So, are betta fish active? Yes – a healthy betta is an active betta. Despite common beliefs, bettas love to explore their surroundings and spend most of their days swimming in their aquariums. However, poor water conditions, inadequate tank size, low temperature can make a betta seem sluggish and affect its overall well-being.

I know this is rather short, but it answers your question for now. Continue reading to learn how to keep your betta active and what are the signs that something is wrong.

How To Keep A Betta Fish Active?

One of the major mistakes many people make is thinking that bettas are lazy fish. However, this only happens when a betta is kept in bad conditions, such as small containers in pet stores.

When properly cared for and provided with an adequate living environment a betta is active and can happily live for two to five years.

Let’s take a look at how to keep a betta active:

1. Get Good Sized Tank

Most pet stores keep bettas in small cups or bowls that hold only a few ounces of water. Bettas living in such cramped spaces don’t have enough room to turn around mush less actually swim.

Due to these practices, many owners believe that a betta doesn’t need a lot of space and can thrive in a glass bowl.

While a betta can live in a bowl, maintaining the water perimeters and temperature is a lot harder in this type of setting.

Thus, if you want to keep your betta happy and active, a 5-gallon tank is a good starting point. But as far as your fish is concerned, bigger is always better, so if possible opt for a bigger tank every time.

The smallest tank size for bettas is 2.5 gallons but should be an option only if you really don’t have enough space for a bigger tank.

In this article, we explain why betta fish aren’t happy in a small tank, what tank you should get, and how to set that up!

2. Maintain Water Quality

Bettas prefer slightly acidic water (pH 6.5 to 7) and have to have ideal water conditions to stay active and healthy.

Don’t forget that the water in the tank must be cycled for several weeks before bettas are added to it. Cycling will give beneficial bacteria time to grow and ensure that they break down toxic ammonia and maintain water quality once bettas are added to the tank.

Using a filter and weekly water changes are also a must for a healthy and active betta.

Without a filter, you will have to change 100% of the water 3 to 4 times a week. If you have a filter, change about 10% of the water once a week and use a gravel vacuum to remove waste material.

Keep in mind that bettas don’t like fast-flowing waters and will have trouble swimming. Thus, you should be very careful when picking a filter for your betta.

Sponge filters are a great choice for bettas since the flow can be adjusted so it doesn’t affect your fish in any negative way.

3. Tropical Environment

Bettas are tropical fish and need warmer environments to stay healthy and active.

To create a suitable tropical environment, keep the water temperature between 76° and 84° F. Anything less will slow the betta’s metabolism making it appear lazy and more sluggish.

If you live in a warmer climate, you may not have to use a heater all year-round. However, be sure to add one to your tank during the winter, if your home temperature fluctuates.

We also recommend reading our article on how sensitive betta fish are to light – You can read it here! There we show you why setting up the right day and night cycle is crucial and how to do that.

4. Signs That You Have An Active Betta Fish

Due to the common misconception that bettas are lazy, most owners get concerned when their fish start swimming and moving around the aquarium. This is normal behavior for bettas and there is nothing to worry about!

Signs that you have a happy and active betta are:

1. Big Appetite

Bettas like to eat and healthy fish will never pass on the opportunity to eat as much food as they can. An active and happy betta will start eating food as soon as you put it in the tank and always look for more.

So if your betta is looking forward to every meal you have an active and healthy fish.

2. Energy

Keep an eye to see if your betta is energetic. An active betta should be swimming a fair amount every day. Furthermore, swimming should increase even more when you are near the tank.

The video below shows you how much and how fast an active betta fish usually swims.

3. Interaction

Betta is a fish that likes to interact with its owner and follow you around the tank. When near, you will notice that your betta tends to swim up and down the side of the tank actively like it wants to be closer to you.

Your fish should also swim to the top quickly whenever you are looking down in the aquarium.

4. Bubble Nests

A healthy and active betta will do certain things to attract a mate. Breeding is very important to fish and any betta in its peak will want to do it. Finding a bubble nest in your tank is a good sign that you have a happy, healthy and active betta fish.

