HELP PLEASE. Fish staying at surface.

[Seanmacd97]

Hi all. I’m new to the fish keeping hobby, I’m from uk. We bought a 40L tank from a pet shop, cleaned tank, gravel and plastic plants etc, installed filter and heater set at (25 degrees Celsius)that came with the tank, filled tank to the water level marked on the filter, we added tapsafe and left for 2 days. Today we took a sample of the water back to the shop and they tested it and confirmed everything “perfect” we brought home 2 balloon molly’s and 2 platy’s. They seemed fine at first obviously a bit bewildered by there new surroundings. We fed them some tropical fish food flakes ensuring they all got a good few flakes each. We may have over fed them.

After maybe an hour all 4 of the fish started swimming around the surface and they haven’t came down since. They seem to be gulping at the surface and we are very worried now. They are still moving around allot but staying right at the surface and gathering in one corner.

i have been researching and from what I’m reading it’s suggesting low oxygen levels, the filter is definitely sucking water in the bottom and pushing it out the top maybe half a cm above the water level, it’s not bubbling but it’s creating ripples.
It’s now midnight hopefully someone can get back to me soon. Part of me thinks they might just be settling in but I am still worried. I don’t have any means of testing the water myself but will buy testing kit tomorrow just to be sure. They might be looking for more food but I think it’s more likely they were over fed than under fed.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

If the water is all the way at the top of the tank, try lowering it about an inch. I've seen my fish do something similar when I put the water all the way up to the top of the tank. Once I lowered the water about an inch in my tank they went back to their normal pattern. Not sure if it's the same thing, but worth a shot.

If you don't already have a test kit, invest in one so you can test your water parameters without having to rely on a local pet shop. What you'll find over time is that most of the advice the pet shop employees give is complete garbage. I've found very few to be reliable sources of good information. But you do need to be able to check your own water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and make sure that the pH and hardness are suitable for your type of fish. Also be sure you are using a water conditioner (dechlorinator) when adding new water to your tank.

Keep us posted!

 

[Seanmacd97]

Unfortunately one is no longer with us, it must have died within the past 30 minutes, I have removed it from the tank. I think I now need to change half the water in the tank to avoid disease from the dead one, maybe not needed as we noticed soon enough but I’ll still do it just now and hopefully save the others, I’ve already took about an inch out and it does look allot better ie there’s more water movement from the filter. Yes I have and will use dechlorinator. Very upsetting.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Unfortunately one is no longer with us, it must have died within the past 30 minutes, I have removed it from the tank. I think I now need to change half the water in the tank to avoid disease from the dead one, maybe not needed as we noticed soon enough but I’ll still do it just now and hopefully save the others, I’ve already took about an inch out and it does look allot better ie there’s more water movement from the filter. Yes I have and will use dechlorinator. Very upsetting.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Make sure when you change your water you are temperature matching to what's in the tank and use your water conditioner. Let us know how things are going and we'll try to help as best we can.

 

[Colin_T]

If fish every start acting unusual or gasping at the surface, do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate. And increase aeration/ surface turbulence to help maximise oxygen levels n the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Make sure you use a clean bucket that has never had chemicals or cleaning products in. If possible get a couple of food safe buckets and use a permanent marker to write "FISH ONLY" on them. Use those buckets for the fish and don't let anyone use them for anything else.

Make sure you don't have any soap, grease, cream, perfume, hand sanitiser, etc on your skin because these can come off in the water or on fish food and poison the fish.

---------------------
If the aquarium hasn't cycled (developed the good filter bacteria) yet, keep feeding down to a couple of times a week and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding.

After the filter has cycled (in about 4-6 weeks), you can feed every day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

---------------------
The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a ready when you have some spare time.

What to do if your fish gets sick

If your fish ever looks sick or unwell, then the following steps might help. Test the Water and Clean the Tank. Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and write the results down in numbers. Check it for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) too if you can, but...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Seanmacd97]

Thankyou I will update as I go on.

 

[Essjay]

Fish gasping at the surface in a brand new tank is usually because of the ammonia in the water, and a few weeks later because of nitrite.


Fish excrete ammonia. Unfortunately this is toxic to them. In a mature tank, there is a colony of bacteria which 'eat' ammonia and turn it into nitrite.
Nitrite is also toxic to fish and in a mature tank, there is a second colony of bacteria which 'eat' nitrite and turn it into nitrate.
In a brand new tank, there are so few of these bacteria that they remove hardly any ammonia or nitrite. They need to grow a lot more of them and this takes time - several weeks. And the nitrite eaters can't start to grow until the ammonia eaters have grown enough to make nitrite. Until there are enough bacteria we have to do water changes to stop the fish being poisoned. The process of growing the bacteria is called cycling.


To do a fish-in cycle, you need a test kit, preferably one with liquid reagents and test tubes. The water should be tested every day, and when ammonia and/or nitrite read above zero, a water change must be done to get them down to zero. A very large water change will not harm the fish as long as the new water is dechlorinated (Tapsafe or similar) and warmed to the same temperature as the tank.

There are a few things you can do to help.
Get a bottle of Tetra Safe Start. This contains the bacteria you need. It won't cycle the tank instantly but will shorten the time it takes for the bacteria to grow.
Feed the fish once every 3 days. Less food = less ammonia so the levels won't go up as quickly.
Get some live plants. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they don't turn it into nitrite. Fast growing plants take up ammonia faster than slow growing plants and floating plants are fastest. Even something like a couple of bunches of elodea stems left to float will help.





Ammonia burns the fish's skin and gills. Because burned gills can't take up as much oxygen from the water, the fish go to where there is most oxygen - at the surface.
Nitrite binds to the fish's blood and stops the blood taking up oxygen. (The same as what carbon monoxide does to us). Again, the fish go to where there is most oxygen in the water.

 

[Tez_20]

Thankyou I will update as I go on.

How long was your tank running before you purchased the fish? and it needs oxygen as Colin as stated and like essjay as stated food and waste kicks in ammonia, then nitrite and your fish could have kicked a cycle off in your tank that's why extra oxygen is needed to help them cope.

 

[Essjay]

I forgot to say that when you took the water to the shop to be tested, it was perfect because you had not yet added anything to make it unperfect. As soon as the fish were put in the tank, the ammonia they started to excrete made it not-perfect.