All of my guppies are dying!!!

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Several days ago Psycho, my first guppy to be kept alive for an extended period of time, died. Now, females in my 55 gallon tank have been exhibiting the same symptoms as he was, floating at the top and slowly drifting to the bottom, losing control of their ability to swim upwards. I have just recently discovered that one of them is dead. All but one of the other females is laying on the bottom...almost dead. The only truly living female is going insane because I'm running around the tank trying to figure out what's wrong. Both surviving males show no symptoms and are healthy and active. A couple of days ago I added water because the water level was low, causing the filter not to work. I fear that I may have added unchlorinated water and poisoned the tank, so I just put dechlorinator in the tank. Other than ammonia and other such poisons, I cannot think of what might be wrong. I'm going to test the water to determine what to do now. Please tell me what you think might be wrong so I can try to save the last female and the males, aswell as the fry.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

OK I tested with my first set of strips.
Nitrates: less than 20 ppm
Nitrites:0
Total hardness: 75
Total Alkalinity: Between 80 and 120
pH: 7.0 neutral
I'm also going to test for ammonia now if I can find the test tube thing that I need for it.

 

[Fuzz16]

have you done a water change lately? added anything?

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I haven't done a water change lately but I added a lot of water. That's probably why everything's so low in terms of nitrates and nitrites. It seems that two of my females still have some life in them. Hopefully if I can correct the problem, they will survive. As for the ones that lie on the bottom, I can only hope that they are not in pain. Can someone explain to me what chlorine does to a fish and how fast it works? If I could find the test tube thing for the ammonia test kit I would use it to find the ammonia level. I've been searching frantically for it and I can't find it. The males and babies are still fine.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I looked up chlorine and how it affects fish and now I'm scared. I turned the airstone on to help the chlorine dissipate into the air and out of my tank. Do you think that adding dechlorinator directly to my tank would help? If you haven't guessed it already, I've pretty much decided myself that it's chlorine, since there aren't any other real problems that I think there might be.

 

[Lotus]

If you add water to the tank, you should use a dechlorinator. You can add it directly to the tank if you're using something like a Python automatic changer, otherwise, add it to the bucket you're using.

You should be doing regular water changes for the health of your fish (using dechlorinated water, of course).

Chlorine basically destroys fishes' respitory tissue.

 

[rollntider]

Stress Coat is a good brand to use.

 

[Timbo]

You need to do regular water changes. Many contaminants build up in the water, and will not break down (nitrItes for example). the only way to remove these is to physically take them out. About 25% to 30% once a week is the usual.
Test for ammonia. Ammonia and nitrAtes should be ZERO (if not you may have a tank which is not cycled yet. Or a big overfeeding problem), Do a large water change about 50% . and if there is no improvement you may need medication. But you will need some symptoms to treat for that to be useful...

 

[Flowmsp]

If im not mistaken nitrItes and Ammonia should be zero and nitrAtes 20 or below is good. I do weekly water changes on all my tanks and add prime dechlor into the tank before i add the water with my python as someone previously suggested. Have had no problems as of yet.

 

[MissFishy]

Timbo mixed up Nitrates and Nitrites. Nitrites should always be at 0. Nitrates should not really be above 20 and preferably lower.

Whenever you add water or do a water change, ALWAYS add the required amount of water conditioner to the bucket BEFORE you add the water to the tank. When you do it this way, the water conditioner mixes up with the untreated water as you dump it in the tank. I usually just add my conditioner to the bottom of my empty bucket before I start adding the water so I know it gets mixed up well.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Wow. Thanks for all the replies and information. I think my guppies are OK now. I don't know what happened but they seem to be getting better. I just can't find one female guppy but other than that they're all present, alive, and accounted for. I moved a ton of babies, both males, and one female to my 20 gallon tank. I tried to catch the others but they were too fast. I'll update you whenever it gets worse or completely better, and thanks for all the helpful information.
Just so you know, I mistakenly put chlorine in my tank. It was a terrible example of forgetfulness that put my fish's lives in jeopardy. Hopefully they get completely better and this never happens again.

 

[Jake]

I use tap water with Aqua Plus, I add it right in the bucket. And it works fine.

 

[s_anthony]

I'm a NovAqua fan myself.. I should own stock in it with how much I buy...

I know I should use less to save a lil money, but I figure it won't hurt if they get a little over the amount in the water I change...

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

OK the guppies are fine now. It turns out that I got lucky and none of them died. Thanks for your replies. Hopefully this never happens again. I'm just really forgetful sometimes to the point where it's dangerous.

 

[Timbo]

Just a note...
If you have a problem in a tank and you don't know what it is. N E V E R move the fish to another tank. You will probably move the pathogen as well so that it can now kill off 2 tanks! ! . In this case it was a mistakenly added chemical that degenerates over time and had in all probability done all the damage that it was ever going to. However in the main, there is always the chance that something else may go with it. Or that the chemical or the organism will find itself in a new and rich playing field. It is far better to try to cure what is wrong. If all else fails you must be prepared to loose the whole tank, then bleach it and clean it before starting again rather than running the risk of moving the Nasty around with the fish.