Is Your Betta Fish Lethargic?

Now that you know what an active and healthy betta fish looks like, you should also learn what to look for in an inactive fish. There are several of signs that can tell you that your betta is becoming lifeless!

If you notice any of these, try to improve your bettas living environment right away:

1. Loss Of Appetite

A change in your betta’s eating habits is the first sign that your fish may be lethargic. While an active betta will gobble all the food straight away, a lifeless fish will barely eat.

You should be worried if your betta starts picking at its food and ignoring meals. Additionally, you will notice more uneaten food waste at the bottom of the tank.

2. Slimmer Appearance

With the loss of appetite your betta will develop a slimmer appearance and look sickly. This usually happens when fish are depressed and not in the mood for anything.

3. Loss Of Energy

A healthy betta is an active one. Hence, you should be worried if you see a decrease in your betta’s activity levels. A “lazy” betta will start to idle around the tank more and stop swimming as before.

You might also notice that your fish is just floating in the same place for a prolonged period of time.

4. Loss Of Interest

An inactive betta will not react when you come near the tank. Considering that bettas like interacting with their owners, this is a reason for concern. Besides losing interest in you, your fish may also hide or just hover inside the tank not paying attention to her surroundings.

5. Faded Color

Clammed up fins and faded color can be signs that your betta is depressed. When depressed some bettas act sluggishly while some may become more aggressive and develop irregular swimming patterns.

Your betta might experience any of these symptoms if it feels stressed out and vulnerable in its environment.

Therefore, bettas need to have a spacious and properly equipped tank that will encourage them to swim, explore, and stay active. Don’t forget that idleness of any kind isn’t normal betta behavior and should be dealt with right away.

Keep Your Betta Fish Healthy!

We have showed you a couple of tips to keep your betta fish healthy in this article. However, of course, there is more you can do. We have created an article to show you how hardy betta fish actually are.

We also show you there 6 things you must do to ensure that your betta fish stays as hardy as it should be! Read our article on that here!

The post How Active Betta Fish Should Be + 5 Signs Of Lethargy appeared first on Water World Craze.

So, are guppies hardy? Guppies are one of the hardiest fish you are likely to keep. However, due to years of inbreeding, some strains are less resilient and don’t live long. While there isn’t much you can do about genetic diseases, buying from a reputable breeder and proper care will boost your guppy’s resilience.

I know this is a rather short answer, but it will do for now. However, you can continue reading to find out what are the most common guppy diseases and what factors affect a guppy’s resilience.

How Hardy Are Guppies?

By nature, guppies are very hardy, and some types are virtually indestructible! However, the sad fact is, the majority of the most popular fish species, including guppies, are highly inbred now.

Like any other farmed fish, guppies are kept in such great numbers that it’s impossible to prevent siblings and parents from mating with each other. This inbreeding inevitably leads to the expression of more recessive genes and genetic diseases.

Furthermore, due to selective breeding more and more guppies have oversized tails, which although gorgeous, come with a hefty price for the fish.

Fancy guppies have shorter reproductive life, their spine angles down under the weight of the tail, and they struggle to drag those enormous fins around.

Besides inbreeding, inadequate care can make guppies less resilient and more prone to common diseases.

When it comes to guppies, most people believe that they are super easy to care for and really don’t need much to thrive, but there is no such thing as a low-maintenance pet!

Like any other species, guppies need certain conditions to stay healthy and happy, otherwise, they can become sick and die without any apparent reason. So, if you want tough guppies, provide ideal living conditions and pay close attention to any signs of illness.

What Are The Most Common Guppy Diseases?

Like any other fish, guppies can get sick. Stress is the leading cause of disease, but it’s also possible that the guppy was already sick before you brought her home.

Thus, you should keep any new fish in a quarantine tank for three to four weeks before introducing them to the main tank. This way, if any new guppy is sick, it won’t get the chance to spread the disease to other fish as well.

