help with guppies
- Thread starter lizardboyyy
- Start date
Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:
- Status
Tsubakai
Very Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2007
- Messages
- 1,202
- Reaction score
- 0
I use Prime and a bit of salt to harden the water. I also drip acclimate small fish to get them used to the new water slowly using some old air line tubing and a clamp valve to slowly drip the new water into the bag. I aim to have diluted their original water down to about 20% over two hours and haven't had any problems.
da_donkey
Very Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2005
- Messages
- 2,925
- Reaction score
- 0
most people start with 6 and end up with 600, i am trying to cull mine with no success. lots of fat turtles at the moment!
dont know if anyone has said it yet but in regards to temps dont go off the heaters readings (they can be out by buttloads), use a thermometer.
donks
P.s if your having trouble with yr guppies maybe hang off on the discus or the marine tanks for a bit
dont know if anyone has said it yet but in regards to temps dont go off the heaters readings (they can be out by buttloads), use a thermometer.
donks
P.s if your having trouble with yr guppies maybe hang off on the discus or the marine tanks for a bit
RushiesReptiles
Not so new Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2010
- Messages
- 33
- Reaction score
- 0
Temp isnt important. 24 to 28 is fine. Or bump it up to 30 for a day or two, for the treatment of whitespot. I had a pet shop for years, and the(secret) as such is a small peice of copper pipe. I use to buy min 500 Guppies at a time and the copper keeps them disease free. Every water change add salt also. Tablesalt is fine, the ratio is 1 tspn per 40 ltrs of water. Do quarter water change every two weeks and dont over feed and your guppies will thrive...
I wouldn't say temp, ph or chlorine is killing your fish.....
I would say it is either ammonia or nitrates....
I have guppies in my axolotyl tank (15 degrees, alkaline ph) and they are breeding like crazy.....
I also have guppies in my discus tank (29 degrees, acidic ph) and once again they are thriving - prob breeding but never see babies cause of the other fish eating them.
Get a product called Cycle its made by nutrafin and will put good bacteria in your water. If ammonia is a problem there is a product called Prime which will eliminate ammonia.
Plus depending on tank size..... put about a tea spoon of rock or pool salt in your aquarium per 30-40 ltrs..... Fights of nasties and puts electrolytes back in the water.....
I would say it is either ammonia or nitrates....
I have guppies in my axolotyl tank (15 degrees, alkaline ph) and they are breeding like crazy.....
I also have guppies in my discus tank (29 degrees, acidic ph) and once again they are thriving - prob breeding but never see babies cause of the other fish eating them.
Get a product called Cycle its made by nutrafin and will put good bacteria in your water. If ammonia is a problem there is a product called Prime which will eliminate ammonia.
Plus depending on tank size..... put about a tea spoon of rock or pool salt in your aquarium per 30-40 ltrs..... Fights of nasties and puts electrolytes back in the water.....
Tsubakai
Very Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2007
- Messages
- 1,202
- Reaction score
- 0
I've heard this about copper too. An aquaculture pathologist I spoke to swears by putting a small coil of copper wire in the filter (electrical wire with the coating stripped off will do). Haven't needed to do it myself but might try it someday.
ingie
Well-Known Member
Hi,
I haven't read everyone else's advice but I used to work in a pet store/aquarium and take care of loads of fish. I am not sure of your experience with fish so I will just write as if you are a beginner and hopefully something will help you! Sorry if you are not a beginner - Maybe someone reading will get some use out of this too though
Some individual guppies are hardier than others and will survive in non ideal conditions - However, all different types of fish have different ideal water chemistry needs depending on where in the world they are originally from and what the water is like there -
Temperature
Guppies are tropical and like warm water - Doesn't have to be exact - somewhere from 24-28.
Water hardness
They also like 'hard' water and Australian water is 'soft'. To fix this you add salts to the water - Have you seen the blue salt crystals they sell in pet stores? It is a mixture of normal and epsom salts. If you go into your local pet store/aquarium they will tell you how much to use for your tank size. (You add more for guppies than you would for gold fish or other tropicals like Angelfish or neons). ** Water naturally evaporates out of your tank but the salts stay behind - so if you are just 'topping up' instead of taking out and adding more water, there is no need to add more salts.
Water pH
Guppies like a neutral pH as close to 7 as you can get it. Our tap water has a relatively neutral pH so the more often you do water changes the better your pH will be. Fish waste products are acid so the pH will naturally drop over time without a water change.
Chlorine in tap water
This kills fish and burns their skin - if not straight away, it will still lower their immune system allowing other things like bad water chemistry and/or usually non problematic diseases to kill them (Wrong pH and water hardness also causes the same immune system failure). There is cheap liquid you get at the pet shop that gets rid of chlorine- or else you can leave buckets of water in the sun for a few days and this will do the same thing.
Good Bacteria & water changes
One of the biggest killers of pet fish is people cleaning the tank too much - Good bacteria grows SLOWLY on all the surfaces in your tank - this bacteria is what breaks down all the toxic fish waste (ammonia>nitrites>nitrates) into neutral harmless products. Every time a person tips out all the water and washes everything down they kill all the good bacteria so then when the fish makes waste, it hangs around in the water and makes them sick and often die - This is why so many people can't keep goldfish alive very long!!- Ammonia lowers the immune system and also 'burns' their skin - It takes about 4 weeks to grow the bacteria back but by then if you have a lot of fish it will be too late and a lot of people may have done a complete wash again by then anyway.
