My Guppy started acting weird when I put him in his tank. I’m super concerned.

[LaylaRose]

Hey! So new to Guppies here. (Had them roughly a month) so about a week ago, my guppies started showing symptoms of fin rot. After doing some research I gave them a salt bath to clear it up. Well, today I was supposed to put them back in their tank, so I cleaned it out, put some cleaning bacteria in it, and let it cycle for a few hours. When I went to put them back in, I took the first one out of the holding tank and put him in the tank (the temperatures are the same so I wasn’t worried about acclimating) and when I turned around to get the others then turned back to him, he was acting weird. He would sorta swim against the glass and thrash a bit, and then he nose-dived directly into the gravel and started swimming against it. When he didn’t stop I thought he was in some sort of shock, so I went to get him out. I couldn’t get him out of with the net because he was pressed up against the glass vertically so I eventually had to scoop him up with my hand (which I hate doing) and in my hand he just kept swimming nose down trying to push against me. He was also sorta sucking on me, so I don’t know if he was gasping for breath or something. (He shouldn’t be hungry cause I fed them ten minutes prior)
Now he’s back in the holding tank, and I tested the water and the parameters are about the same in both tanks, (the PH and hardness are a bit low, but it’s in both tanks) the only thing different about the main tank from the last time he was in it is the cleaning bacteria, which I didn’t have before,(but it hasn’t affected any of my other fish or my sisters guppies) and a small seashell. (Which I read helps with the PH) Was he going into shock? Or was he just hungry/ or trying to figure out his new surroundings? Is this behavior normal? I’m super worried about putting them in their tank, but I can’t find anything wrong with it.

 

[Aiken Drum]

2 things.

There may be an obvious difference in water parameters of your treatment tank and display tank. Salt. Did you do water changes in the treatment tank to gradually bring down the salt content before trying to add the fish back? I generally do several small water changes in the treatment tank using water from the display tank to ensure the water is identical in all aspects before returning fish.

Is it possible that after all the cleaning on the display tank you forgot to add water conditioner and the water still has chlorine?

 

[LaylaRose]

2 things.

There may be an obvious difference in water parameters of your treatment tank and display tank. Salt. Did you do water changes in the treatment tank to gradually bring down the salt content before trying to add the fish back? I generally do several small water changes in the treatment tank using water from the display tank to ensure the water is identical in all aspects before returning fish.

Is it possible that after all the cleaning on the display tank you forgot to add water conditioner and the water still has chlorine?

So, I know it’s not the salt, because the treatment tank has already been changed to normal water. (Partially to prevent shock and also because I forgot to clean the display tank, so I had to leave them in the treatment tank longer than I wanted to lol)

I know I conditioned the water, but there is a small possibility that I didn’t use enough conditioner. Our conditioner bottle only comes with a measuring cup for a tank much larger than mine, so I’m having to estimate a bit on amounts. (But I haven’t had any problems with it in the past) Also, the specific conditioner I used is new, because before hand I was just using dechlorinator but this is like a full fledged conditioner. (And the new conditioner has been used in my Betta tank and in my sisters guppy tank) I worry about reconditioning because I don’t want to overdose them.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!

 

[gilpi]

What is "cleaning bacteria" ?? I think the best thing for your fish is nothing but plain clean treated water at this point, stay away from salt and "medications". I would replace the water in the tank with just plain treated water, let it run for a little while and put the fish in. Fin rot, as other diseases are caused mainly by poor water conditions regardless the parameters. Give us a history of your tank, size, filter, has it been cycled?

 

[Autumnsky]

Which conditioner is it?

Some do not remove chlorine OR sometimes not remove chloramines which can be used by water treatment facilities.

And sometimes the removal of chloramines requires a double dose of the dechlorinator.

The bottle would usually state what it actually treats.