Twinbar Platy & Male Guppy HELP!!!

[shannamarie21]

I have a male gold twinbar platy and I have recently noticed that he is starting to shed color throughout his body. It seems as though the only color that he has is his back fins. I just had two guppies die within the last two weeks. One was overly pregnant when we got her from the pet store and she had a few premature babies which all passed away. Eventually she passed due to being so stressed. Then I had another guppy, female as well, pass away. I think the last female that had passed away had swim bladder, but I am not sure. All I know is that once she started to die her bottom would float up. It was really weird because it was like when a human falls asleep and gets startled or the "falling effect" in a human is what I saw with her. She would startle and then she would swim away. Two days before she died I noticed that if you got close to the tank or another fish bumped her she would start swimming around like she was crazy. She eventually hid in some of the boxwood mat that I have down in the bottom of the tank where she died. I have recently bought the Tetra lifeguard all in one treatment and have done the treatment for 5 days. Today being day 6, I have done a 25% water change and will continue to do so for the next three days. Can anyone please tell me what might be going on with my gold twinbar platy? Also, I have a male guppy, I am not sure if he is a blue tux or a neon tux, that seems to be dying too. His caudal fin seems to be 'stuck' together and the same goes for his dorsal fin. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I am asking for help. This is my son's first fish tank that I bought him and he has a terminal illness and I bought it as a birthday present because he loves fish. I don't want to make him upset that I keep killing all of his fish if that is what I am doing ! Someone, please help ? Thanks so much!

 

[Thyra]

Oh my, this whole thing is not good! First step is to ask you if you understand about cycling your tank and testing the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Also how long was the tank set up and what size is it? Once we have that info we will be able to help you based on what you already understand.

 

[shannamarie21]

No, I am so new at this whole thing to be completely honest with you! I feel horrible that I don't know much, but I am trying to learn! I have asked around at different pet stores but they just blow me off. The tank has been set up since 3/27/2012. It is a Aquaculture Home Starter Kit 10 Aquarium that I purchased from Walmart.

 

[shannamarie21]

Also, about the only thing that I was really told by the pet stores that I have went to was that conditions have to be pretty much perfect in order for guppies to have fry. Well, I had two female guppies have fry. One guppy, like I have said in my previous comment, got too stressed due to just being put into a different tank and we got her from the pet store when she was already overly pregnant, so all of the fry that were born were born premature and the mother ended up dying due to being too stressed. Then I had another female guppy who had fry and the mother and the fry are doing great. She had them in the community tank, I didn't catch her in time due to being new at the whole fry stuff, so I only found 11 fry. I am not sure if she had more and they were eaten or what... but the fry are about 1 1/2 weeks old and they are doing great. I have the fry in a breeding net right now so they aren't exposed to being eaten.

 

[Thyra]

A liquid API test kit will cost in the $30 range. In the meantime I would take a sample of your water to one of the pet stores that will test it for free and see what the situation is - don't let them sell you any more fish or chemicals until we get this worked out. - except a test kit if you can afford it. When they test the water don't settle for "its fine" fine out the numbers for the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You are looking for zero of the first two and up to 20ppm for the nitrate. If you show any ammonia or nitrite, do about a 50% water change every day until you get it to zero - this could take a few days. If you have a test kit you can test it daily, otherwise test it every couple of days at the pet store. Anyway, let us know. If the male guppy dies, I am going to suggest you could stick with platies and maybe a male betta when you get the water under control. Four fish would be about right for that size tank. Platies and bettas are pretty hardy and no expensive. There are also some little frogs that I, personally have no experience with, but obviously a lot of people find them fascinating. Everyone will have suggestion, but we can discuss that then. How old is your son?