# Guppies Sick After Water Change!



## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

Hello everyone, hoping I could get some help here and save my poor guppies.

I did a ~15% water change on Tuesday. Prior to changing it I checked the ammonia, nitrites and pH and all were okay. The nitrates were at like 20ppm so I did the water change.

Today, I noticed one of the guppies hovering near the gravel and acting sickly and strange. Then I noticed two of the other guppies were missing. I did find one of the missing two acting just like the first guppy. I presume the third is dead.

So I got a little spooked and did a 20% water change a few hours ago and just checked on them now and ALL of the guppies are acting strange now.

What is going on? This tank has been established for 5+ months and no new fish have been added for like 3-4 months. It's been cruising a long just fine with no problems. All I did when I added the water was add the aqueon water conditioner. The other fish in the tank are some corydora hasbrosus and corydoras pygmaes, some otocincluses, and 3 pristella tetras that I am trying to get rid of as it is too crowded!


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## tys123 (Aug 11, 2011)

well, how much did the back of the bottle say to put?
and if you did put the right amount, what exactly does the water conditioner say t does?
Remember, its always important to put water conditioner in your aquarium during water changes.


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

It said 5ml per 10gallons, and my tank is 20 gallons. On Tuesday, I took 1 bucketful of water out, and filled it back with 1 new bucket of water, and put enough water conditioner in to treat 5 gallons because that's how much I intended to put in, but I got distracted so I only did the one bucket instead of my normal two buckets. So, the amount of water conditioner might have been too much on Tuesday. 

Today's water change was done with the correct amount of stuff. The bottle says "Makes tap water safe for fish by instantly neutralizing chlorine and chloramines in tap water. Aids in restoring a fish's natural slime coat. Should be used when filling your aquarium for the first time, refilling water due to evaporation, making water changes and adding new fish."


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Did you happen to change the filter at the same time as the water change? That could have caused a mini cycle.


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## tys123 (Aug 11, 2011)

what specifically does your guppy look like? does it lok like it has a parasite?


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

I didn't change the filter when I did the first water change, but I did change it today when I did the next water change. I was worried maybe something toxic had gotten into the tank so I wanted the carbon to be fresh to pull out anything icky. I did save the old filter cartridge just in case.

The guppies are lying around near the gravel, they can keep vertical and oriented normally, there MAY be a very slight shimmy back and forth. No fluffs of white stuff or lesions or any outward signs of illness, no swelling. They're all just hovering near the bottom shimmying.


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## tys123 (Aug 11, 2011)

that sounds abnormal. Did the PH change?


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

pH Tuesday and Today was 6.8.
Ammonia and Nitrites were both 0ppm Tuesday and Today.
Nitrates on Tuesday were roughly 10-13ppm.
Nitrates today at at 5ppm.


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## tys123 (Aug 11, 2011)

really unlucky sorry i guess its something that dusnt happen often


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

Here are two videos of one of the affected guppies, and how they're moving:
Sick guppy - YouTube
Sick guppy - YouTube


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Are you using test strips by any chance?


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

I'm not. Using the little vials and drops of this and that.


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Kelbrina said:


> I'm not. Using the little vials and drops of this and that.


I'm just confused how you have really high nitrates with 0 nitrites.

Does your tap water have high nitrates?


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

I've actually never tested our tap water. The tank is in the lobby of where I work, and I'm home for the night, so I will tomorrow. The two readings this week don't seem out of the norm for this tank, though.


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

Another guppy bit the dust, who had been the most unaffected one so far. Now there's only one left and all the other fish are still okay. What on earth is going on??


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Pigeonfish said:


> I'm just confused how you have really high nitrates with 0 nitrites.
> 
> Does your tap water have high nitrates?


That's normal in cycled, unplanted tank. Ammonia and Nitrites should read as 0 but nitrates build up because all the nitrite is turned into nitrate as soon as it appears. In a planted tank usually the plants keep the nitrates down though.


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## Kelbrina (Feb 19, 2011)

snail said:


> That's normal in cycled, unplanted tank. Ammonia and Nitrites should read as 0 but nitrates build up because all the nitrite is turned into nitrate as soon as it appears. In a planted tank usually the plants keep the nitrates down though.


My tank is planted though, just an fyi.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Kelbrina said:


> My tank is planted though, just an fyi.


I saw that in the pics, maybe the plants are just not keeping up with the nitrates? Do you have updated test results?


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