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Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discussion

Discussion in 'Freshwater Aquariums & Fish Photos' started by MasterBlue, Oct 5, 2010.

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  1. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    So, updates to my non-readers.
    40 gallon due to be taken down, the stand can't hold it any longer. It's only half full, durring the the big partial the stand started to collaps as I was filling it... So I'll drain it and place everyone in a ten gallon. Not the best, but it's what I got.

    Bright side, all the sickness seems to be gone now, along with all the 50-ish gallon's guppy population. So a bit of good with the bad.
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 18, 2011
    #101
  2. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Forty still up, till I figure out what to do about the Tiger Endler males I've decided not to use as breeders that is. Might bring them down to the Aqua Hut when I go to drop off my culled red cherry shrimp. Might make a small enough profit off them to contribute to the new stand. Wouldn't that be exciting? =3


    I'm thinking that I'll divide the tank into 6 parts(about 6 gallons each?), dividing it into 3 long, and placing another in the middle. It'll require me to change a bit, like being able to get to the back and front, and as so will make me have to rearrange my room, totally worth it tho.
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 21, 2011
    #102
  3. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    hope your lfs is different than the one in my area, they won't even accept a fish for the mere less than 10% trade in if it isn't valued at over $15.00, hope you get a bit that might help you buy a new stand though!

    ps. just my opinion, but all those divisions would make it a bleep to keep clean. Small tanks=lots of waste if your planning on cramming alot of babies/fish in their during your breeding experimentation. And then there's the filtering issue, even sponges in each section would take space and require the use of a STRONG airpump with a gang valve to split the air to the various portions.
     
    MOD_Dawn, Jan 21, 2011
    #103
  4. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Well, the dividers will be made from some needle point plastic, so water will be able to flow (really slowly) I'll have to design a water system for it, but shouldn't be hard.

    And the owner's a great guy. I made 40 bucks offa the Tiger Endler's, one of my last black bare Endler's, and some culled red cherry shrimp. I'm pleased at any rate!
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 22, 2011
    #104
  5. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    if your thinking the same needlepoint plastic that I am the fry will easily slip between the open cubes.
     
    MOD_Dawn, Jan 22, 2011
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  6. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Nope. it's smaller holes, about the size of a needle. I seen some last I ventured into Baton Rouge's art stores.
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 23, 2011
    #106
  7. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Color update!!!
    Seeing more blue fish! Thats a good sign, I was worried for a while!
    I'm going to break the tank down and place everyone into a 10 gallon till I get the new stand up and running... So much cleaning I have to do to! I've gotta empty the dresser! =(
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 25, 2011
    #107
  8. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    In order to get to what I want I'm going to need a Japanese Blue Spade tail. I heard a rumor that AdrianHD recently sold some an Aquabid. If He's still got some I may jump on that.

    Tested water today after the water change. Nitrates higher than I would like, otherwise looks good. Few days I'll do another partial to take care of that.

    Young Marbled Crays are eating the tails of the fish again. Not a HUGE problem, since it's not a big big cray, but it can't be allowed to continue, infections and such.
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 28, 2011
    #108
  9. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    I looked it up, he has some of what I'm looking for. Going to see if he'll sell me just those, paired with some females.
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 28, 2011
    #109
  10. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Well.... Great!
    Seems the illness that killed all my other fish has appeared in this tank now... I did a water change yesterday and I have seen no other evidence of illness.
    I'll test the water in a few moments.
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 30, 2011
    #110
  11. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Stupid edit time out XD
    Well, long story short, I've gotten a nitrate/tride and ammonia spike. The sponge filter is over due for it's rinsing out. Cleaned the filter and added some stuff that should reduce the three some. Small partial then quarantined the sick fish in question. No one else is sick. Special note : she is the largest and oldest fish in the tank.
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 30, 2011
    #111
  12. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Puzzling: She died, and her daughter is now sick. All the fish that have died recently can trace there lineage to one male guppy I had, who was the first to die.... So, it might be a genetic problem? I'm not sure how that could be, but who knows?
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 31, 2011
    #112
  13. FishVixen

    FishVixen Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    There are quite a few genetic diseases even in humans like diabetes thats why health histories are important.
     
    FishVixen, Jan 31, 2011
    #113
  14. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Yea... It weird that they all would just drop dead like that at once tho... Could be some sort of environmental trigger?
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 31, 2011
    #114
  15. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    sounds like the ammonia to me.
     
