Circling Guppy behavior

[1tobeamup]

I have a 5 gallon tank with a bio-filter. It is fully cycled. (I had a betta in it for almost 1 year but he died.) I put 5 male guppies in it last week and yesterday I noticed one of them swimming in a large circle at the top of the water. He was dead this morning. Now another one is doing the same thing. The others are fine. I've tested the water - no ammonia. The temp is 77. My pH is a little high - 7.9 - but it always has been. Does anyone know what is wrong? Is this a disease? Please help. Thanks.

 

[ferrikins]

from your post, there does'nt seem anything wrong with your tank. Have you tested for NitrIte and nitrAte.

Is there any othere sytoms?

 

[1tobeamup]

Yes - all readings are normal. Actually, the eyes of one that died yesterday looked kind of cloudy - or like a white film was over them (but I couldn't say for sure because I hadn't looked at his eyes that closely before.) Both are swimming with their backs arched so that their mouths are out of the water as they go around and around. Have you ever heard of this behavior? I thought maybe it's a lack of oxygen in the water but the water from the filter splashes & breaks the surface which I read helps add oxygen. I'm worried this one will be dead tomorrow too

 

[WILDER]

Did the ph of your tank match the store, are they in a boomarang shape.

 

[1tobeamup]

No - the store's pH was quite a bit lower but I took about 4 hours acclimating them - adding just a little water every 15 minutes. That was last Saturday (a week 1/2 ago) and this behavior just started yesterday & today. Could it take that long for a pH reaction?

 

[Jezah]

Really sounds like a oxygenation issue. What shape is your tank, sometimes some tanks are shaped odd and dont provide enough surface space for proper oxygen. I would recommend adding some super oxygenated water and see if it helps.

p.s Oxygenate it by stirring and stirring for a couple minutes....

 

[1tobeamup]

I don’t have a perfectly shaped tank – it is a little taller than wide hexagon - and it has a lid that fits pretty tightly. So I'm thinking it is an oxygen problem. I did a 20% water change this morning. The guppy that was circling yesterday is looking worse - now he's just floating still at the top. The others are still fine. The top cover has 2 parts - the light fixture and a cover over the bio-wheel and carbon cartridge. So I'm going to leave the bio-wheel cover off all of the time to expose that water to more air and always leave enough space between the top of the water and the filter to cause splashing. Thanks for all of your suggestions. Can you think of anything else I should do???