Swordtail acting weird -Need Help FAST !!!!! - please

[evilclown312]

Well i just got my tank setup and i have a few fish one being a green swordtail (or somthing liek that) and it was fine when i got it home yesterday and fine earlyer today and about 6:00 est i looked in there and it was acting very strange it almost like its about today its now 11:00 est and its still the same way can someone give em advice on what to do. By reading other stuff on the net it seems as if it could have just laid eggs? dunno im a beginner at aquariums
Any help is apreciated
Thanks in advanced

 

[Rach101]

Swordtails are live bearers, and dont lay eggs, how is it acting odd?
Like what behaviors and such?

 

[mr86mister]

Welcome to AA

Basic Questions for of all

What size is your tank?
Is it cycled?
What are your water parameters?

and Rach is right, it has live babies so what you read couldnt be right

 

[evilclown312]

Well it'll swin around and then liek swin head first to the surface and go back down and its tail sems to stay lower than the rest of the body soem tiems it swims flat but and diffrent stuff liek that

And its a 10 gal jsut got it setup havent tested water or anything and dunno waht cycled mean

 

[Rach101]

uhm..well................if its just like.. swimming against the glass, like with its nose on the glass and such.. thats normal i suppose..

 

[evilclown312]

No thats not what its doing it surfacing with nose in air and comes back down and twirls around nose up and the swims awhile and repeats and stuff

 

[Rach101]

Do you have a filter and such? Is there a source of aeration in the tank, such as a HOB, or a airstone?

 

[evilclown312]

Yeah i got a filter taht hangs on back of tank and its running and working

 

[Rach101]

Well if you mean by going up to the surface of the water, seemingly getting air, then swimming around afterwards, im sure hes fine. Unless he is staying, gasping for air for long periods of time. I say just keep a watch on him

 

[evilclown312]

Ok i mean i jsut got him so if he does die i can take him back no questions asked but i would liek to do my best to keep him alive. and im trying to learn so i can manage my fishtank good.

 

[mr86mister]

ok, so you are a total newbie so i will direct you to this link about the Nitrogen Cycle and a few others i really think you should read on

http://www.algone.com/cycle.htm (Nitrogen Cycle)

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/cycling2.htm

http://www.algone.com/nitrifiers.htm


please read up on these links, they are crucial and explain why beginner's fish die and the reasons you need to know

 

[evilclown312]

i dont understand half of taht stuff ? can u explain it to a idiot ?

 

[greenmaji]

maybe some of the links are not complete.. (the ones I tryed were full of adds for a product or some of the links were broke(toms site is down and you have to get the google cashed versions of the pages, if you know how to do that))

Try gooing to www.google.com and doing some searches on cycleing a aquarium..
or using the seach function of this site..

 

[jrp1588]

First of all, please utilize the spell check function when you send a message, I think everyone on the forum would thank you. As for the fish, my fish only act like that when they are about an hour from dieing. So, I wouldn't get your hopes up. Does it looks more like he's being pushed around by the current in the water, or is he actually swimming?

 

[Guest]

I had a fish that was just being pushed by the current in the tank, and she died a couple hours later. I think she was shocked too much from the new aquarium. All of my other fish were great, but she just didn't make it. Make sure you either use a QT or at the very least float the bag for the fish in your current aquarium for AT LEAST 20 mins before releasing. By the way, there's a big difference between fish doing "fine" and doing "well." HTH

 

[Rach101]

send a message, I think everyone on the forum would thank you. As for the fish, my fish only act like that when they are about an hour from dieing.

Actually, if what i explained earlier was happening, as if he was swimming, going to the top, and then swimming around for a little while, my fish do that alot and have been alive and healthy for six months.

Now you should look up the cycling process.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21
basicly, fish eat and drink, and then release waste.
This waste causes ammonia, which is toxic to fish.
Good bacteria will start to form to ' eat ' the ammonia, and convert it to a less harmfull form. Once again bacteria will form to break down this chemical, before turning into a less harmfull chemical called nitrates, which fish can live with.

During this time, you must do water changes, alot, with declorinated water.
How many fish are currently in this tank?

 

[Rach101]

Oh and also.. how long have you had the fish exactly, and how did you introduce them to the tank. Did you just plop them in, or float the bag and plop them in. Or did you do a water mixing process?

 

[amitnarain]

could be excess ammonia. do the fish have physical symptoms like change in colour, unusual spots, somethings like that? is the water clean?

 

[fearlessfisch]

jrp1588, I personally don't get irritated about other people's spelling on boards like this, unless they are jumping on other people about it while making mistakes themselves (check your own post for "dieing"). Evilclown is trying to save a fish and did not come here for lectures.

Evilclown, kudos to you for trying to save your fish. If the problem is ammonia from an uncycled tank, your other fish are at risk too, so please try to answer the questions rachel was asking. How old is your tank, and when did you add this particular fish? What did you do to the water to make it safe for your fish? If you answer these questions, we can help you figure out what is wrong and how to fix it.

The most common mistake made by people new to fishkeeping is adding new fish, not realizing that the ammonia in their waste will poison them without water changes and monitoring of ammonia levels. When a tank is just starting up, there are certain things you have to do to avoid "new tank syndrome" and ammonia poisoning. Let us know if this is the problem, and we will tell you what to do.

Welcome to Aquarium Advice!

 

[jrp1588]

I wasn't jumping on them, and I wasn't insulting their spelling. I was commenting on the ammount of typos making the post a little hard to understand. And I don't claim to be an expert speller, just saying the spellcheck helps. Dieing only got past the spellcheck because it is an actual word, just wasn't being used correctly.