Let’s take a look at the most common guppy diseases:

1. Ich – White Spots

Ich is one of the most common diseases seen by aquarists and is not deadly if diagnosed and treated in time.  It is caused by an ectoparasite and manifests as tiny white spots on the guppy’s skin and fins.

An infected fish will start rubbing itself against rocks, plant leaves, decorations, or sides of the tank, and may experience loss of appetite. Treating ich isn’t very hard and includes raising the water temperature and adding medication to the tank.

The video below shows another way to treat ich in pet fish.

2. Protozoan

The protozoan is a small parasite that can be harmful to other fish species, but it mainly affects guppies. This parasite is usually seen in unheated tanks with poor water quality.

The parasite attaches to the guppy’s skin and slowly enters its body until it reaches the bloodstream. Treatment includes heating the tank and using malachite green or formalin in the early stages.

Note, since protozoan is often found in unheated tanks and dirty water you can easily prevent it by adding a heater to the tank and performing regular water changes.

3. Fin & Tail Rot

Fin and tail rot is usually caused by a bacterial infection in guppies, however, it can also be the result of a fungus that grows on nipped fins. Sick guppies usually look like their fins are stuck together and a part of their tail can be missing.

To treat it, you must know for sure if the rot is caused by bacteria or fungus and use appropriate medication.

Poor water quality and ammonia burns can also cause rotting tail in guppies, thus check the water quality regularly and perform partial water changes.

4. Bent Spine – Scoliosis

Scoliosis, also known as bent or crooked spine is commonly seen in guppies and is in most cases a genetic disease.

This condition is fairly easy to spot and affected fish are usually weaker, experience slower growth and have trouble swimming. As a result, these guppies are often bullied by other tankmates and generally have a shorter lifespan.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for scoliosis, but an affected guppy can still have a normal life if properly cared for and fed with high-quality food.

Being that this is a genetic disease, the only prevention is excluding sick parents from the breeding programs.

Tips For Keeping Your Guppies Hardy

Most first time aquarists get guppies just because they are advertised as easy to keep and low-maintenance. As a consequence, most guppies live in small tanks with one plant and end up getting sick or die in no time.

Like any other living being, guppies need things to stay happy and healthy, and they certainly won’t be hardy if you don’t meet their basic needs.

Here are some:

Proper Diet

Guppies are omnivores, which means that they can eat both plant and animal matter. You can feed high-quality fish flakes, veggie pellets, freeze-dried brine shrimp, or bloodworms.

Here are a couple of our articles that will help you feeding your guppies correctly:

Regular Water Change

Doing regular water changes is a must if you want to have healthy guppies. Changing 20 – 30% of the water once a week will remove toxins from the tank and keep your guppies out of harm’s way.

Regular Tank Maintenance

You will have to clean the filter and the whole tank once or twice a month depending on its size. You should also vacuum the substrate at least once a month to remove leftover food and feces.

Cycle The Tank

As with any other fish, you will have to set up the tank correctly and cycle it properly before you place guppies in it. A cycled tank will have appropriate bacteria that will convert harmful compounds into less harmful ones.

Get A Heater

Guppies are freshwater tropical fish and need a heated tank in order to stay healthy. Hence, you will need to invest in a heater and keep the water temperature between 72 and 82° If not kept in a heated tank, guppies will become less resilient and susceptible to various diseases.

Size Of The Tank

Although they are small, guppies can’t live in bowls or decorative vases and need a 5-gallon tank, at least. However, if you have enough room get a 10-gallon tank from the start to give your guppies enough room to swim and explore freely.

In this article (click here), we explain more on the correct tank size for guppies and the dangers of keeping guppies in a very small tank.

Set-Up

Plant your guppy tank with live plants, add decorations, rocks, and substrate to create a cozy environment. Hornwort and Amazon Sword Plants are ideal for guppies and will also help keep the tank oxygenated.

Added decorations and rock will make the tank visually more interesting, and also encourage your guppies to swim and explore.

