# Keep losing guppies?



## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

I have a heavily planted 75 gallon community tank that recently had a columnaris outbreak wipe out half my stock... Now that things seem to have stabilized, I'm taking the opportunity to re-evaluate how I want it stocked. I've always kept 8+ male guppies before now but I've noticed while researching compatibilities that they're actually recommended to be kept in more alkaline water than I have... But this seems to be inconsistent. Some sites say 5.5-8.0 ph, others say 7-8.5... Which one is accurate? My tank usually sits around 6.5 thanks to the driftwood and plants, so keeping it alkaline would be difficult and not very good for the other tankmates. 

I seem to go through spurts of losing half my guppies (one by one they get reclusive and then vanish, then it stabilizes a while before happening again) and I'm trying to figure out if it's because I have them in more acidic water than usual, if it's because I don't keep females and the boys are just picking each other off, or if it's because they're just relatively short lived in general... I love their looks and activity, but if they just aren't acidic tolerant at all then I guess I'll have to find some other colorful dither fish for my planned restock  I'm fairly certain the other tankmates aren't the issue, as no one chases them (not even the betta or gourami), and their fins aren't getting nipped other than the occasional minor issue by themselves in usual bachelor pad bickering fashion.

Any ideas? Are they just not meant to be, do I not have enough boys, or is this just normal for them? Thanks!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

No other losses? Only guppies?Did they all come from same source?Did you get them all at the same time?


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## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

Guppies have all come from different sources, and I usually don't buy them all at once. I've had a columnaris outbreak recently that I can attribute some of the deaths to that also wiped out other fish, and an ich outbreak that happened a while back due to not following my usual quarantine procedure... But those are the only times I lost other fish. Guppies have been dropping on me at other times besides that, sometimes right after increasing their numbers, sometimes for no apparent reason.


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## Amethyst (Jul 15, 2012)

I have a bunch of guppies, males and females, of various ages/sizes from tiny fry to adult females that are 2.5" or bigger. I've also had occasional die-off for no apparent reason, but usually I know for awhile before that they were sick. Sometimes it looks like worms due to bloat and/or skinny (sometimes bloat then skinny a couple of weeks later), white stringy poop, etc. Other times one just dies for no known reason. If it's worms and you catch it soon enough, you should be able to treat and save your stock. I don't think it's just male sqabbling - male guppies are pretty easy on each other. They do chase and do their mating dances for each other, but aren't particularly aggressive to each other. As for pH - they can tolerate a range, closer to neutral is better (7.0 being neutral as you probably know), but I don't think that 6.5 should be a problem. Fish can usually acclimate to a variety of pH ranges, and it's better to let them acclimate than to try to change the pH artificially. You could also introduce some females, but you'd need at least 2 females per male (I prefer 3 to 1), which would probably upset your overall balance in the tank, depending on your other stock. 

Good luck with re-stocking!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Amethyst said:


> I have a bunch of guppies, males and females, of various ages/sizes from tiny fry to adult females that are 2.5" or bigger. I've also had occasional die-off for no apparent reason, but usually I know for awhile before that they were sick. Sometimes it looks like worms due to bloat and/or skinny (sometimes bloat then skinny a couple of weeks later), white stringy poop, etc. Other times one just dies for no known reason. If it's worms and you catch it soon enough, you should be able to treat and save your stock.
> Sounds like CAMALANUS.


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## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

Since I didn't have much response initially on posting this thread, I sent a question over to WetWebMedia.com and their theory was actually that my water was way too soft due to my plants plus my naturally soft tap water. I went to my LFS to get it tested and that theory looked to be correct since I came in at 0-3 dH even though WWM suggested guppies preferred it closer to 10dH. My LFS also suggested my plants would thrive better with more dH as well, so I figure it's worth a shot to try and buffer things more. I'm giving the guppies another shot right now with some crushed coral added to the filter and dosing some gH plant food as needed, so we'll see if that fixes the issue... I'm also testing the hardness daily to make sure I don't get any huge spikes and it's been looking good the last week  I've worked my way up to 7dH gradually over the last 2 weeks and my pH has migrated up to 6.8 and the guppies do seem happier. Crossing my fingers that the issue is finally fixed!


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## Amethyst (Jul 15, 2012)

coralbandit said:


> Sounds like CAMALANUS.


Actually, with camellanus you can see red worms protruding from the anus of the fish. They are thinner than regular poop and don't come all the way out. Usually there are a cluster of them. Small fish like guppies are particularly susceptible. If you see this, you need to treat the entire tank and everything that is in the tank immediately. The medication to treat it isn't usually available in pet stores, but I can give you info about a guy that sells the meds online if anyone needs it.


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## Amethyst (Jul 15, 2012)

luananeko said:


> Since I didn't have much response initially on posting this thread, I sent a question over to WetWebMedia.com and their theory was actually that my water was way too soft due to my plants plus my naturally soft tap water. I went to my LFS to get it tested and that theory looked to be correct since I came in at 0-3 dH even though WWM suggested guppies preferred it closer to 10dH. My LFS also suggested my plants would thrive better with more dH as well, so I figure it's worth a shot to try and buffer things more. I'm giving the guppies another shot right now with some crushed coral added to the filter and dosing some gH plant food as needed, so we'll see if that fixes the issue... I'm also testing the hardness daily to make sure I don't get any huge spikes and it's been looking good the last week  I've worked my way up to 7dH gradually over the last 2 weeks and my pH has migrated up to 6.8 and the guppies do seem happier. Crossing my fingers that the issue is finally fixed!


Good luck with your restock!


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