guppies

Question
QUESTION: hi, i have a 60 litre guppie tank, with about 25 adults and 40 fry, I've lost 36 adults and fry over the past 3 days,, I've took a water sample to my local pet shop and all my levels are fine, i do 20% water change and when i do i use nutrafin aqua plus for the chlorine and chloramine,i also use fluval clearmax, which i change about every 4 weeks, i have a filter and the temp of the water is good, i feed them aquarian tropical flake food,, this is my 1st aquarium so new to this,, the problem is:
5 days ago i notice most of the guppies had what looked like white around there eyes and mouths, then they started dying, 36 over the past 4 days now it looks like its spreading over there bodies, some with large white patches on the backs and others looks like there covered around there faces and bodies, some look like there dying, they lie on the floor but then swim off, the adults keep swimming towards the filter outlet, and some keep brushing there bodies off the floor of the tank,, also when they are dying it looks like they cant close there mouths looks like its fixed open, some of the fry look like they have a white foam looking bubble on the heads,, i took a water sample to my local pet store and the water levels where fine,, he said it could be a fungus infection so i got protozin whitespot and fungus, which treats whitespot, fungus, Oodinium, costiasis, trichdiniasis, and noen tetra disease, I'm on the 3rd day of treatment but it doesn't seem to be working I've lost 19 since yesterday,, and just don't no how to help them, i should mention i bought 10 neon tetras about 3 weeks ago 7 died in the first few days and then 1 last week i still have 2, all the guppies barring 2 have been breed in the tank, thank you so much for your time. jodi

ANSWER: Jodi,

Sorry to hear you are having problems. The main thing is the tank is way too over populated. A 60 liter tank is approx. 15.85 gallons. Once you include the gravel, heater, filter and any decorations, the tank becomes even smaller. With a tank this over populated I am truly surprised that the water came out ok. I am thinking that the pet store uses the test strips and unfortunately they are not reliable. Always get the water tested with a liquid test kit. If you are going to keep fish it is advisable to get a testing kit for yourself. It sounds like a fungal issue with a possibility of Ich being involved as well. With the neons it is possible to have neon tetra disease which unfortunately is not curable. You didn't mention how old the fry are. How are you able to have adults and fry in the tank at the same time and still have that amount of babies? Continue with the treatment that you are doing. Just know that the medication cannot cure the neon tetra disease. Follow the directions on the medication and it does take a little bit for it to show it is working. Unfortunately, you might lose the whole group because it sounds like the disease is far along. If you want to keep that many fish I would suggest upgrading to a much larger tank. Also, when add new fish, quarantine them in your hospital tank for at least 2 weeks. In this time if the fish are sick you should start seeing the signs and can treat them before adding them to the main tank. The hospital tank is set up just like the main tank but with no gravel. It also needs to be cycled just like the main tank.

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QUESTION: hi thanks for replying,, the fry age in range some are 1 week old and some 2wk, 3wk, and so on they breed like wildfire i do have 2 live plants in the tank, so the fry can hide well enough, i do have a large tank which which I'd say is 4 times the size of my guppies tank, but we have very hardy fish in there and the guppies don't survive,, so keep them together,, I'm on my last day of treatment and it does seem to be working there's only 1 adult and 2 older fry that look like they still have white on them,, what should i do now, should i keep treating them, it says its 4 day treatment which is now complete, and what should i do if they keep dying is there any other treatment and if it is a fungus am i ok putting my bare hands in the tank,, thank you so much for all your help jodi

Answer
Jodi,

you don't want to over medicate the tank since there are fry in the tank. I would just keep doing the water changes and keep a close eye on the fish. Wait a week or so before trying another round of treatment. Let me know how things are going.