Guppys Not Sinking Oo

[Bluefintuna]

Not sure if this is going to be a tropical emergency or not, I've noticed that occasionaly my guppys have problems swimming to the lower levels of the tank.

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, ph 6.8, planted, 26c, 110 litres. fins, scales and poop look normal and their behaviour is normal.

I have noticed that this has affected 2 diffrent females on diffrent occassions, they are both heavily pregnant, symptoms are soon after feeding the female has a problem getting down into the tank, if she manages to swim down she will either float back up or have to swim like mad to stay down (happening now). This also happened two nights ago with a diffrent female but she seemed to get over it after an hour and has been swimming fine since (thats why I never posted in emergencies section).

My questions are, should I be worried? am I over feeding? is there a potential problem in the making?

Thanks in advance

Nick.

 

[Gilli]

It could be they have trapped gas! When you put your flake fish food in do you just drop it in so it floats on the top of the water? If so they may be gulping in air as they take the flake. Get an egg cup put a little of the tank water in it and drop your flake in that - swish it round then add to the tank. You will find it sinks straight away so this will stop any air gulping. It also gives bottom feeders a chance of getting food before its all snapped up!

It could be constipation - try blanched frozen peas - take off the skin and crumble them into teeny tweeny pieces (if they are not small enough your fish may get them stuck in their mouths).

If these are not the case then they may have swim bladder disease caused by parasite infestation, bacterial infections or constipation.You can buy meds for this at your local fish shop or online.

Hope this helps!

 

[Bluefintuna]

Thankyou Gilli,

I'm trying blanched peas as I type this, I think it might be to do with flake food as the guppies seem to be gulping at it when I put it in (greedy so n so's).

Nick.

 

[WILDER]

Try some peas.
Also the fry might be pressing against the swim bladder.