    MOD_Dawn, Jan 31, 2011
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  16. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    One fish looks really bad. Covered in white growths... Swimming erratically... o.o;

    Wheeeeeeeelllllll........... Time to remove the shrimp and treat the tank REALLY heavily with some metholyn blue... It's all I got...
     
    MasterBlue, Jan 31, 2011
    #116
  17. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    sounds like fungus, with the tank not being cycled and having ammonia & such I'd be doing 50% water changes twice a day and treating with a dechlorinator of some sort (unless you have well water).

    if you have plants in there you may wanna pull them (methylene blue will wipe them out) and it will also wipe out your nitrifying bacteria (but with the tank having ammonia in there I doubt you have any so wouldn't be concerned with that).

    If it's that advanced you might wanna consider using it as a dip.
     
    MOD_Dawn, Feb 1, 2011
    #117
  18. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    I've been doing 5% - 10% partials every other day since my last out break... I can't fathom the ammonia would spike like that all of a sudden, not with partials that often. But, please do correct me if I'm wrong o.o;

    I did a larger water change this morning (75% or more) and I also have added two new filters to the tank... Is is possible that this is a parasitic attack?

    And then the Triops I had in the tank; he's doing well. They are extremely sensitive to toxins, so I would imagine a ammonia spike would kill him? I've never tested that before.

    *sigh* I added the treatments and removed the shrimp. Plants removed as well.
    I'll do a 25% partial in the morning, then I have a job interview. I'll do another 25% when I get home.

    If all fish die: I'll collapse the tank till I can afford the new stand, and try again then.
    If they survive: I'll leave this tank up till I can afford the new stand and hope for the best.
     
    MasterBlue, Feb 1, 2011
    #118
  19. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    Not enough imo, with the issues your having I'd be doing about 50% ... once you medicate with the methylene blue you'll follow the directions (I'm sure you have them on the bottle...too lazy to run to the cellar and double check the directions on my bottle).

    I doubt it, these aren't newly added fish if I recall? I think the tank not being cycled was the cause of all this. Ammonia alone woulda caused rapid deaths..the tufts (which is probably a fungus) could be from the unstable water parameters...are you running a heater on this tank and is it staying stable and not fluctuating? (remember previously something about you not using heaters because the room was warm or something like that)

    I've had them before, but they never made it past 24hours..then again I was probably 10 at the time. Lol! so can't comment here.

    Do a 50% and add the methy. according to directions...then hang loose on doing another partial to give the medicine time to work. Make sure there's no CARBON in the filter media because that'll pull your meds.

    If you had a good bit of plants you could try peroxide dipping them to salvage them and tossing them in a bucket somewhere you get semi-descent lighting. That way if any make it through you'll be able to add the plants back once all is in order.

    If they all die use plain clorox bleach dilluted with water to disinfect the tank and any equipment used within it that's bleachable. That way you'll know for sure you AREN"T starting with any prior problems. And if you don't have the time to properly cycle the tank get yourself a bottle of the TLC SmartStart or Tetra SafeStart (used both without any negative effects, and with small tank you won't need more than a bottle...might even be able to divide amongst smaller tanks dependant upon their size).

    I think once you get stands in place it'll be easier for you...partial wise which will keep your parameters more stable. I'd implement heaters too (knowing guppy's and their likeleness to get ich, spine issues, etc) and mainly just to save yourself some future headaches.

    For your purposes (breeding) you may want to do simple bare bottoms for ease of cleaning..for hiding spots you could do some simple weighted plastic plants that can be pulled and rinsed (silicone and some gravel make great weighted bases for them). If you need I can send you a bunch of plastic plants (some with and some without bottoms), you'd have to pay the actual shipping though of course. Would give you more of a visual of water conditions so to speak.

    I'd also try to keep an eye out for a cheap (even if used) freshwater test kit for when you run into problems. ebay, craiglist..maybe post a wanted ad looking for used equipment that would help you?
     
    MOD_Dawn, Feb 1, 2011
    #119
  20. MasterBlue

    MasterBlue Thread Starter Active Member

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    Re: Working on my own strain of guppy. - Journal and discuss

    I got a heater now. lol. I got it when the temps dropped to like 29 here. Temp stays about 78 these days. I increased it to 80 when they started to get sick...

    The tank is a 40 gallon, so one bottle isn't enough, lol. I've used the tetra one before.
    I've got a basic strip test....
    It's last reading (morn'n after partial) nitrate 0-20, nitrite was flat 0. The water is soft, alkaline, ph is 7.6-7.8.
     
    MasterBlue, Feb 1, 2011
    #120
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