Fish Swimming At The Bottom And Near The Glass

[Hayley19]

Hi all,
 
I have a 100 litre fish tank with 5 Rummy nose tetras, 6 guppies and 4 honey gouramis.
 
I have done a partial water change this morning as i did a water test and for some reason the ammonia was higher than normal.
 
I am at work and my partner has now contacted me to say the Gouramis are action strange and all sat on the bottom of the tank (they are usaully nearer the top) and the tetras and guppys are swimming near the glass and he doesnt think it is right.
 
Any ideas?
 
Could this be due to the fact the ammonia is higher than it should be? I have done the water change this morning (20%) and i cleaned the filter sponge in the removed tank water. I am a bit worried that they are acting strange. Should i do another water change today?

 

[KirkyArcher]

they might be watching something on the TV, but most likely due to the Ammonia, do a good 60-80% water change. check the tank for anything that might be dead.

 

[fluttermoth]

Exactly how high was the ammonia, OP? Do you know the pH of your water?

 

[Hayley19]

The Guppys and the tetras have started swimming normally so maybe there was something they were interested in. The Gouramis are mainly staying near the bottom of the tank and we have 1 tetra which is staying near the bottom of the tank and doesnt look like he has any evergy to swim so that doesnt look good. There isnt anything dead in the tank as all fish are there and i checked this morning.
My partner is going to do another water change now and hospefully this will help.

Exactly how high was the ammonia, OP? Do you know the pH of your water?

Ammonia is between 1.00 and 2.00 and the ph is around 7.5-8 (this is common for the water in my area)

 

[Rak9378]

Ammonia is between 1.00 and 2.00 and the ph is around 7.5-8 (this is common for the water in my area)

What temp do you keep your tank? Assuming it is at least 75F/24C, at the higher end of the pH range that you mentioned the un-ionized portion of the total ammonia in your tank would be high enough to cause harm to your fish including death. If the temp is higher then it is even worse. Is your tank cycled?

 

[Hayley19]

The temp is 27. Yes my tank is cycled. I did to partial water changes yesterday and one today and the reading is much lower. It is now reading between 0.25 and 0.5 so I will keep doing 2 water changes per day. Fish look so much happier and are acting normal

 

[Rak9378]

Good that they are acting normal again! But keep a close eye on the ammonia. At a temp of 27, a pH of 8 and a total ammonia reading of .5 you are still on the edge of the safety zone. At those parameters un-ionized ammonia is in the .03 range. Generally speaking .05 is the start of the danger zone although some believe it is lower than that. Since your tank was cycled you also need to find the cause of the ammonia spike. Did you do anything with your filter recently? Add new fish? It is important to find out the cause so you can avoid ongoing issues. Hope this helps!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I had a day where my fish all were swimming in the same direction for awhile... somewhere on this forum I even posted a picture (was some time ago and different fish than I have now).  Never could explain why they did it.

 

[Hayley19]

Good that they are acting normal again! But keep a close eye on the ammonia. At a temp of 27, a pH of 8 and a total ammonia reading of .5 you are still on the edge of the safety zone. At those parameters un-ionized ammonia is in the .03 range. Generally speaking .05 is the start of the danger zone although some believe it is lower than that. Since your tank was cycled you also need to find the cause of the ammonia spike. Did you do anything with your filter recently? Add new fish? It is important to find out the cause so you can avoid ongoing issues. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your reply this is really helpful. We have recently added 4 Gouramis about 1 week ago so i assume this must be the cause of the ammonia spike. I am doing daily water changes and the ammonia is coming down slowly.