fish on top

[sunsetter]

gday, kids have a 400litre tank with mollies, guppies..etc..they are all swimming on top of the water as if gasping for air( the fish i mean..not the kids..lol ). water was clear as crystal but a lil cloudy at moment.
what ya think guys ?

Dave

 

[modernhamlet]

gday, kids have a 400litre tank with mollies, guppies..etc..they are all swimming on top of the water as if gasping for air( the fish i mean..not the kids..lol ). water was clear as crystal but a lil cloudy at moment.
what ya think guys ?

Dave

[snapback]871636[/snapback]​

Ok, Dave... we can help you with this. A few questions for you:

How long has the tank been setup?
How many fish do you have in the tank?
Have you cycled the tank?
What kind of filter do you have on the tank?
Do you own a water test kit?

Let's start there and see what that gets us...

 

[sunsetter]

tank has been set up for near on 12weeks
there is 14 fish in tank , as i said only small community fish
the filter is a "cf 1200" canister filter
yep tank has been cycled
have a ph test kit

 

[tttnjfttt]

I would like to encourage you to buy a master test kit, preferable a liquid based one, rather than a dip stick one. When fish get sick or are acting strange, often the cause is bad water, particularly ammonia and nitrIte levels, which should always be zero. I recomend the liquid based ones simply because they are more accurate. I can't recomend one because I don't know where you are from, and judging by the liters as a measurement, you aren't from the US.

If you can get a test kit and test for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte, that would be great. If you can't, most pet stores and fish stores will test your water for free. It is really important for us to know these things to pin point the problem(s). What is the temperature in your tank, and are you adding anything besides dechlorinator? Do you ever clean out your filter? If so, how do you clean it, and when did you last clean the filter? Last question...exactly what types of fish do you have? Small community fish is a very broad category, and some recomendations vary with the type of fish you have.

Besides getting your water tested, I would recomend you begin doing partial water changes to see if this helps your fishs' behavior. You can do up to a 25% water change every three or four hours if needed. Even if the water changes help your fish, please get your water tested, that information is important to know.

 

[dead_slade]

If it is slightly cloudy then it is most likely ammonia, best advice: do a water change, I recommend 30% once a week.

 

[lorisa]

i am having a simiular problem. only i bought my fish yesterday (4 platies). before i went to bed they were kind of near the top looking like they are trying to get air. when i woke up, they were all still at the top and the water is cloudy. i also have a snail. could it be the snail? i have a whisper filter, and my tank has only been set up for 1 day! sad.gif no.gif

 

[Angel Lady]

Hi lorisa and welcome to the forum. If you have already got you fish and only had them for a day then you are in for some work. If you dont take your fish back to the store then you will have to change your water out 20 percent daily in order to keep your fish alive. I am glad you decided to take up the new hobby of fish keeping but I wish you would have done a little research first. Your tank needs to cycle. I will be back with some links about cycling your tank. Give me a little bit to look them up. Here is the first link. that you will need to read.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099
I will return with more. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Lorisa- Gouramis actually breath air as well as having gills, so it is quite possible your fish are behaving normally. However, do make sure you have a test kit, and for the first month to six weeks, you will need to be doing the daily water changes like Angel Lady said because of teh ammonia and nitrites

 

[Slyspy]

Of course it may also be oxygen deprivation for those fish with regular gills. Adjusting the filter (or adding an airstone) to agitate the water surface will help that.