history of my tank? Yep...the Siamese Algae Eater has survived the entire genocide. Spaz, (not derogetory, but a playfull name) has shown a lot of personality since I got him and I'v grown attatched to him, but his colors changed VERY rapidly. He was his completely normal tan-ish, with dark brown bands on his side, but now hes extremely pale. I dont know if its normal (Im almost positve it's not).

I know this is www.GUPPYlog.com but im worried about Spaz.

< Nancy4fishes' Tanks | This guy >

Menu

· create account

· F.A.Q. For Newbies!

· Immediate Help For Newbies!

· search

· Scoop Info

· Our Tanks

Login

Make a new account

Username:

Password:

Related Links

· RaiderFan92's Diary

Not good........ | 8 comments (8 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Not good........ (none / 0) (#1)
by miskairal on Tue May 23, 2006 at 01:35:26 AM PST

Hey Raider you ARE allowed to talk about any fish here but unless someone else knows about the fish you are referring to you might not get an answer that's all. I know nothing about most fish.

Just a thought. How did you cycle your tank for that month?

Fishing for Bass poll - I couldn't catch a fish even if it jumped out and sat in my lap. I've tried but I'm sure they all know that I really don't want to catch them. I don't even know if we have Bass in Oz. Just asked hubby and he says we do have them in the Bjelke Petersen dam which used to be part of our farm. They are not native to this area though.
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help

If your guppies keep dying, it is likely (none / 0) (#2)
by unclescott on Tue May 23, 2006 at 02:30:37 AM PST

that you had too many for the water as it was and they are victims of ammonia and nitrate poisoning. That may also be the case for your algae eater now.

When you say that your tank has cycled, how do your know that? Test kits are expensive, but what are your ammonia, nitrate and nitrite readings? If you don't know, your declaration that the tank has cycled is just whistling in the dark.

atb!
unc

[ Parent ]

Re: If your guppies keep dying, it is likely (none / 0) (#3)
by Nancy4Fishes on Tue May 23, 2006 at 08:44:34 AM PST

i agree with unc. when i first set up my 10 gal tank, it was my first time ever with tropical fish. the petsotre people told me that "cycling" was just the water getting ready to hold fish, not the growth of beneficial bacteria, etc. SOOO, they had me set it up and have it sit for a week. they then recomended i get about 8 fish. we got 7. 2 guppies, male + female (yes i know thats bad, but the female ended up being vicious and killing the male anyway, who really wanted nothing to do with her) 1 female molly, 2 angels, and i forget what the other 2 where. they might have been platies...anyway the only fish that survived longer than a week was the molly, who gave birth and now i have a son and daughter from her. anyway, i didn't actually cycle the tank, and no matter how long i had let it sit there, a month, 2 months, if it just sat there, it wasn't cycling.

[ Parent ]

Re: If your guppies keep dying, it is likely (none / 0) (#4)
by RaiderFan92 on Tue May 23, 2006 at 10:25:47 AM PST

I let it "Cycle" for about 1 month, and by cycling I mean just letting the filter run with no fish. I had done a lot of research on here before I bought my guppies, about starting a new tank. (In the immediate help section). I tried to just by 2 like I was told and I read, but the clerk said I had to by 4 or more with guppies or else they'll take anger out on each other, (I know, that doesnt make a ny sense!) So I figured sure, I bought 2 male, 2 female (Now that was my fault) and decided since I have too many for a new tank, that I would just change the water very often until I thought it was more stable.
I tried to buy the 2 for it to help the cycling, because I was told that having a few fish in there HELPS to cycle, it wasnt mandatory.
The Siamese Algae eater is doing fine now, I dont know what was wrong. His colors are perfectly fine. I think maybe the UV growing lights were on to long, because I turned them on almost all day for my lilly-pads.

