I'm trying yet again with guppies. I've had a tank for over 40 years, so
I know mostly what's going on.... at least most of the time. Here's the
story. I found a new home for my breeding pair of severums, and bought 3
pair of yellow body red tailed fancy guppies from a local store that
claimed
they were privately raised. The tank they were in looked healthy and well
kept.
I put them along with 2 small catfish into my 55 gallon tank, along
with
a couple of new plants. I cleaned the gravel a bit and changed the filter
floss. After a week or so they started dying off one at a time every few
days. The symptoms were discoloration and lazy top swimming. Before they
were all gone, the biggest female had about 50 yellow fry. In a few days
I
counted about 40. A week later it was down to 30. I fed them flakes and
went back to the store after 2 weeks. They tested my water and all levels
were perfect, so they replaced the fish free. I put in the new 3 pair and
they were really frisky as hell for a week or 2, then they started to die
off one at a time, leaving me with 2 females and 1 male. The fry were now
down to about 20. Yesterday the 2 remaining small females both had about
15
fry. The 10 old fry now look thin and deformed with slack belly and
clamped
fins no matter how much they eat. I change a few gallons once a week, and
add Stresscoat.
Here's my question. Is this disease or genetics, or a combo of both?
I
thought that even with the high mortality rate, after a month the fry
survivors would be fine, but they look like hell. The new fry look fine,
but it's only been a week. The surving 3 adults also look fine. Remember
the
water reads fine. I remember wgeb guppies were the hardiest of fish, and
used to have a ball breeding great ones.
--
JK Sinrod
www.MyConeyIslandMemories.com
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