The best thing to do is to only take out 1/4 of the water every time you do a change - using a gravel vac/siphon so you can get the waste out from under the gravel without washing off the good bacteria. These are cheap at the pet store and worth it! If you take out too much then when you add the new water it will be cold and have different pH and hardness to the existing water and it will shock the fish and also lower their immune system. Obviously the more often you can do small changes the better - Once a week would be a great amount but as time goes by you could do it less when there is more good bacteria present.
I really hope this helps, goodluck
I haven't read everyone else's advice but I used to work in a pet store/aquarium and take care of loads of fish. I am not sure of your experience with fish so I will just write as if you are a beginner and hopefully something will help you! Sorry if you are not a beginner - Maybe someone reading will get some use out of this too though
Some individual guppies are hardier than others and will survive in non ideal conditions - However, all different types of fish have different ideal water chemistry needs depending on where in the world they are originally from and what the water is like there -
Temperature
Guppies are tropical and like warm water - Doesn't have to be exact - somewhere from 24-28.
Water hardness
They also like 'hard' water and Australian water is 'soft'. To fix this you add salts to the water - Have you seen the blue salt crystals they sell in pet stores? It is a mixture of normal and epsom salts. If you go into your local pet store/aquarium they will tell you how much to use for your tank size. (You add more for guppies than you would for gold fish or other tropicals like Angelfish or neons). ** Water naturally evaporates out of your tank but the salts stay behind - so if you are just 'topping up' instead of taking out and adding more water, there is no need to add more salts.
Water pH
Guppies like a neutral pH as close to 7 as you can get it. Our tap water has a relatively neutral pH so the more often you do water changes the better your pH will be. Fish waste products are acid so the pH will naturally drop over time without a water change.
Chlorine in tap water
This kills fish and burns their skin - if not straight away, it will still lower their immune system allowing other things like bad water chemistry and/or usually non problematic diseases to kill them (Wrong pH and water hardness also causes the same immune system failure). There is cheap liquid you get at the pet shop that gets rid of chlorine- or else you can leave buckets of water in the sun for a few days and this will do the same thing.
Good Bacteria & water changes
One of the biggest killers of pet fish is people cleaning the tank too much - Good bacteria grows SLOWLY on all the surfaces in your tank - this bacteria is what breaks down all the toxic fish waste (ammonia>nitrites>nitrates) into neutral harmless products. Every time a person tips out all the water and washes everything down they kill all the good bacteria so then when the fish makes waste, it hangs around in the water and makes them sick and often die - This is why so many people can't keep goldfish alive very long!!- Ammonia lowers the immune system and also 'burns' their skin - It takes about 4 weeks to grow the bacteria back but by then if you have a lot of fish it will be too late and a lot of people may have done a complete wash again by then anyway.
The best thing to do is to only take out 1/4 of the water every time you do a change - using a gravel vac/siphon so you can get the waste out from under the gravel without washing off the good bacteria. These are cheap at the pet store and worth it! If you take out too much then when you add the new water it will be cold and have different pH and hardness to the existing water and it will shock the fish and also lower their immune system. Obviously the more often you can do small changes the better - Once a week would be a great amount but as time goes by you could do it less when there is more good bacteria present.
I really hope this helps, goodluck
Last edited:
Aussie-Pride
Well-Known Member
Wow good effort ingie!
dossy
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2010
- Messages
- 835
- Reaction score
- 1
hey i keep guppys as these guys (and girls) have mentioned the temp is not a major factor as long as it is not extream and as long as it is constnt the biggest killer of guppys are nitrate nitrite and amonia basicly as i hope you know there is good backteria in the tank. when you add fish you increase the amount of amonia and this bactiria eats it so if you add to many fish to fast the bactiria will not cope with the increse and it builds up this will kill the fish same as nitrate and nitrite active carbon will absorb chemicals but if you need to medicate the fish you will need to take it out otherwise the medication will be all for nothing. also how big is the tank if the fish are crowded they will fight for top spot. if you do turn down your temp do not turn it down quickly do it about 1 degree a day otherwise it will stress the fish to much i have kept fish for 3.5 years and always had guppys if you need any help or would like tips just send me an email and i will do my best to answer it. i may not have a cert 3 tho
regards dossy
p.s
sorry about any of my spelling
regards dossy
p.s
sorry about any of my spelling
VR1ton
New Member
I agree with above, but one thing that the others have not mentioned is if they are imported or local breed guppies. Imported guppies have a virus that they have built up a resistance to over the years, but the local guppies are not immune to it. So if you've bought improted guppies & local guppies you will keep losing them. Even if you buy another fish out of a tank containing imported guppies (eg a catfish), the water in which the fish has come from will contain the virus, so upon introducing the new fish, you are inadvertently introducing the disease. I used to own my own Aquarium Store, and most shops & even some wholesalers will not tell you this, in fact some still deny there is a virus. Once your water parameters are up to scratch, if you are still losing fish, ask your shop if they are local or imports. If they are imported ( most of the better colours & tails generally are) then stick with imports only.
- Status
