6 REASONS WHY YOUR GUPPIES DIE
Most of you must have started off our fish-keeping hobby by keeping Guppy fish in an aquarium. As we all know, these guys come with very vibrant colors and have a peaceful nature. They might be considered very hardy, but sometimes we find them dead or dying for no particular reason.
As beginners, we do not have any clue about the ideal conditions on how to keep guppy fish, but when we know why they die so often and how we can avoid this problem.
1. Poor Quality Water
One of the most common reasons for their death is poor water quality. This could be a result of overfeeding your fish, more on that later.
On the other hand, guppies tend to produce a lot of waste over time, and if it is not filtered out, it just accumulates. Resulting in their death.
Lack of oxygen in the tank or filling the tank with ‘TOO HOT’ or ‘TOO COLD’ water will cause the death of your guppies. Make sure you treat your tank water for chlorine to avoid the death of your guppies.
2. Increasing Ammonia Level
Always maintain the ammonia level of the tank at 0 PPM. In addition, there should not be any ammonia in your tank. This can be prevented by adding more live plants to your aquarium and making sure that there is regular water change in your tank.
The increasing level of ammonia is mainly caused due to the ‘UNEATEN FOOD’, ‘DEAD FISH’, ‘DIRTY FILTERS’, or ‘ANY DIRTY SUBSTRATE’ within your tank.
3. Overfeeding
We all love feeding our fish and watching them eat it all up, but overfeeding is one of the most common aspects that result in the growth of worms and parasites within the tank which is harmful to your fish.
Feed your guppies only once a day or maybe just once every other day. Because overfeeding and stagnant food will result in a ‘HIGHER RATE OF AMMONIA’ within the tank. Well, we wouldn’t want any of that to happen to “our Guppies” right?
So, avoid overfeeding and feed only as much as your guppies ‘CAN EAT’.
4. Small Fish Tanks
It needs to be noted that having a small fish tank for guppies that is within 3-5 gallons is one of the ‘WORST CHOICES’ that we could ever take. These guys might be small, but they multiply faster than a rabbit.
Therefore, make sure that you put them in a big tank to prevent overcrowding of guppies.
Overcrowding of the guppies can result in reduced oxygen in the tank, increased ammonia, and a bad water cycle, which is again ‘BAD’ for your Guppies.
5. Water Temperature
Guppies are tropical fishes, they ‘NEED WARMER’ water temperature and will not survive under cold temperatures in the water. They can survive under temperatures that are as low as 18°C, but again, their chances of having diseases increases.
But however, maintaining a water temperature of ’22°C – 27°C’ is ideal for your guppies to breed, grow and survive longer.
6. Diseases And Parasites
This is the most important aspect and the most common reason for the death of our guppies, what happens is, when the guppies are bought by the retailers, they come with diseases and due to the poor ‘Water Acclamation’ and ‘Quarantine’ of the fishes in the Tank. This is the main reason for the bad genetics and increased diseases among the guppy fishes that we buy.
Therefore, make sure that you buy only from a designated and professional fish store that quarantines its new stock of fish when it arrives.
I wrote this article using what I have learned from my own experience but also referenced other articles to be more accurate and help you understand better. The links below are the references I’ve used to write this article –
