hi everybody,sorry i'm new to this game,three months ago i bought and set up a 120 litre juwel aquarium,went in to buy a goldfish tank for my kids but thats a story for another day,had it cycling for a month with some gravel and filters from a friends tank,after that i had the water tested and added 4 zebra danios,4 platys and a pleco,all the fish got on ok,a month later i added 2 dalmation mollies and 5 neon tetras,one neon tetra died but i put that down to bad luck as the water tested ok,last monday i came home with 5 glowlight tetras and three guppies,i tested the water before adding them to the tank and took my time climatising them as usual,they all seemed happy enough when i went to bed that night but when i got up next morning one of the guppies was dead,i removed him and tested the water and it was still okwhen i came home that evening my beautiful yellow and blue guppy was gone,nowhere to be found,the tank was due its weekly 20% water change so i done that and removed all the ornaments and plants for cleaning but still havn't found the guppy,next morning my third guppy was dead when i got up,brought a sample of water to my lfs to have it checked and they say its perfect,anybody got any ideas whats happening?,or where my other guppy went,would the pleco eat it,should i be worried about my other fish?,any help appreciated,as i say i'm very new to this

Hello Paul,
Firstly, you're most welcome to the Forum...we were all very new to this at some time or another (for some of us it was a VERY long time back...).

A couple of questions:
How are the rest of your fish? If they are all well and swimming and feeding naturally then the finger could be pointed at the Guppies themselves.

Did you happen to notice when you returned to your LFS (no name, please) if the remainder of the Guppies were OK?

As to your 'lost' Guppy this is a bit of a mystery...plecos will eat, quite quickly too, dead fish - but I have never seen one attempt a live one, this being the case it's a bit strange how your first and third casualties were found but not your second...you might have to put this one down to one of 'life's little mysteries' - we all have them from time to time.

When you say you cleaned ornaments and plants can I assume you have artificial plants? - If they're natural ones it would be a mistake to take them out to clean them - the roots would become exposed and any growth would be curtailed - do it too often and they would die (but you probably know this already).

Just in case you are cleaning the media in the filter too regularly I would suggest that this only be cleaned once the flow out of it has appreciably diminished - up to a 30% reduction in flow is acceptable.

As you've been bringing your water to the LFS for testing I would suggest your next purchase would be a semi-comprehensive Test Kit, I can recommend the API one but most of the others are fine too. I'm glad you're maintaining a 20% weekly water change regime - this is almost mandatory. Presumably you are treating the new tap water before adding it?
When you get your Testing Kit please test the water and post back to us the findings, these are always the best indicator (other than fishes' actual behaviour) of how things are progressing within your tank.

There are lots of hints and tips in the 'Beginner's Haven' section of the Forum, you'll find them interesting reading too.

Cheers,

John

Hi john,thanks for the reply,didn,t buy the fish in my lfs,stopped off on my way back from a meeting in dublin,much better selection in athlone than galway,plants are all artificial,havn't needed to clean filters yet,two of my neon tetras faded badly before water change but have brightened up again since,all other fish are perfectly happy swimming and feeding normally,i did notice the temperature go up to 27 degrees where it was normally 24-25,dont know how it can be lowered or even if it needs to be,all the other fish are fine in there,i have a water testing kit,cant remember what make,it tests ph,nitrate,nitrite and ammonia,just brought a sample in
to be sure,wasn't sure i was doing it right
Thanks very much for your help

Paul

It could be just a bad strain of guppies from the LFS. As for the 2nd guppy, perhaps have a look behind the filter, Ive had fish go missing behind this (Ie. they get wedged down the back of it), I lost a tetra this way and couldnt find him for a day and last week found a guppy wedged down there,(she survived thankfully). The temperature can be controlled by the heater in the tank,check to make sure it is in full working order and also on the side of caution get a 2nd thermometer (you should have one anyhow for when you are adding water during your 20% water change). The thermometer you have in the tank at present may be wrong so get another one to see if its ok. (They only cost about €1 or so).
Also if its possible, I dont know if you have a second tank but if you have you may want to quarantine the new fish you buy for at least 7 days before adding them to the main tank, that being said I dont have a 2nd tank so Im in a similar vein to you when Im adding new fish, (look at the tank you buy them from, check for any dead fish or ill looking fish, see if they are behaving as the fish should be), this is the only way you can attempt to get proper fish if you dont have a quarantine tank.
And finally welcome to the forum, keep asking questions, Im new to the forum also and I think Ive used up as many threads asking questions on fish on anything! But Im learning, evidenced by my fish breeding last week!
Gavin

