So I got some Guppys today and i just sat up a tank and they are dying what should I do?

Question

Today my friend gave me some fish... guppys... and i sat up the tank today and now they are dying should i leave them in the tank or put them in like a bowl?

Answer 1

Are you using dechlorinator? Chlorine kills fish, so be sure to use dechlorinator.

You need to cycle your tank... unfortunately its a little late for that now, so all I can suggest for you to do is to replace 20% of the water every single day.

In the wild, and in established tanks, there are colonies of nitrifying bacteria which break down the toxic ammonia that fish produce into less toxic nitrates. A new tank does not have these bacteria, so just putting the fish means that they are getting burnt and killed by the ammonia they are producing.
Can you find some Bio-Spira at your local fish store? This is the live bacteria, and if you put it in your tank it will instantly cycle it. Don't use products like Cycle, which is just the dead bacteria, and doesn't work. Only Bio-Spira.

Or can you get some gravel or a filter cartridge from someone else's fishtank? That's where these bacteria lie and if you can some from someone else, it would put the bacteria right in the tank.

If you can not do either of thoe things, you will have to wait until the bacterial colonies develop on their own, feeding off the fish waste. It will take 2 to 4 weeks, so in that time, do water changes daily, and do not get any additional fish.

Good luck! I hope you fish pull through.

Answer 2

You shouldn't have put the guppies in right away. The tank is not stable and there are too many parasites and the water is not balanced. You should leave the water for about 2-3 days before you put fish in. Even still the tank doesnt complete its nitrogen cycle untill about 7 weeks. The fish will most likely die unless they survive after about 5 days.

Answer 3

They are probably dying because the tank is not cycled. It usually takes 30 days or so for a tank to be cycled. What you can do now is change 40% of the water everyday to keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels as low as possible. I did the same mistake with my fish whom I put in a 10 gallon tank without cycling...10 days later they are doing okay except one of them died. So it's very important to always cycle a tank before putting fish in. You will need to add 3-4 drops of conditioner (preferably PRIME) per gallon. Change 40 percent of the water everyday. But before you add in the clean water...add the conditioner drops and let it sit for about 30 minutes so it gets mixed in well before you add it to the tank. You should have your tank cycled in about 2 weeks if you do this or at least have the levels much lower.

Good luck!

Answer 4

The people here have pretty much covered all of the bases. Temp shock, chlorine, lack of oxygen, and unestablished tank issues are all possibilities. For what it matters, if you have survivors, they will change sex to rebalance out the tank as inbreeding does interesting things (I have albino guppies from an ick disaster). I hope they pull through and mine wish them luck!
Ken.

Answer 5

The water you put them in was not ready for fish is you put them in to fast without letting them (fish in bag of water) float the bag in new aquarium! They probably have shock!

If you have the old water put them back in it!

Answer 6

get some water conditioner but it already probably too late. some may survive but then get a disease in their weakened state. you have probably either not acclimatised them to a different temperature (leave in old bag or bowl floating in new for an hour.....or put them in tap water without conditioning......chlorine, fluoride etc. go to a pet shop or aquarium quik!

Answer 7

get some aquarium salt as they need it. or get dechlorinizer as tap water is not safe for fish

Answer 8

put them in a bowl, Toilet bowl, then flush

Answer 9

try changing their water, they need oxygen

Answer 10

did you use any conditioner in the water????