Please help!  Why are they dying?


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1. Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate  0/0/10-20 (more orange than red)
2. pH/GH/KH  7.2/6/4
3. Temperature 78.0
4. Tank size/Filtration 10 gallon/Aquaclear 30
5. Water change amount/frequency 20% weekly, but I did a 10% WC on Monday when I found the first 3 guppies in bad shape.
6. Water additives/Medications Prime
7. What, how much and how often do you feed your fish? Cories get one of these per day: Top Fin algae thins, Hikari sinking wafers, Tetra Min Variety Wafers or 2 shrimp pellets.  They also get Hikari frozen spirulina and brine shrimp one day, fast one day, pea the next day.  I was feeding the guppies Nutrafin max livebearer food or Ocean Nutrition community formula flakes, one very small pinch per day.  I have other foods but they died before I made it through the cycle.
8. Tank inhabitants 3 cory catfish, 1 guppy, pond snails that hitchhiked on some java moss and I also have some of those Walmart bulb plants in there.
9. Any new fish added to the tank? Who and when? 3 guppies on 09/09/07, they all died on 09/10/07.  I thought they died due to oxygen deprivation because I had modified the filter by adding plastic mesh to slow down the flow when Gordy was in this tank. I had also removed the air stone.  So I removed the mesh, added the air stone (and pump), did a WC, then I took them back and got 3 more which I added on 09/11/07 and now only one is left and he doesn't look good at all.
10. Any unusual behavior or symptoms? Cories appear to be fine but they are hiding more lately and seem to be a little skittish.  The guppies were hovering at the surface (one was gasping), they lost color in their tail fin, and the tail fin appears shredded.  They start to shake or shimmy side to side and then I know they're about to die.  Edited to add shake/shimmy symptom.
11. How long has the tank been in operation? since 08/25/06
-- Thanks! --

Last edited by gordy8 on Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:21 pm; edited 4 times in total
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Annette

The last remaining guppy died sometime last night.  I just did a water change yesterday, should I do another one today?

The cories still seem fine.  Any ideas as to what caused the guppies to die?

Also, I haven't been putting new fish in quarantine because I've never figured out how you're supposed to keep a separate tank cycled with no fish in it.  Do you add ammonia, as you would with fishless cycling?

Thanks!
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Annette

Please help me, I have had the cories a long time and I don't want them to die, too.
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Annette

eek!  So sorry to have taken so long to see this post.  

It sounds like your new arrivals may have simply been ill when they arrived.  Whatever they had, or the stress they caused, may have finished off the last guppy.

I would do another largish water change and use the best foods possible for the next week.  Hiding may be normal if the tank has been in distress this week...but better to do all we an to keep conditions perfect while watching and waiting.

Edit: Oops, GIR beat me

Tough call. The gasping definitely sounds like breathing problems, but your steps to aerate the tank should have taken care of that issue. They could be a diseased batch carrying something from the LFS, I definitely wouldn't add any more with your cories. At this point, your params are in check, as long as the water is moving well on the surface, keep an eye on the cories. They could just be skittish from all the extra attention you're giving the tank, mine do some pretty strange stuff sometimes when I'm tending to my own tank. The only other thing you mentioned that changed along with the arrival of the guppies is the mesh in the filter, there's always a chance it could have been carrying something toxic, but it's out now, and with the cories showing no real adverse signs, I'd venture to guess that the LFS is just selling some very weekend or infected guppies.

As for the cycled QT tank, I use 5gl buckets for QT. I keep them cycled with snails, plants, fish food and sometimes a small fish or two (I have Endlers in there now). With just plants and snails, the idea is to constantly add plant clippings and let them die and rot in the tank, while I feed the snails a hefty pinch of fish food every day. There is a large rock in there from one of my tanks to harbor bacteria. The only issue is that the biofilter in the bucket, or anything holding a cycle with just snails, plants and food,  cannot handle a heavy load of more than one or two small fish, but it's also wise to not buy an entire school of fish at once, so it works out to assist my patience. The other option is to QT in an uncycled tank and treat it like a betta bowl, 100% WC when ammonia is detected, also works out better with only one or two fish, or else you'll be doing changes every 2 days or sooner.
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Melt all plastic plants!

Thanks to you both for your replies!  It is really weird to me that all six of those guppies were ill when I got them.  However, I'm sure the water isn't the problem and I don't know what else it could have been.  I did a 30% WC on this tank today and I'll keep a close eye on the cories.
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Annette

HAving a whole batch of sick fish from the same tank isn't completely shocking.

Well, when you put it that way...   True!
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Annette

I bet if you called the store back they might (if they are honest) tell you they had a lot of losses from this shipment even.