# all the big guppies go to heaven and I dontk now why



## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

I have not been home for 5 days to a week and today when im finally home, I found 6 of my guppies dead. and all of them are the biggest guppies. I do not see any illness on them. Well at least from the outside. they were all pregnant.

I dont understand why all my guppies who are pregnant died? (all that died are the biggest of them guppies) all other guppies are fine.


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

The one situation I can think of that results in larger fish deaths in hypoxic or anoxic water. Because they are larger the fish require more oxygen and because levels in the tank have become so low they are the first to suffer the consequences. Once they died and there was more o2 to go around the smaller fish were able to carry on just fine. 

This is by no means definitely what happened in your tank. Hard to say without more info, water tests etc. but it's what would explain larger fish dying in my mind.


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

i test the water, it is fine. The tank has been running for 3 years. I also have a couple really big swordtails in there so I thought it might be something that only attack pregnant guppies?


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

pregnant fish give off hormones that can make semi-aggressive fish attack. nipped fins, mother deaths from being chased. My mom guppy gave birth and then died two days later.


But 6 of them at one time is strange.

Do you have plants in the tank?


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

yes I do have plants in the tank. I fill 1/2 of the tank dense with plantations for the fry to survive. 

I am very confused myself as well. 

The tank been running 3 years, the fishes inside are the same. I have not add any new fish in 6 months or so. So yeah, weird, very weird and I need to know what is going on :s

I do not see sign from other fish nipping on them. Their body is flawless. 

It is like they died from heart attack which really do not show any sign from the outside.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Well, what else is in this tank and were they fed while you were tending to it?


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

I have guppies, swordtails, and low lights stem plants inside. They are fed once a day. This is not the first time i leave them but never leave them for more than a week max and they were always fine, everyone of it. So yeah, after 3 years, this really confused me. 6 at the same times with no sign of illness. 

My parents always come over to feed them when I'm gone and they have been doing it since the first day of the tank set up (whenever Im gone).


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

When you were absent, did your parents come over to feed them every day?
Do they also take dead fish out of the aquarium?

If the answer for both these questions is yes, then that tells us that they all died in one day. Which COULD mean that food may have been contaminated.

It could also be from stress which seems to be the likeliest cause of death as contaminated food or lack of oxygen would affect other fish as well (assuming that the swordtails are the same size or bigger than the guppies, unless they have smaller gills or require less oxygen, but the pregnancy may have be a circumstance which increases stress from lack of oxygen).


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## kev416 (Aug 22, 2010)

Did they drop their babies? You said they were all pregnant. A female guppy will hold on from dropping with other fish present in the tank. The stress can kill them if they don't feel comfortable and are not allowed to drop especially when being harassed by males. You should remove them when they look like they will drop so they can give birth in a quiet tank. As for guppies any new addition of fish to the tank can infect a guppy. Was something new introduced recently? That's why guppy breeders do not add a fish from an unknown source to a grow out tank. I've seen it happen at Frank's Aquarium where one returned guppy wipes out the entire tank in a matter of hours. And as Bettabeats has described I've had old females drop and die. They usually are so old their backs are bent.


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

Up date : Another big pregnant female guppy died today

I watched every individual of them guppies last night before going to bed and all are well. I sure pay more attention to all the big ones and they were all fine, none of them show any sickness sign such as laying in the bottom or hiding... All swim well.

I think they are/ were pregnant because there are black gravid spot on them and they're so big. i dont think they have the chance to release any fry yet.

I was away from Monday and back on Friday. My parents say they feed the fishes everyday. From Monday to Friday Morning. So, when I was back on Friday, I did not touch the tank, straight to sleep. I did not see any dead fishes either. All looks normal and On Saturday when I woke up and checked the tank, I found 6-7 pregnant guppies dead.

oh and I only have 3 males in the tank and there were 10 female guppied and now I only see 2 or 3.


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

looniebin said:


> i test the water, it is fine. The tank has been running for 3 years. I also have a couple really big swordtails in there so I thought it might be something that only attack pregnant guppies?


When you say you tested the water, can you tell us what you tested for and what the results where?

Thanks,
Harry


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

Just test again today

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
PH 7.6
Temp 80F


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## kev416 (Aug 22, 2010)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806154758.htm

The article here shows the extent females go to to avoid the harassment by males in the wild. In a small aquarium they have no where else to go. They become bound and the stress will end up killing them. It's not just the presence of the males. The larger swords will make them hold on to their babies as well. If its a disease like the 'guppy plague' you should lose a few males. Let's see how the week goes before adding more females. You said the tank has been running for three years. How old are these guppies? Maybe there's an age factor here.


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

these guppies.. some are 2 or 3 years but some only a year old. 

What weird is... why all dead at the same time? Saturday! and I got one more on Sunday. They might be dying of old age but 6-7 at the same day same time? Well about time I do not know. On friday before bed, none of them are dead and that was 11pm. Morning time 9am, 6-7 dead.


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

i once read guppies usually only live around or just over 2 years. I had a few larger females that were holding pass within 24 hrs like another member said they had humped backs you could tell they were old also all 3 were hiding behind the filter or heater cause they were about to have the babies. i am sure stress was a factor i have a few guppies in my calvus tank for the mass amount of babies to act as live food. kind of cruel i know but better then buying baby feeders and risking disease.


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## kev416 (Aug 22, 2010)

So how goes it?


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Along with what kev416 suggests, what sort of ratio do you have in regards to sex (males to females)? That can also lead to oversexed females, which will weaken them and eventually kill them.

I have a 65g tank, densely planted where I have a massive bunch of platies. It seems once the females become ready to breed, they last about 6 months until they die (they males tend to last a bit longer, but once active not usually longer than a year or so). Once they die, there are usually a couple more ready to breed and so the cycle continues. My assumption from watching them is that they are constantly harassed to breed, leading them to eventually die from being so stressed - not to mention successfully breeding every month or so.


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

Just found another one dead this morning before going to work. 

And yes, another fat pregnant big guppy.

I only have 2-4 male guppies and 10 females but now I think they are the same. However I am moving the rest of the females to their own tank (seperate tank).

Still, I cant keep wonder but... what cause all 6-7 fish to die at the same day? And all preggo and big. They do have hump on their back and yes they are old. Still, they dont have to all die at the same time. Kind of weird


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

did you add CO2 to the tank recently?


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

BettaBeats said:


> did you add CO2 to the tank recently?


no, I do not use CO2

up-date..... another 5 or 7 female guppy died last night, yup, another Saturday. So, I only have 2 guppy left now all males. I think I am off Guppy for now. Not going to get another new one.

This time, I saw 5 babies in the tank with their dead bodies


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

What are your water parameters?

When I have a large number of guppy die-offs at once like this, and it's not the obvious high nitrates, or the presence of toxins like nitrite and ammonia, or low levels of oxygen, then it's usually either disease, age, or stress.

I would typically do lots of partial water changes. If that doesn't stop the die-off, I would add aquarium salt. Aquarium salt seems to really help guppies stay healthier in TOronto tap water. I have a guppy living at nearly full marine right now, and he's the healthiest looking guppy I have ever kept. These little guppies sure are one hell of a good example of a euryhaline species.

W


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## looniebin (Jul 15, 2010)

I only have 2 guppies left now and I moved them to a 10G salted. They seem ok now.


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