P.S. Are you guys, mainly Unclescott, just spending a lot of time on this website, answering questions, or do you "Work" for this site, or do you own it or what?
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."-FDR. True, unless your playing against the Oakland Raiders.
[ Parent ]

Re: If your guppies keep dying, it is likely (none / 0) (#5)
by Nancy4Fishes on Tue May 23, 2006 at 07:18:14 PM PST

sounds like you tried your best, but someone wanting a few extra dollars got in your way. 2 fish would have been a very good idea. in the future, i would put my foot down with that mindless selling machine and tell him/her that you only want 2 fish, and say WHY. i know, i've never had the guts to do that, but i've only been fish hustled once, at petsmart, when the guy STRONGLY suggested i get ATLEAST one of the baloon mollies. of course the darned thing was so cute i couldn't say no. anyway, i would have the 2 fish be both female so no stressed fin nipping goes on.

good knews on the siamese! glad he's doing better, but i'd still watch him closely.

well, i certainly don't work here. i think scott lockwood is the creator, and miskairal/unclescott/lomelindi are site admins, but i have no idea. sorry if i got positions mixed up :)

[ Parent ]

Re: If your guppies keep dying, it is likely (none / 0) (#6)
by miskairal on Wed May 24, 2006 at 01:43:40 AM PST

Sorry Raider I forgot you were the one who ended up with 4 fish despite trying to buy only the two. That seems so unfair to me that someone like you is reasearching and trying to do everything right but the fish still keep dying.

Where are you buying the fish from? Same place each time? I'm wondering if they have some disease through their fish which would make it very difficult. The reason some might survive is that those ones might not be so stressed by the moving and therefore more able to cope and fight off disease.

It could be related to cycling the tank. I can't remember how big your tank is now (10g?) but have you been doing partial water changes with safe water? I really wouldn't have thought that you would lose so many fish in that size tank with those numbers. All I can recommend is doing partial water changes every 2-4 days (eg. start at 2 then 2 then 3 then 3 then 4 days apart). This might help for two reasons:

It will dilute any ammonia, nitrites or nitrates and
If it is a disease it might provide good conditions in the hope that their own immune system can fight it off or allow them to live long enough that they present with symptoms before they die so you can know how to treat them.

Nancy's right. Scott Lockwood owns and started this site, unclescott came along in it's early days and is our "guru". I came here and learnt what I know off da unc (or unc;escott as I named him due to his frequent typos with the letter l). Unc and I have admin priviledges so we can do a few things. Angelhologram then came along and started helping us out with answers and then more recently when lomelindi offered to help, Scott gave her editor status. Guppygirl played a large part here in my early days but has moved on and Maggie still has editor status but has been a bit busy lately too.

We all do it voluntarily. I guess it gives us pleasure to know that maybe more fish have a better life for it and it's also nice to give back what I was given so that others can get the enjoyment out of their fish too.

Oh, and if I get stuff wrong don't blame unc. I've got a really bad memory ;)
--
Repeat after me,
I will read the Immediate Help
[ Parent ]

Re: If your guppies keep dying, it is likely (none / 0) (#7)
by Nancy4Fishes on Wed May 24, 2006 at 06:34:56 AM PST

oh yeah! who's right? i'm right! WOOO!!

[ Parent ]

Off topic, but still guppies! (none / 0) (#8)
by RaiderFan92 on Wed May 24, 2006 at 03:19:29 PM PST

I almost always buy them from Wal*Mart (I buy everything there, my football cleits=14.99 Wal*mart My teammates football cleitsaround $50, Scheels. Im a cheapskate!) But now my guppies are being perfectly fine, and my Siamese Algae Eater is losing his color almost every nite and gaining it back every morning for a couple days. Im not that worried anymore, im sure its something about the UV light.
And 1 question. I live in a VERY small south-east Nebraska town, we get are water from the Oglala Aquifer and I dont know if it has Chlorine in it or not, my dad says it doesnt, but are town water tastes very bad and Im told that it has ?Calcium? (I think thats right, im not sure thats it) deposites in the water tower.
Soooooooooooooo....does leting water sit in the sun for a couple of days get rid of that bad stuff? I havnt done it before, so maby that wasnt horrible for the fish but not all that great.
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."-FDR. True, unless your playing against the Oakland Raiders.
[ Parent ]

Not good........ | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

create account | faq | search