Thanks gavin,i've searched everywhere,even behind the filter,it just dissappeared,temperature the same with three thermometers,i've turned down the heater but i think its the hot weather thats causing it,i'm keeping a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't get too hot but it seems to be settling at 26 now,hopefully all will be ok from now on,thinking of getting a second 70 litre tank,two platys pregnant i think,starting to look very big,will probably put the four platys in new tank and see what happens
Thanks again

Paul

Hi Paul,
welcome to forum, John has give you some good advice there. the temp is a little high but to be expected in this weather. if you lower your thermostat down one it should help. do if tank is in the kitchen or direct sun light it wont. i have one that gets direct sunlight for about an hour in the morning and have this. short term not a problem but over long periods it effect life expectancy.

The deaths well strange but i am not suprised guppies these days are not as strong as in times past and i don,t think there was anything you could have done to prevent this the chances is they were new stock and stressed and then the trip home etc. But as john said some times we just don't know.

the mollies will benefit from some salt about a level tea spoon. NOTE this would be either tonic salt or marine available at your LFS not household.

Just keep us posted and if you notice anything please post for advice the only stupid question is why i didn't ask sooner

(and i should know i ask plenty)
mickey

Paul,
A couple of further issues,

Gavin is right - a quarantine tank is a must...I just didn't want to confuse you further from the outset, it needn't be a large tank, so long as any new fish you might buy will only be smaller one.

As you're in Galway you might want to consider joining the CFKS - they meet near the City and the next meeting - if you can make it - is tomorrow evening.
From the members I've met they're a very sound bunch and very welcoming. Give it a try, go to a meeting (they meet monthly in case tomorrow's meeting is 'out') and see what you think - then you can decide either to join or not, but at least you'll have seen what it's all about.

Aquapaws at Barna are a good shop, they're getting in a new batch of fish and both Gavin and Peter are very helpful knowledgeable people who are more than happy to help out newcomers...and what's more they are Forum sponsors and CFKS members too.
Right, plug over...

From what I know of them Juwel heaters aren't the most dependable of heaters - you might want to think of getting a new more reliable one. There have been many many words written about Juwel heaters - and, sadly, not too much of those words were saying good things about them.
Now, it could just be the extra warmth we are experiencing just at the moment (hope this warm spell doesn't turn out to be the Summer - like the warm spell last April did!!!) so you might want to monitor this, your heater may be fine - just keep an eye on it to be on the safe side.

One last thing...gravid (pregnant) female livebearers do not take kindly to being moved too soon before birth, this can lead to miscarriages and at worst death of the actual females so try to avoid moving them if at all possible close to birth time - for some reason this is especially so of both Platies and Mollies although I've had the same happen with female swordtails so you could really say all of them can be prone.

Try the meeting - if you can - I know you'll be made most welcome.

John

Wow,everybody,thanks for all your advice,think i'll be getting a second tank this evening,there's a juwel rekord 70 with pump,heater and filters on sale here at the minute for 100euro,my tank is getting about two hours sunlight every evening which is probably causing the temperature to rise a bit,think i'll get breeding traps for the platys til the fry are born,then maybe transfer to new tank,should be cycled by the time they're ready

Again everybody
Thank you,i'm sure i'll be asking some more silly questions soon

Paul

Caution with the breeding traps, dont move the fish too soon as they can get v stressed out and miscarry and even die on occasions if moved to soon. Remember a breeding trap is only useful for when the platy is ready to drop, its not suitable for having the fish in for a sustained period of time.
As for the Jewel at 100 euro....Great deal!

Hi everyone,i'm back again,it just gets better and better,got home this evening,two neon tetras gone,again nowhere to be found,i'm now starting to worry about where they're going,took out pump&filters,heater and everything to have a look,they're just not there,
Thats not even the strangest thing i've come across tonight,while looking for the tetras a tiny snail like thing came down along the glass in front of me,i'd swear it was a snail,sort of transparent brown colour with two tentacles about the thickness of a hair,the thing itself was only about twice the size of the head of a match,i'm starting to think my tank is haunted,anybody got any ideas whats going on in my tank,all the fish seem to be happy in there,even the new glowlights are flying around the place,i'm thinking of using a syphon to clean the gravel and hopefully suck up that thing aswell