Platy lying on bottom of tank

[Jeff68]

My young son has a 21 litre tank. It has a decent water heater and a Eheim external canister filter. He's got 2 platys, 4 harlequin hasboros', 4 cardinals, and 2 algae eating shrimps. He's had them for about 18 months. The last two days, the one platy has started to stay still on the bottom of the tank, but will swim up to the top to feed. I feed them once a day, 6 days a week and let them fast for one day. I would be grateful for any suggestions why the platy is staying quiet on the bottom. Thanks, Jeff.

 

[melosu58]

Moved to FW sick fish forum.

 

[emerald76]

My young son has a 21 litre tank. It has a decent water heater and a Eheim external canister filter. He's got 2 platys, 4 harlequin hasboros', 4 cardinals, and 2 algae eating shrimps. He's had them for about 18 months. The last two days, the one platy has started to stay still on the bottom of the tank, but will swim up to the top to feed. I feed them once a day, 6 days a week and let them fast for one day. I would be grateful for any suggestions why the platy is staying quiet on the bottom. Thanks, Jeff.

What are your water parameters? The tank is overstocked. The fish may have ammonia or nitrite poisoning. These are the tank sizes your fish need-
Platies-10 gals for three and nothing else
Harlequins- 20 gals
Cardinals- 25 gals

 

[Jeff68]

What are your water parameters? The tank is overstocked. The fish may have ammonia or nitrite poisoning. These are the tank sizes your fish need-
Platies-10 gals for three and nothing else
Harlequins- 20 gals
Cardinals- 25 gals

The nitrite is 0.5, nitrate has spiked to 80-100. It usually sits at 40-60. I haven't got an ammonia tester at the moment but will get one ASAP. The guy at the fish stockist advised me although I only have a 21 litre tank, my Eheim 250 canister filter is designed for tanks up to 250 litres so it would easily cope if I had ten small fish in my tank. Had no problems for 18 months until now. Maybe I'm feeding them too much and it's causing the nitrate spike?

 

[Jeff68]

The nitrite is 0.5, nitrate has spiked to 80-100. It usually sits at 40-60. I haven't got an ammonia tester at the moment but will get one ASAP. The guy at the fish stockist advised me although I only have a 21 litre tank, my Eheim 250 canister filter is designed for tanks up to 250 litres so it would easily cope if I had ten small fish in my tank. Had no problems for 18 months until now. Maybe I'm feeding them too much and it's causing the nitrate spike?

Oh and my Ph is 6-7.5.