lil_bluebird
Aquarium Advice Newbie
We recently "adopted" an established 30gal tank with a handful of female platys and three tiger barbs. We set up the tank, added QuickStart, and watched the fish closely. They all did great for about two weeks. Then we switched the barbs out so we could add some other kinds of fish (barbs are aggressive). We got two male guppies and a gold ram cichlid with an adorable dorsal defect (don't worry, he's perfectly healthy and very happy). The one guppy died the next day (he was acting weird before we put him in, I just didn't really think about it). The cichlid has been super happy and eating well. Then we got a pearl gourami. It's been four days and he still hasn't eaten and spends most of his time at the top of the tank, not moving. He doesn't seem to have swim bladder issues, just can't swim very well for being weak. He's been a little more active, trying to go after food, but literally barely noticeable. And his tail/pectorals are disintegrating.
Plus my remaining male guppy is acting super weird, just swimming up and down really fast and acting like he's totally oblivious to anything else. He's not gasping for air, but his color is kinda faded and he didn't eat this morning. Otherwise we have three danios, two platys, and a tiny BRT shark. He's a bit aggressive, but has never bothered the guppy at all. No one else is harassing him that I know of, except maybe the danios. They're super active and have chased everyone else quite a bit. Wondering if maybe the guppy is being stressed out by their activity.
We weren't able to do a normal fishless cycle since the fish were already there, but I used the same substrate and filter that the tank came with, and added QuickStart. It's been three weeks. My water parameters are fine, except maybe pH being slightly high. Why are most of my fish fine and these two not?
Plus my remaining male guppy is acting super weird, just swimming up and down really fast and acting like he's totally oblivious to anything else. He's not gasping for air, but his color is kinda faded and he didn't eat this morning. Otherwise we have three danios, two platys, and a tiny BRT shark. He's a bit aggressive, but has never bothered the guppy at all. No one else is harassing him that I know of, except maybe the danios. They're super active and have chased everyone else quite a bit. Wondering if maybe the guppy is being stressed out by their activity.
We weren't able to do a normal fishless cycle since the fish were already there, but I used the same substrate and filter that the tank came with, and added QuickStart. It's been three weeks. My water parameters are fine, except maybe pH being slightly high. Why are most of my fish fine and these two not?
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