Guys, I'm hopelessly confuzzed here. Major problem! Preamble: I've got 7 tanks (yeah, yeah, Major MTS but that's not the problem) I do a 15% to 20% water change every week. The water I use is Municipal water, aged for at least a week, double dechlor, vigorously agitated and aerated by a couple of air pumps with airstones. No problems with tanks 1 - 6, but things are not so good in tank 7. Tank 7 is a grow out tank for my female guppies. As soon as I can distinguish their gender, I remove the male juveniles, and put them in the Bachelor tank. Now the bad part: Soon after the last water change, The females in tank No.7 started dying. First 3, the next day 5, the next day 4, Thursday 3, Friday 2, and this morning another 2. I've only got 3 left. There are also 2 bronze cory juveniles, and 5 white clouds sharing the tank, but it's only the guppies that are dying. Tank is a 3 footer (100L) and well cycled. MAJOR water testing showed nothing wrong. No problems with any of the other tanks, all fish happy and sassy. Now the funny part: (Funny peculiar, not ha-ha) Each day, I've found fry in the tank, each day I move them to the fry tank, and the next day, there are more. Obviously, I was a bit slow taking the males out, and a randy youngster did the dirty with all the females he could get lucky with. (Wish I was as successful as a teenager :blink1 Now, what I'm thinking is: Is it possible that my guppies are dying from childbirth? They're all still very small, and I didn't think they were old enough to spawn... Obviously I was wrong.
Interesting theory about the death because of birth. So here is to add to that: When males and females are mixed will the males only go for bigger mature females and leave the others alone? In the absence of mature males do they go for any female regardless of age?
Firstly - I have to congratulate you Noodle - going through all that trouble to sort males from females ... unless you are trading this is a very time consuming thing to do. Have you thought of adding a UV filter to the tank? Maybe you have an odd infection of some sort. Is the tank the same temp as the others? Suppose it could be premature dropping - stressed guppies do that sometimes. What do the females look like when they are dead - thin, marks etc ... Later F
Thanx Dude, but the truth is I'm retired. Nothing to do except look after my fish! I'll look into the UV filter idea. Don't know much about it, but it should make for some interesting research. Tank temp is stable and the same as the others. With the weather we've been having, the ambient temp, seems enough to keep the tanks between 25 - 28c so the heaters don't even kick in. The females just looked... well, DEAD. I examined them under a 10x magnifying glass, and couldn't see any strange marks or growth on the bodies, no discolouration, no deformities, sleek scales, gills looked okay - to my uneducated eye. They'd have been fat 'n sassy, if they were still alive. Did a 40% water change this afternoon, and so far there seems to be no distress among the survivors, but I'm holding off moving more fish over for a while, just to see what happens. Hold thumbs!
"I'm retired. Nothing to do except look after my fish!" - excellent I have 6 tanks with mixed guppies that have not been sexed or culled in a looong ( read ever ) time you renting your spotter service - will pay in fry ;-) "Hold thumbs!" - will do - keep us posted. Later Ferdie
Not sure if this is one of those hear say things but did read somewhere that long exposure to UV light makes guppies sterile.