Recommended articles to read:

• Can guppies live in a tank without a filter?

Are your guppies dying?

If your guppies are dying and you just don’t know why we highly recommend reading our article on that here: 20 reasons why your guppies are dying!

The post Are Guppies Hardy? Common Diseases And Health Tips appeared first on Water World Craze.

Why is my male guppy bloated? The most common reason for bloating in male guppies is the dropsy disease. It is a condition caused by the accumulation of fluids in the gut and other internal organs. Other reasons for bloating in male guppies could be indigestion or constipation.

If you see your pet guppy bloated and uncomfortable, it is natural to be concerned. However, it might not always be as bad as you might think. While dropsy disease is not easy to treat, some cases of bloating can be treated with proper care.

A daily inspection routine can quickly bring to your notice any abnormal signs. A bloated guppy is usually easy to spot. Since there is no single reason for a bloated guppy, there is no straight answer to whether the condition is harmful to them.

However, knowing all probable reasons for bloating can help you understand what is wrong with your guppy. And you also have a good chance of saving the guppy and possibly prevent the occurrence of this condition.

Here’s all you need to know about the dropsy disease and other reasons for bloating.

Dropsy disease

As stated above, dropsy can be a cause for bloating in male guppies. Here’s what you need to know about the disease.

What is Dropsy disease?

Dropsy is a disease characterized by fluid build-up in the internal organs, body cavity, or tissues of the fish. The exact cause of dropsy can be difficult to determine. However, one of the reasons for dropsy is Mycobacteriosis.

It is a bacterial infection that can occur in fish that have a poor immune system. Another reason could be an infection in the fish’s kidneys, a parasitic infection, or liver dysfunction. Poor quality of water can also cause dropsy.

Dropsy disease is also commonly referred to as the ‘swollen belly disease’.

If the fish has dropsy, the stomach of the fish swells visibly. It looks oval in shape. Also, the spine looks abnormal. The scales start protruding away from the fish’s body and the gills appear to be pale.

These symptoms are a sure sign that the fish has dropsy and needs immediate attention. The video below shows an example of a male with a swollen belly.

Is Dropsy Contagious?

As already stated, dropsy can be caused by a variety of reasons. Thus, depending on the root cause for the condition, it might or might not be contagious. However, it is always recommended to quarantine the sick fish.

Also, while dropsy cannot be passed on to humans from fish, wearing rubber gloves while handling the fish and washing your hands later is recommended.

Treatment of Dropsy

Usually, dropsy caused by polluted water and a resulting bacterial infection becomes difficult to treat. It impacts the kidneys and other vital organs. This damage can be irreversible and sadly, there is nothing much you can do in such cases.

When the dropsy is caused by a bacterial infection, the infection is so rapid that there is no hope for a cure. It is advised that when it is clear that the fish cannot be treated, it should be freed from its suffering by euthanizing it.

There are several ways of administering painless euthanasia and disposing of the fish safely. This will help contain the infection and stop it from spreading to the fish in the tank.

However, euthanasia is a last resort, and you can try treating a guppy with a swollen belly by following the below steps. Some fish owners have reported a complete cure by using this method. So, it is worth trying.

• Quarantine the fish by keeping it in a tank with just a filter. Antibiotics (prescribed by a vet) can be added to the water in this tank.
• Put it in an Epson salt bath for some time every day.
• Discard any old fish food and feed the fish with fresh, good quality food.

Also, if you have one guppy suffering from dropsy, monitor other guppies for similar symptoms. You can also run a short Epson salt bath for all guppies, just to be on the safer side.

Prevention of Dropsy

Proper care of your pet guppies is important not just for prevention of dropsy, but also for their overall well-being. Since dropsy usually affects fish with lower immunity, giving the guppies a stress-free environment is also important. Below are ways in which you can help keep your fish healthy and well.

