Not sure whats going on with my fish!

[mandygvns]

I have a 16gal bowfront tank, with an aqueon filter, and an airstone.
I currently have two african dwarf frogs, two corys, and 7 male guppies. The tank has been running for three weeks now, is well planted and has a rock and a piece of driftwood in it. I am new to owning guppies so might just be paranoyed but lemme know what you think.....
My concern is that my guppies changed color a few days ago, they became a couple shades lighter than normal, they have all come back to color but one.
I also noticed that some of them rub on a plant or the gravel on the bottom of the tank on occasions.
None of them have signs of Ich at all, I have had fish in the past with this and know what it looks like.
Also three of my guppies have become really fat, I'm going to assume this is just from overeating..I try to feed just my frogs and corys but these guppies like to eat and find all the food and don't stop eating.
The ph is at 7.6 I've been trying to lower it for a week by adding Acid buffer by Seachem. All other tests are normal, but the ph!

I have done a water change every week, and added some salt today.

Thanks for your time and lemme know what you think!!!

 

[rubyfire]

I have a LOT of guppies and never expirenced them lossing color and then getting it back.. but it sounds like it may be due to over feeding?

Did you just get the guppies? if you did it just might be the stress of moving them into a new enviroment.

But keep an eye on them just in case.

 

[mandygvns]

Yeah I've had them for just about two weeks, I thought the color changing was odd too...
They also follow around this one guppy who is the biggest of them all, they don't fight with him or hurt him, just annoy him and won't leave him alone!
I've been keeping my eye on them almost too much I think....but I know it's over feeding thats been creating there gut, but they are fatties....I have to feed the other fish somehow and the guppies always gind the food!!
thanks for the advice!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Why are you worried about you pH? 7.6 is fine, mine do great in 7.8, my tap is 8.8 & I do daily 10%+ on my 55 and 25-30% in my fry tank, and the pH settles out at 7.8 always. Adding chemicals to mess with the pH is a bad idea generally, it stresses the fish. Just know yur tap water and see where it balances out at. Guppies prefer clean water (10-20% a day change is ok) but not pH picky.

Also watch those buffer products, phosphates can cause huge algae issues.

Feeding too much can cause your pH to drop also, but that's not a good thing necessarily. It's a sign of poor water quality.

Get a handle on your tap water. Test right out of the tap, then let some sit for 24 hours in an open container and test again, then let sit another 24 and test again. High COs out of the tap reads low pH, as the CO2 offgasses and O2 ingasses, pH should rise. Unlesss you have our tap water, which is off the scale out of the tap, and doesn't drop in the bucket, but does in the tank. I don't understand it, I just know what it does.

 

[mandygvns]

Well everything I've been reading says you want the ph much lower than 7.6...and the guy at the fish store said the same thing.
our tap water is really pretty good, it's soft and the ph is close to 7.0.
I wouldn't be worried about anything if they weren't acting strange, but since they are and my ph is up I figure that might have something to do with it.
I noticed today that the fish who is lighter in color than usual is also missing parts of his tail, like someones picking on him...he swims alone now too.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I'd be careful who you trust at that LFS. Most fish are fine in a various range of pH, only certain species prefer specific pH, and most do fine outside their preferred range. Cichlids come to mind, most like high ph but do OK at lower ones.

I googles 'guppies ph' and got this:

Guppy Facts

Which says "They prefer an alkaline pH (pH is the measurement of acidity/alkalinity in a specific body of water) which can be quite high (8.0 or higher) as long as the guppy is acclimatized carefully and does not experience pH swings.

Which is exactly correct, in general you don't want to swing the pH more than 0.2 in a 24 hour period, but I've done a PWC and swung it 0.5 with no issues, that 0.2 figure is mainly for expecting and young fry. All my others seem to take it fine.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

...something else might be going on. What do you treat the water with during PWCs?

 

[kangster]

adding driftwood lowers pH...
i have one in my tank and my pH is a little less than 6.0 and my tab water is at 7.0

but i hear so many people saying pH is not an issue as long as it stays the same...

 

[mandygvns]

I've added aquaSafe after each water change, it makes tap water safe for fish.

Well if the Ph is fine and I shouldn't be concerned about it, why are the fish rubbing on plants, rocks, and changing color??

I just put the driftwood in there to help naturally lower the ph, but it hasn't done that...

I don't just have guppies in the tank I have corys and two frogs and I don't want the ph too high for them to handle either.
But I understand adding chemicals to change ph can be dangerous to the fish, and I'm even more concerned seen as It's not working!

I just want to figure out whats wrong with the fish if the ph isn't a concern?

 

[new2betas]

I have a 16gal bowfront tank, with an aqueon filter, and an airstone.
I currently have two african dwarf frogs, two corys, and 7 male guppies. The tank has been running for three weeks now, is well planted and has a rock and a piece of driftwood in it. I am new to owning guppies so might just be paranoyed but lemme know what you think.....
My concern is that my guppies changed color a few days ago, they became a couple shades lighter than normal, they have all come back to color but one.
I also noticed that some of them rub on a plant or the gravel on the bottom of the tank on occasions.
None of them have signs of Ich at all, I have had fish in the past with this and know what it looks like.
Also three of my guppies have become really fat, I'm going to assume this is just from overeating..I try to feed just my frogs and corys but these guppies like to eat and find all the food and don't stop eating.
The ph is at 7.6 I've been trying to lower it for a week by adding Acid buffer by Seachem. All other tests are normal, but the ph!

I have done a water change every week, and added some salt today.

Thanks for your time and lemme know what you think!!!

The first thing that comes to my mind after reading your post is that your tank is not "cycled". You said it has only been up and running for three weeks and the fish have been in for two, so you are basically cycling the tank with fish? Is there anyway you can take the dwarf frogs and cories back to the lfs until your tank is cycled? Neither the frogs or the cories will handle a cycle very well. There are TONS of threads on this forum concerning the nitrogen cycle and fishless cycling, search some and read about it and try to return those I mentioned if you can. Now, I am not sure about the guppies losing color, but it could be stress from an uncycled tank. Do you have any water testing supplies? I use the API (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Institute) FW master test kit. During the cycling period you need to be doing water changes daily if need be or every other day to keep ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates in a safe range for your tank inhabitants. Also, the best time to feed your cories and frogs would be just before lights out and as you are turning lights out so they have a chance to eat and the guppies don't get it all.

 

[joy13]

You said your fish were rubbing on plants and rocks along with color change. Is the color change like a dusting of gold on the fish?

Try feeding your guppies shelled peas or broccoli they might be a little constipated which can lead to other problems.

Frogs sometime need to be target fed by actually placing the food right in front of them since they are slower and bad eyesight.

 

[mandygvns]

Thanks for the advice, I found out what the issue was...I had a rock in there that was breaking down and causing the ph to spike all the time. The one fish that had lost his color had a disease and passed away, all levels are normal and have stayed normal for a few days now and the fish are happy and healthy.....thanks for all of the help, it's much appreciated!