swordtail acting funny :/

[vikki.kixx]

i've had my swordtail for a little over a week now and he's been acting really weird today.

i found him in the net breeder this morning so i took him out and put him back in the tank and thats when i noticed he wasnt himself. he's been swimming to the bottom then swims right up to the top and when he reaches the top it looks like he wants to jump. after he does that for awhile he swims to the very bottom and just lays there. he looks like he's breathing way to quickly.

none of my other fish are acting like that.and it has me worried.

no ammonia in the tank and the ph is at about 7.5 according the meter i have in the tank.

i did just add 2 swordtail males and 2 females last night. could that be a problem?
i put some stress coat in the tank this morning as well.

and i just witnessed him swim right to the red claw crab, the crab grabbed him and wouldnt let go, swordtail escaped and swam into the castle..which is a bad idea because the crab claimed that as his own :/

 

[JOMA]

what kind of ammonia tester do you have? sounds like ammonia poisoning to me but idk

 

[tyspot1000]

Welcome to AA!

like asked, What are you using to test your parameters?

 

[vikki.kixx]

thanks for replying guys.

our ammonia tester is a meter thing that hangs on the side of the tank. i guess the meter isnt working correctly. the guy at petsmart did a water test for us and he said ammonia and nitrates were present in the tank. so we bought "prime- removes chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia and detoxifies nitrites and nitrates and provides a slime coat"

my boyfriend is taking the blame for it cause he feels he added to many at once. but nothing we can do about it now except learn from it and get better.

 

[vikki.kixx]

we lost the swordtail and a found a female when we got back from the pet store.

 

[tyspot1000]

I would recommend getting a liquid test kit. That meter doesn't really do much as far as reading goes. I would recommend getting the API Master test kit (Liquid); It has work great for me and many others.

Lets go what with the guy at the petstore said (As far as parameters go). I would recommend doing a Partial water change once a day (With additional prime) to get the ammonia down as low as possible (Nitrates do not need to be lowered unless they are higher than 20 ppm).

Once you get a new test kit, test your parameters and tell us what they are <- We will go on from there

 

[i3k]

x2 on the water change. Don't count on PRIME to get rid of ammonia. Do a 50% water change and test the water tomorrow. If any ammonia is still present, do another 50% water change.

 

[vikki.kixx]

doing a partial water change right now. buying the api test kit tom. still going to use the prime along with it.

right now i'm just watching my fish and any little they do that i hadnt noticed before i'm freaking out over, thinking is it normal or not.

thanks for replying and helping out.