[Justin89]

We are new to the fish hobby and are learning slowly but I'm having trouble knowing when I should be concerned about disease versus what is just normal stressed fish behavior. We have 27 fish in our tank- 20 guppies (5 males, 15 females), 4 plecos, 3 platies. We started with just 3 guppies and 1 pleco and have been adding fish little by little over the last couple months. About a week ago I put 2 of my females in breeding traps, they both dropped fry, and after I released them they weren't looking so hot. They were swimming funny, hanging out near the surface, clamped fins. All other fish seemed fine so I assumed they were just stressed from the ordeal. Now just 3 days ago I added 5 guppies and 3 of those are looking stressed. They don't have clamped fins yet but are all hanging out near the surface and swimming funny. 2 of them did it immediately, the other was fine the first day and now has joined them. All other fish are fine, exhibiting normal healthy behaviors. Should I treat for something? Or just leave them be? None have died yet... I am worried medication could harm all the fry in the tank? I have 12 fry in a breeding net that are all about a week old.

1. Size of tank? 70 gallons

2. Water parameters
a. Ammonia? .5
b. Nitrite? 0
c. Nitrate? 0
d. pH, KH and GH? 7.8 PH, 150GH, 200-ishKH
e. Test kit? TetraO easy strips

3. Temperature? 78

4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)? FW

5. How long the aquarium has been set up? 4 months

6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them? See above.

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? No

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants? Lots of fake plants
b. Sand, gravel, barebottom? gravel/sand mix
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors? yes to all

9. a. Filtration? yes
b. Heater? yes

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used? 8 hours a day
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long? yes, it's by a window

11. a. Water change schedule? 5 gallons once a week from the Culligan water thing at WalMart, our base water was city tap water
d. Water conditioner used? yes
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed? once a week

12. Foods? flake food, dried bloodworms, frozen brineshrimp
How often are they fed? 2-3 times a day, small portions

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms?
b. Appearance of poop? normal
c. Appearance of gills? slightly red on a few fish

14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? no
b. What meds were used? none

15. Insert photos of fish in question and full tank shot if necessary.

Read more: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...orm-read-before-you-post-61135/#ixzz2JxrXvyZL

 

[lovingmyfish]

that's sounds how mine was when they dropped fry I would say that they are stressed...

 

[Cole mccallister]

yes guppies are never to be in a brreeder trap as this stresses them out too much i did the rookie mistake before i new it was bad but the ones that did live had fungas grow on them and there gills stress was so bad but platies are safe to put in trap so don`t throw that thing away yet also because of all decor you shoudn`t worry about fry survival i have only 3 things in my guppie zebra danio tank with red fin sharks and i get up to 5-15 fry from one female so wiyh your stuff your survival rate is much more also i have 15-25 female gupps and 2 males boys are so spoiled and jealus they chase same female lol also 5 male zebra danios so there are 30+ fish and i have this survival rate yours is close but tank is bigger my tank is 5 gal with massive Oxygen gear but yours might need an air pump if they are at the surface and yours is 70 gal if i remember so your survival rate is garantead so good luck with babies so hope this diagnostic helps also realy sound like stress and potintial tuberculosis if no air gear is added if there is none and no real plants couse no oxygen replacements but the big T is a guess to the future so no worries about that right now hope this helps

 

[marshallsea]

.5 Ammonia- Ammonia poisoning. Your tank is not cycled. Read up on the nitrogen cycle. Daily 50% water changes until you understand the cycle and your tank is cycled.

 

[RSully]

I wouldn't jump to ammonia poisoning yet as you're testing with strips and those can be inaccurate to say the least. Get yourself an API FW master test kit. Much more reliable and easier to read. Also, when you're vacuuming your substrate are you vacuuming it all or just a 1/3 at each water change? If you're vacuuming it alll, stop and only vacuum a 1/3 once a week. If your having to vacuum more than that because of detritus build up, you're probably overfeeding. You should also be changing a bit more than than 5 gallons, more like 7-10 once a week.

 

[RSully]

frustrating when people make one post and then don't come back. Hope he figured it out.