Hi everyone. I have a female red velvet swordtail that I purchased 4 days ago(along with a male). She eats really, looks really well but sometimes swims super erratically. I've never seen this & I've had freshwater aquariums since I was a kid. This morning before I turned on the aquarium lighting(just had room light on) she was swimming and was spinning over & over & darting about. I thought for sure she was on her way out. Then she came to a stop in a plant. About 10mins later I seen her swimming totally normal, fins spread & ate well upon feeding. Can there be some kind of balance issues in otherwise healthy fish? I checked all my water parameters & everything is good except 80ppm is of nitrates. I do weekly water changes of 25%. I have live plants & temperature holds steady at 77 f. I think im definitely overstocked tho. I have 2 angelfish, 1 male guppy, 2 black mollies, 2 swordtails, 1 red tailed black shark & an algae eater.
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FISH SWIMMING ERRATICALLY
- Thread starter Swartz44
- Start date
mrsjoannh13
Fishaholic
My guess would be your nitrate level. Some fish can probably handle that but maybe not this one. Is it high coming out of your tap? Is it possible over dosing of fertilizers? I would do a larger water change than 25% to see if you can get the nitrate level down.
You say you think you are overstocked - how large is your tank? For 2 angelfish you need a pretty sizeable tank and from the photo it looks like maybe a 20 gallon?
You say you think you are overstocked - how large is your tank? For 2 angelfish you need a pretty sizeable tank and from the photo it looks like maybe a 20 gallon?
This is the sign of Nitrate poisoning, Nitrate should be kept less than 20
Do a daily 75%-90% water changes until Nitrate go less than 20 then do 75% every week or bi weekly because your tank are overstocked.
Do a daily 75%-90% water changes until Nitrate go less than 20 then do 75% every week or bi weekly because your tank are overstocked.
When fish are spinning through the water, it is usually caused by a bacterial or protozoan infection in the brain. These usually occur in dirty tanks or tanks with lots of fish in.
You can sometimes clear the problem up by doing big daily water changes and adding some salt to the tank.
As others have mentioned, you want to try and keep nitrates as close to 0ppm as possible, and under 20ppm at all times. If the 25% water change isn't keeping the level down, do a bigger water change (75%) and do it more often. You should also check the tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate because some tap water has high nitrates.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
----------------------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
You can sometimes clear the problem up by doing big daily water changes and adding some salt to the tank.
As others have mentioned, you want to try and keep nitrates as close to 0ppm as possible, and under 20ppm at all times. If the 25% water change isn't keeping the level down, do a bigger water change (75%) and do it more often. You should also check the tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate because some tap water has high nitrates.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
----------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Add some salt, (see directions below).
----------------------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
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