newbie need help with dying guppys

[ann]

Hi please bear with me as I'm a newbie here and not sure I'm putting this in the right place,

i have about 5 fish tanks going at the moment from a 70 gallon one down to 15ltrs

anyway i seem to be having a problem lately in my guppy tank, my fish seem to go humpback, then go down to the bottom of the tank, hover for a day or so and die, everything i have googled leads me to think its fish TB as I've not had them long I'm assuming they were infected before i bought them,

OK i can withstand the loss of the guppies, but what worries me more is i have a pleco in there with them and really don't want to lose that one,

do you think he will be OK

Ive basically written off whats in the tank and am not adding any more fish in this tank at the moment

any help would be appreciated

Ann

5 gallon tank
20 fancy guppies and going down by the day*SICK*
1 bristlenose pleco

70 gallon
3 large angel fish
3 silver dollar fish
2 blue gouramis
2 gold gouramis
2 pleco's

25 ltr bio orb
4 redcaps

20 gallon tank
20 neon tetra's
10 diamond tetra's

30 gallon tank
20 cichlids
sorry cant remember the name of them

 

[tom91970]

Wow I'd say most of those tanks are over stocked. Do you have 20 adult guppies in a 5 gallon? Have you checked the ammonia level?? Same for the 20 and 30 gallon tanks.

As for that 70 gallon tank I'm not sure I'd have those four gouramis together. You'll be looking for trouble soon, I expect.

Welcome to MFT!

 

[Kissyboots]

1 inch of fish per 1 gallon is a good estimate for the tanks. I believe you're kind of overstocked...

 

[d3sc3n7]

WOW! Overstocked is an understatement!

5 gallon tank (Should be more like a 50 gallon tank)
20 fancy guppies and going down by the day*SICK*
1 bristlenose pleco

70 gallon (this one is ok, on size)
3 large angel fish
3 silver dollar fish
2 blue gouramis
2 gold gouramis
2 pleco's

25 ltr bio orb
4 redcaps

20 gallon tank (Should be at least a 60 gallon tank)
20 neon tetra's
10 diamond tetra's

30 gallon tank(Without knowing the size of your cichlids...I'd say 75-100 gallon tank here)
20 cichlids
sorry cant remember the name of[/FONT] them[/QUOTE]

Ok, with that out of the way...were here to help you. Here are some options you should REALLY look into.

1: Get a test kit for your water, the one with the drops, not the sticks.
2: Return LOTS of fish, back to your LFS(local fish store) get us some sizes on the cichlids please.
3: Do numerous water changes on the tanks. I'm QUITE sure your ammonia/nitrite levels are off the charts!
4: Get a few more tanks, and spread you fish out(one can only hope)
5: Move your pleco to the 70gallon tank. I'd guess the water in there is the best of all your tanks. I'm pretty sure that the guppies are suffering from ammonia or nitrite poisoning

With all that said...please keep posting here, and you will get all the help you need..

Welcome to the tank!

 

[ann]

Hi thanks for the replies

as it goes i do have quite an extensive collection of the test kits, not strip kind but drops and i have taken samples to a couple of my local aquatic shops and everything is fine water wise,

i was also told by more than one aquatic shop to " pack the ciclids in as there is less chance of fighting" that tank has been running fine for over 2 years and so far no trouble there, where as before when i had less in there, there was a lot of territorial fighting as such,

I'm not sure I'd have those four gouramis together. You'll be looking for trouble soon, I expect.

why is that?? they have lived happily together for over 3 years now

ive been keeping fish for about 20 years now and up until now never had any problems, the reason I'm more worried about the pleco is the fact that he was one of my babies lol i successfully bred them

but not long been on the INTERNET so only just been able to google things which is how i found this site,

i think i may have got my tank sizes wrong as I'm working in UK gallons which are more than us ones, i will have to measure the tanks and do some calculations as to what exactly they do hold water wise,

double checked the ammonia or nitrite levels this morning and they read below 0.1mg per litre and the nitrite level is 0 and the Ph level is 7.2 so I'm even more confused what it could be now

 

[tom91970]

why is that?? they have lived happily together for over 3 years now

ive been keeping fish for about 20 years now and up until now never had any problems....

Three years? That's great...and lucky. Trichogaster trichopterus (aka Three Spot Gourami) males are highly territorial amongst each other, so general practice is to have one male of this type of fish in a tank, not four. I'm assuming you have males, of course.

I usually stick with Pearls when I have more than one male in a tank since they are a less aggressive species of gourami.

 

[Squidman]

Its best to usually keep one male Three Spot Gourami and a couple of females. Males are highly terriotal with each other and thats why ive only got one male.

 

[MissFishy]

Even with UK tank sizes, 20 guppies to a 5g is WAY overstocked. Your fish are probably suffering from overcrowding issues and will continuing dying unless you get a larger tank. Your pleco could also be in danger because I can't imagine the water quality in such a small overstocked tank is very good. What are your ammonia levels in all of these tanks? How often do you do water changes?