Guppies Keep Dying but Not Other Fish

[lbo1000]

Ok so my first wave of guppies got cottonmouth so I treated the tank. I had some that were appearing to be getting better but they still passed.

After that I introduced some medaka and they're doing well so I bought an expensive strain of guppies from Thailand. For about a week they were swimming around happily and had been eating the whole time.

Then the female died so I tested my water and it turned out the medicine had crashed my cycle so I attributed her death to that and did a big water change and added some turbostart.

Today my light came on and my shrimp (who have had no deaths through all this drama, fyi) were snacking on the male, who had been swimming and eating just hours before.

I have multiple tanks and haven't experienced this constant death in any of them but the guppy tank. I don't think its disease because I've temporarily had bettas in there (in a breeder net) and they're fine. So are the medaka. I feed medicated food every once in awhile as well. I love guppies but I'm really hesitant to buy more at this point. I especially loved the strain I imported but they cost a pretty penny and its so risky.

[Tony s]

Sorry to hear about your struggles with guppies. I have the same issue. They should be easy to keep, but something is just not right with them. Very possibly it’s genetics. And even getting them from good stock may not solve the problem. We finally got some fry but have lost 3 of 4 adults. Some of that was my fault. Apparently the sponge filter was clogged solid and was not filtering out the ammonia. The fry are doing fine though. I think that may be the key. Getting enough fry raised in your water to keep a colony going. The place I ordered from is in Ohio. They keep the imports there for several weeks to acclimate them to our water. Sometimes foreign guppies are raised in salty water, which makes getting them started even harder. They even offer tank raised strains, which should be even better. Haven’t tried those yet though. 

Edited July 26 by Tony s

[Colu]

What are your water parameters ammonia nitrite nitrate pH KH GH temperature as low KH GH and can cause guppies to essential fall apart due to lack of minerals @lbo1000

[lbo1000]

On 7/26/2024 at 5:10 AM, Colu said:

What are your water parameters ammonia nitrite nitrate pH KH GH temperature as low KH GH and can cause guppies to essential fall apart due to lack of minerals @lbo1000

My water is very hard (KH/GH one is very high and the other is moderate, ran out of strips so forgot which ones) and the ph is 8.5. I keep the water at 80 degrees. 

[AtomicSunfish]

IMHO you may be looking at inbreeding depression. Guppies, like all animals, can be prone to heritable diseases and infirmity when purebred. I like to outcross my guppies to give them a stronger constitution.

[lbo1000]

On 7/26/2024 at 4:49 PM, AtomicSunfish said:

IMHO you may be looking at inbreeding depression. Guppies, like all animals, can be prone to heritable diseases and infirmity when purebred. I like to outcross my guppies to give them a stronger constitution.

Struggle is that they all keep dying before they can even reproduce in my tank 😕

[johnnyxxl]

Try getting them either from a local breeder or a place like Dan's Fish 

[AtomicSunfish]

On 7/26/2024 at 4:51 PM, lbo1000 said:

Struggle is that they all keep dying before they can even reproduce in my tank 😕

Yes, but I mean you might want to obtain your guppies from elsewhere, because the problems you’re dealing with now may be due to inbreeding.