• Water in the fish tank should be changed regularly. Usually, changing 1/3rd of the volume of the tank on a weekly basis is ideal.
• Mind the number of guppies as against the tank capacity. Overcrowding can stress the fish out and result in some guppies aggressively bullying the others. This article will give you a good idea of how many guppies you should keep!
• Adopt proper feeding schedules. Do not overfeed and do not use old fish food. Feed a good variety of food.
• Keep the water temperature regulated by using a heater.
• Maintain the tank by cleaning it and using a clean filter.
• If you notice some aggressive guppies, isolate them so that don’t stress out the other fish. (We also highly recommend reading our article on aggression in guppies – Read it here!)

If you maintain optimum living conditions for the guppies, dropsy is not something they can be susceptible to. Firstly, clean water will ensure there are no harmful bacteria. Secondly, fish with a healthy immune system means that they will not be vulnerable to a bacterial infection.

If you are maintaining a regular cycle of water change and your pet guppies are still getting dropsy, it could be due to the bacteria getting introduced by new fish or from live food.

Hence, before introducing new fish to the tank, keep them in quarantine for a few days to see whether they are healthy. Be careful of live food since it might be infected.

2 Other Reasons For Bloated Male Guppies

While a swollen belly can mean dropsy, it could also be due to other, less harmful reasons.

1. Overeating and Constipation

Overfeeding can cause bloating in male guppies. If you give too much food, the guppies might get indigestion which can lead to constipation. Remember that constipation in guppies can be potentially life-threatening, if not treated in time.

Lack of fibrous food in the diet or a diet comprising of foods that can extend in their bellies can cause bloating and constipation. The best defense against constipation is to avoid improper feeding.

However, if you see a bloated guppy due to suspected constipation, it needs to be treated quickly.

Avoid feeding the constipated guppies for a couple of days to ease constipation. You can also feed them small portions of cooked peas. Cooked peas are natural laxatives for fish and can help relieve constipation.

Also, as a precautionary measure, soak pellet food in water before feeding it to the guppies.

Constipation will usually clear in a couple of days. If it does not go away, it can indicate a serious problem such as dropsy due to an underlying infection.

2. Pregnancy

Of course, this is only the case in female guppies. A female guppy appears bloated just before it is about to give birth to fry. However, a pregnant belly is usually round as opposed to oval in case of dropsy or other bloating problems.

A female guppy’s belly will come back to its normal size after it delivers the fry.

In this regard, we recommend reading our following articles:

Conclusion

While a bloated abdomen is not very common, being aware of the reasons behind the condition can help you prevent it in your pet guppies. Just by maintaining good hygiene in the tank and making sure the water quality is good, you can ensure your guppies stay healthy.

Avoid overfeeding and regularly monitor your fish. Remember that it is always best to consult a vet when in doubt.

The post 3 Reasons Why Your Male Guppy Is Bloated! appeared first on Water World Craze.

Guppies die for a number of reasons. The most common reason is a poor tank set up. This means that there is something with the water quality, temperature, and other processes. They can also die due to disease and improper feeding. Further, they can die due to having poor genetics.

There are more reasons as to why your guppies are dying and we will discuss all of those in this article. More than that, as you are now equipped with the knowledge behind the cause of their deaths, you are now more prepared in dealing with issues.

So if you want your guppies to have a good life in your aquarium, then stick around and keep on reading!

Reasons Why Your Guppies Are Dying

Let us dive right into it and start discussing the different reasons. Just remember to not stress yourself too much when you cannot find the reason behind your guppy’s death. Surely, he enjoyed his time in your aquarium no matter how short or long his life was.

1. Poor Water Quality

Not a lot of people are aware that using tap water for the aquarium of your guppies are actually bad. The reason behind this is that tap water has chlorine. Therefore, you should treat the water first before putting your guppies in the aquarium.

The temperature of the water is also important. If the water is too cold or too warm, it can stress out your guppies. Moreover, as time goes on, your guppies will surely poop and pee in their aquarium and these pollute the water.

When there is a waste buildup in the water, it can be difficult for your guppies to breathe as there is no abundance of oxygen. The effect is that they will become intoxicated and they will eventually die.