The uv filter is in an enclosed tube. Water passes thru' this via the filter. The fsh nor yourself is able to see the light ---------- Post added at 20:11 ---------- Previous post was at 20:11 ---------- have a look here from one of our sponsors http://aquaria.co.za/shop/index.php...id=737&zenid=9a096783c83f553429b5ba3cad4fe4e6
Update: Well, yesterday afternoon I was just breathing a sigh of relief at not finding any more fatalities in my tank when my sharp eyed daughter noticed that all was not well with one of the remaining females. She was lying on the substrate under the overhang of a rock and she looked dead. Closer inspection showed her fins were closed and her mouth and gills were going like a two-stroke. When we tried to net her, she shot out from under the rock like a bullet, then started swimming like a corkscrew then took a nosedive into the substrate. We netted her and I took a quick squiz under my trusty 10x but apart from the fact that she was well and trully pregnant and that she kept her tail and fins folded, I couldn't see any obvious problem. Anyway, we confined her to a floating fry tank in the quarantine tank, dosed her liberally with good 'ol Tetra General Tonic. Like a miracle, within an hour her breathing had settled down to normal, and she was swimming straighter. This morning she looked almost normal. I'll keep her in quarantine for another couple of days, just to be sure, but I think she's gonna make it. The other fish seem to be okay, but just in case, I dosed that tank with General Tonic too. I saw on the news last night about the problem with our water supply, so it seems obvious where our recent fatalities come from. I always age my municipal water for at least a week double dechlor, and aerate with air stones. Maybe that's not enough. In the wee hours of this morning, lying awake puzzling about the problem, I think I've come up with a simple do-it-yourself solution. Going to build it and try it out, then I'll report back. @f-fish Sorry Dude, looks interesting but you're a bit far from me. I'm dependent on the charity of others for transport.
Have you checked you heater for any cracks? what about your powerhead if you are running one.Try to make sure that there are no electrical leaks in the water
u know how to test for leaks as one of our members have suggested? haha.. bear foot with one hand in the tank hahaha
i am not an electronics fundi, but i think that you can use a multi meter if you have one, otherwise it is the hard way
Hi Noodle A while ago I used to keep guppies, my setup was similar to yours. Then suddenly without warning my females also started dying...it turned out to be dropsy, they looked all nice and rounded, but when i looked closer the scales were a jutting out slightly. In my opinion, it is very easy to "overstock" guppies and infections spread very quickly. Regards Vince
Will I ever hear the end if it NOt sure what I was thinking that day. Just to be sure also wet your finger before putting it in the tank Have you tried splitting the females intwo different tanks to see if they still show the same behaviour in both tanks?
From someone on another forum tyronegenade: There is simply no stopping the virus. You can try add salt (3 tsp/gallon) to lessen the stress on the fish but I am yet to bring a single fish back once they begin to clamp-up and shimmy*. I have used KMnO4 to sterilize the tanks... that works, and if one used KMnO4 one can probably rescue the unaffected fish to be placed in a new tank. This guppy-virus problem (reovirus and iridovirus) is so big that a assay has been develop to screen for it: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15081606. (See also http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8581016 .) This is also a BIG problem for rainbow fish. Mel. trifasciata seems especially sensitive. Prof B can tell us more. *Molly and platy shimming is something else. This normally vanishes once the temp is raised, the water hardened and/or the pH raised. There are also bacteria problems that cause fins to clamp. KMnO4, Tetra General Tonic etc... works like a bomb for that problem ---------- Post added at 08:11 ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 ---------- He also said that the fry is not killed by this
ok, so when you moved you fish to another tank did they continue clamping up? also I am glad you found something to help out
I don't know about finding the problem, but it seems to have resolved itself. The last sick female guppy has responded amazingly to a fat dose of Tetra General tonic, and is back in her original tank, bright eyed and bushy tailed. She's first in the scrum for food, and you'd never think that a couple of days ago she was knocking at death's door. She's also still very much pregnant, and I'm expecting to see some fry in the near future. There have been no other fatalities in the meantime. @Vis Thanx for the info. I'm not sure I understand it all, but, although it's possible, I don't think it's this particular virus that caused the problem. My fish responded well to Tetra General Tonic so, as you mentioned, it might be some or other bacteria problem. The LOML, who knows nothing about fish, has come up with a theory that might have some merit. She says that seeing as it's only the pregnant females being affected, it must be some kind of toxin in the water. Her logic behind this is that all pregnant females, be they human, animal or piscine, are ultra sensitive to toxins. Nature's way of protecting the fetus. Says that's why pregnant women get morning sickness. I dunno but maybe worth a thought. Anyway, I'll send in couple of kamikazes tomorrow to make sure everything is okay before I restock. Thanx guys for all your comments and suggestions so far, you've all been a great help, and I've learned a lot.
