FLOATING GUPPYS

[NEON]

Ive just bought three male guppys along with three neon tetra's which are the first to go into a new tank, ive noticed that the three guppys are staying at the top of the tank but not gasping for water although the tetras seem to be fine, is this normal for the guppys to do? im a little worried as these are my first fish and first tank.

 

[Aqua_Princess64]

Are the guppies floating or just hovering? How long has your tank been cycling? What are you water parameters?

 

[NEON]

Its been set up and running for about two weeks before the fish were put in today, they are hovering at the top. The last readings i got were, 7.5-8.5 ph and 1.5mg Nitrite.

 

[Yenko]

Your tank needs to be cycled then. Your nitrite levels are extremely high, and your PH (Although that isn't your fault, unless you've got seashells, marble or limestone in your fishtank) is much too high.

The floating fish are probably doomed; I had that happen to a tiger barb; 2 days later he was dead.

 

[DrOizo]

I'm sorry to tell you but guppies are terrible fish for cycling tanks and with nitrite at 1.5 they will probably die but its not all doom and gloom try and do regular water changes and just hope they hang in there

 

[DrOizo]

The neons are more resilient to nitrite but may also suffer. If possible got to an aqaurium friend and get a load of his bacteria from his/her filter and poor it into your filter. This will help tremendously. Have you read the new tank syndrome pinned post?

 

[Billsjunkie]

No disrespect guys but I made the mistake of not cycling and had over 10 guppies at once in the tank from start from my father in law. Everyone made it and are very active. Most of the smaller fish love to come up top and hover and float in the current and love the light. Your nitrites are too high but the PH is fine IMO because mine is about 7.8 and they have no problem. Final thought, dont worry about the floating or hovering for a bit because its normal as long as there not gasping for air. The nitrites do have to be delt with though. Do a water change to knock that down a bit. Your guppies should be fine.

 

[DrOizo]

I agree bill and i've had 2 of my 6 guppies survive the cycling process but I feel that they are slightly less resilient than many other fish when it comes to cycling a Tank

 

[suemack]

IMO - if you dissolve a very small amount of aquarium salt (1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon) in water and add it to the tank together with daily w/changes it'll help the fish deal with the nitrite in the water - it apparently helps to reduce the toxicity of nitrite to the fish. Please be careful though .....a little salt in this sort of situation often can help but a lot will be very distressing(and dangerous) for the fish and salt doesn't evaporate....has to be removed with water changes

good luck

sue

 

[DrOizo]

Make sure there are no inverts are scaleless fish in the tank though (I think) Please correct me

 

[suemack]

hi again - I've added that small amount of salt to my tanks where there are cories without it worrying them (1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon only) - I usually start with the smaller amount first to see if that helps - and am very careful to do the w/changes and monitor the behaviour of the fish. This is only something I've done when there has been nitrite in the water as the salt does reduce the toxicity of nitrite to the fish

sue