2. Tank Is Not Cycled

Adjusting the water quality of your aquarium does not simply stop with treating the water as you also need to cycle the water in the tank.

This simply means that the water should have beneficial bacteria as well as the right chemical levels so that your guppies can easily adjust in their new environment.

This is actually one of the most common reasons as to why your guppies seem fine a week after they were placed in the aquarium, but then they immediately die after two weeks. More often than not, a non-cycled aquarium is the culprit. 

The water might just be too clean or it did not have the beneficial bacteria for your guppies to survive. A lot of people skip this step as it takes one to two weeks to finish the cycling process. But now you know, doing this step is crucial if you want your guppies to stay alive.

3. Dangerous Levels Of Ammonia

Ammonia develops in the aquarium due to the waste in the water as well as the other natural processes that are present in the tank (dying plant, wrong cycling process, etc.)

It is important to note that there should no ammonia present in your aquarium as it is extremely dangerous to your guppies.

When there is a high presence of ammonia, it can cause your guppies to instantly die. On the other hand, if there are trace amounts of ammonia, your guppies will have a slow and painful death (yikes!). First, they will get ammonia burns, and then they will die. 

4. Overfeeding

It is so fun to feed your guppies and watch them eat, right? But keep in mind that overfeeding them is dangerous. For adult guppies, they should only be fed once a day or every other day. Just like humans, when they get too much food, it can affect their health negatively.

Also, overfeeding them can lead to uneaten food which will then turn into waste that can pollute the water. Keep in mind that you should only feed your guppies the amount of food that they can completely consume within 30 seconds. 

5. Overcrowding The Fish Tank

It is common knowledge that guppies reproduce like crazy! In fact, your female guppy may give birth to 20-120 guppies in just a month. Therefore, the tank can get overcrowded easily.

There will be more competition for space, hiding spaces, oxygen, and food. All of which can put stress on your guppies.

6. Water Temperature

Guppies hate the cold since they are tropical fish. So make sure that the water temperature is maintained between 72-82 °F. They can actually survive in temperatures of 64 °F and below, but there is a high risk of getting diseases. 

The same goes for warm water. Once the water heats up, it will be hard to get oxygen, thus you are suffocating your guppies to death. So it is better to keep the water temperature at the levels we mentioned above.

7. Poor Genetics

For this one, you really do not have much control as your guppy’s mortality rate is deeply embedded in their genes. Some guppies simply have stronger genes than others. 

Usually, when you buy guppies from big pet stores, they have bad genetics which results in guppy death in just six to seven months. But if you purchase from guppy breeders, they can live for a long time. 

8. Parasites And Diseases

The chances of your guppies getting diseases are influenced by a number of things. It can be a mixture of bad genetics and poor tank condition. Surely, when your guppy’s immune system is down, he is more likely to get sick.

Some of the common diseases are ick, velvet, flukes, and fin rot. Good thing is, these diseases can be treated. However, if it is paired with bad water conditions and poor maintenance, these simple diseases can lead to their death.

There are also some diseases that cannot be treated like guppy tuberculosis. If your guppy has this, then it is highly likely that he will die, so you should separate him immediately so as not to affect your other guppies.

9. Injury

There are just those times when your guppies get into serious trouble. First off is the fact that there might be bullying inside their tank and they can get into a fight with one or more guppies.

This will lead the “defeated guppy” to become injured which will then make it hard for him to hide or forage for food.

Another possibility is that your guppy accidentally got sucked in the pump or filter. Guppies are very inquisitive and even if the filter is like a piece of roaring machinery to them, some will still manage to check it out which leads to irreparable injury. 

10. Stress

Guppies can get easily stressed. It can stem from too much competition, mating season, or they simply do not get along well with their tankmates. But can stress cause death? 

Unfortunately, in the world of guppies, it does. Stress leads them to not have an appetite and just keep to themselves. In short, it can lead to death due to starvation.

