Only 1 guppy constantly at top of tank

[suprdave]

I seem to have a single male guppy that won't join the rest of the group. Need some help figuring out what's wrong with him.

Brand new to aquariums. Purchased a 36 gallon starter kit from Petsmart that came with the heater, light, filter, etc. Tank had a full week to cycle, added Stess Coat to the water per instructions for removing Cholorine and other unwanted chemicals before adding fish to it.

Fish that are in the tank:

2 - Groumies. One gold and one blue
4 - Neon black tetras
1 - Plecostomus
2 - Emerald Corys
2 - Mickey Mouse Platys
2 - Female Guppys
2 - Male Guppys


The tank also contains several live plants that I purchased from Petsmart and placed in the gravel. Purchased a grow bulb for the plants.


Just one single male guppy is constantly swimming at the very top of the tank. At first when I added him he was extremely interested in one of the female guppys and followed her around all day. Now he wants nothing to do with her or any of the other fish. All of the other fish are swimming and acting normally, none of them are swimming at the very top of the tank like he is.

Is there something wrong with him?

 

[SteveChiller]

Sounds like you haven't cycled your tank, it's takes longer than a week to cycle..... I went thru that part....

When I got my first tank I added a bunch of fish, then bought more fish. One of my dalmation mollies was hanging out at the top of the tank by a corner.... sadly he started swimming funny then died. Then, one by one I lost 6 more fish. Did you add any bacteria that are in the bottles? Like Nutrafin Cycle or anything like that? Some people say that stuff doesn't work but it has worked out well for my roomies tank and my 2nd tank. It's kinda pricey but worth it I think....

Also, I'd suggest getting an API Freshwater Test kit. So that you know what your levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, all are bad for fish) are at and what you need to do (usually frequent water changes).

 

[suprdave]

Thanks for your help!

The tank actually had over a week to cycle. I added the water then went out of town and left the power filter running for the entire time with nothing to bother the tank. The filter is an aqueon power filter 40 (Aqueon Aquarium Power Filters at PETCO). I used the water purifier that came in the kit, as well as stress coat.

I have not tested the water levels however. I just kind of assumed that given it was standard tap water, had over a week to cycle before I added fish, and is using a biological filter it would be okay. I'll take a water sample to petco to have them test it for me to see what's going on.

 

[fort384]

Running the tank for a week is not cycling. Check out this article:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ady-have-fish-what-now-116287.html#post983258

It will give some good insight on what your problems probably are.

Agreed on the need for a test kit. In order to properly diagnose any issues, we would need to know what the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH of the tank are currently. From what you are describing, it sounds like the beginning stages of ammonia poisoning from not cycling the tank properly before adding fish.

The very first thing I would recommend is performing an immediate PWC (partial water change) of 50% to drop the ammonia by half. Make sure you add a dechlorinator per the instructions before adding water back in.

Also... the pleco is not a good choice for that size tank. They get too large for a 36. It is also important to know (you probably do) that by keeping 2 female and 2 male guppies, the tank will be full of guppy fry in no time. If you don't have a plan for how to deal with all the excess fish, you may want to get rid of the males (or the females).

 

[ejaramillo01]

First don't feel bad suprdave, we all have been there, we all (well most of us) made similar mistakes, listened to the "experts" from Petco, Petsmart, or even the local fish store, and we all learned the hard way that they don't know and they want your money.

I would suggest you not to trust the water readings at Petco, if you are serious with this hobby, buy your own liquid API Master kit and perform your own readings for the water quality in your tank.

But is really important to learn, and the advice provided by fort384 is the way to go, read as much as you can about the nitrogen cycle, and follow the instructions of the link provide by fort384

Good luck and keep posting your questions here, a lot of good people will be able to help you with your tank

 

[suprdave]

Thanks for the help. I went and tested the water, and also bought some test strips. Nitrate, Nitrite, hardness, and chlorine are perfect. Alkalinity and pH are both very high. I did a partial water change and bought some pH Down and put some in. I'm going to let the drops filter through the tank for the night and see what its at tomorrow.

 

[tyspot1000]

Welcome to AA!

Exactly how many weeks did you 'cycle' your tank (Once anwsered, we will get into more detail on what to do)? Really, it takes 1-2 months to cycle a tank (Depending on the circumstances). If your tank did not go through that long of a cycling process (did you even feed your tank when it was running?), it sounds like ammonia is effecting the guppy.

Test strips are highly inaccurate, giving your false readings every time. Liquid test kits are more accurate and I recommend one (preferably the API master test kit).

 

[fort384]

Thanks for the help. I went and tested the water, and also bought some test strips. Nitrate, Nitrite, hardness, and chlorine are perfect. Alkalinity and pH are both very high. I did a partial water change and bought some pH Down and put some in. I'm going to let the drops filter through the tank for the night and see what its at tomorrow.

What is perfect? And what is high? What drops?

Ammonia is the test you are after... I can almost guarantee that is what the problem is. Do you have a test for that?

Agree with Ty about the liquid titration tests vs. the strips. It takes a little longer, but with it comes accuracy. The test strips give notoriously false readings.

 

[suprdave]

The drops are called "pH Down".

According to the color codes on the bottle the levels for those things I listed are the ranges it should be in except for KH and pH. This is what I got:

Nitrate: 0 mg/L
Nitrite: 0mg/L
Hardness: 75 ppm
Chlorine: 0 mg/L
KH: > 300 ppm
pH: > 8.4


The strips say "test nitrite when ammonia is present". Would I be wrong to think that nitrite tests also test for ammonia? If so I will go back tomorrow and check to see if there is an ammonia test.

 

[fort384]

ok... pH Down... bad idea. You are going to end up causing a pH crash.

Nitrite and ammonia are not the same thing. The nitrite test will not show ammonia.

If you are using a test strip for the pH, it might not be accurate. above 8.4 is high, but using pH down is not the solution. It is an almost certain recipe for disaster. I would not worry about that so much right now... my concern would be ammonia. Get a liquid ammonia test kit and a liquid high range pH test kit at a minimum, though the freshwater master test kit from API would be the best.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Ok suprdave, here are some suggestions:
1.- strips test are not accurate, and won't help you, my advice is to invest in a liquid API master test kit.

2.- For your tank right now, what is important is the levels of Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, a good tank should be 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrites, and around 20 Nitrates. the Ammonia and the Nitrites are highly toxic for the fish, so you need to read these levels daily and perform as many partial water changes as needed to reduce the levels of ammonia and nitrites, try to keep them as close to 0 as possible.

3.- pH is not importNt right now, and please don't use the ph chemical that they sold you at the store, most of the fish will adapt to the ph of your tank, some people have pH as high as 8 !, and the fish adapt, but it is worse for the fish to change the pH suddenly with chemicals like ph down or ph down. So don't worry about the pH right now.

 

[suprdave]

Thanks for all the quick help. Unfortunately I have already put it in my tank before I posted the first reply with the test results =( I guess we'll see how the fish do in the next few days.

I am butting up against my available aquarium money with the strips and other things I've already gotten. If all we are worrying about is ammonia, is there any reason why this test kit wouldn't work?

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater/Saltwater Ammonia Test Kit at PETCO

 

[fort384]

That will be a good option if money is tight. The high range liquid pH test is important too though. If your pH is truly >8.4 you may have to look at natural ways to bring the pH down without using chemicals and causing a crash.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Totally Understand about the money.... I agree with fort, let's keep using your strips for ammonia, I also believe that one day of use of the pH down is not going to kill the fish.

Keep us posted, let's see tomorrow