Moreover, a stressed guppy can go on for days without sleeping which contributes to lethargy and immediately after—death.

11. Mixing Incompatible Fish

If you are planning to have a community tank, be sure to put fishes that are compatible with each other. A good starting point is to put fishes of the same size. Compatible fishes with guppies are:

• Corydoras Catfish
• Platy Fish
• Molly
• Tetra

Always do your research first before you add a different fish as they might be incompatible. Like in the case of mixing guppies and betta fishes. Well, that will just result in a whole lot of guppy fish death.

12. Birth-Related Death

This is in line with your female guppies dying. The good news is the percentage of this happening is just 5% However, it does happen.

We mentioned earlier that female guppies give birth a lot and birth-related deaths happen usually when the female gives birth for the 6th time or even more. Their bodies just cannot take the “mating ritual” anymore, more so the live birth.

13. New Tank Syndrome

New Tank Syndrome is the term used by fish breeders and owners who experience fish death due to unforeseen circumstances. There is still a lot of research happening behind this syndrome, but a lot of people have theorized that this is due to the shock.

No matter how well you tried to treat and cycle the water inside your tank, your guppies were just so shocked in their new environment that it led to their deaths. There is nothing you can do about this really, but just hope that most of your guppies survive.

14. Wrong Aquarium Setup

Of course, you should set up your aquarium based on the needs of your guppies. Sometimes, we get carried away with the aesthetics that we place a wrong plant or a wrong substrate for our guppies which is not good for them.

There are even cases where a lot of guppies die because there are not enough plants and other hiding places like caves. So you never know what type of environment your guppies will prefer. You better stick with the basics first, then add accessories as you see fit.

15. Lack Of Maintenance

One cannot really keep guppies or any fish at that without doing proper maintenance. Even though you have the best pump and filter, or even the best lights, you should not just leave them be.

There are still those times when you need to get your hands dirty and clean these apparatuses. More than that, you should also do water changes based on the situation inside the tank.

Obviously, when the tank is poorly maintained, your guppies will find it hard to survive in the murky waters.

You should also read this article: Can guppies survive without a filter?

16. Rapid Water Change

This is in relation to the water changes we mentioned before. Of course, while you are cleaning their water tank, you will transfer your guppies in another temporary container. The change in water temperature can stress them out.

Also, when you put them back in their main tank, they may also get stressed due to the varying water conditions (even if it was their previous water conditions, guppies can be weird) So the trick is to do frequent but little water changes.

17. Rough Handling Or Travel

In general, guppies are not “hardy” fishes. Therefore, any sort of rough handling can really cause irreparable damage. If you moved into a new place and your guppies experienced rough travel, it is highly likely that some of them will not survive.

The same goes for traveling from the pet store to your home. People from the pet store sometimes rough handle the guppies when catching them to place in a plastic bag, so they get a little beaten up. When they cannot recover, they will eventually die.

18. Old Age

Guppies can live around two to three years when they are cared for properly. For some, they can even reach up to four years! So it is simply natural for your old guppy to die.

You do not have to worry as guppies reproduce fast, so surely your fallen fish friend has a “clone” somewhere in the aquarium.

19. External Factors

These external factors are attributed to the fact that yes, sometimes you can make a mistake too! You might have dropped a harmful chemical in the tank, or your cat suddenly wanted to play with the aquarium, or your guppies went on an adventure on your wooden floor.

All of which are accidental and unforeseen. Therefore, you should not beat yourself up too much. Just do what you can for your guppies.

20. Unexplained Death

After going through this long list of reasons and you still cannot tell the reason behind your guppy’s death, then it is simply an unexplained one. Unlike cats or dogs, fishes cannot really signal us if there is something wrong.

Even though you did your best in maintaining the conditions of the tank and you are on top of caring for sick guppies, sometimes, they still manage to die.

Again, this is just the natural course of things and you should not be too worried about it just as long as you know that you are doing your part.

The post 20 Reasons Why Your Guppies Are Dying appeared first on Water World Craze.