My Fish Spends Alot Of Time Floating At The Top Of The Tank

[manish79]

Hello,

Im newby to aquariums and ive recently setup my 23L fluval edge. Ive recently added 3 guppies in there. Ive noticed that they spend alot of time at the top of the tank and im wondering if somethings wrong? Ive checked my pH which is between 7-8 and ammonia was 0.3. I only added them in on saturday so should i be concerned?

Thanks.

 

[catfish4ever]

23 litres is far too small for guppies, however I think your situation is the lack of oxygenated water, try to raise the filter level output and agitate the surface if the water, this allows oxygen to enter the water, or you could purchase an air stone, the use is in the name, good luck!

 

[manish79]

Thanks for the advice. I will try oxgenating the water more if that doesnt work ill get an air stone.

 

[bluesword23516]

My guppies do spend a lot of time towards the top. They have plenty of oxygen, but do check that. They usually do lots of top time or bottom time looking for food or chilling in plants.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Did you cycle your tank?

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/

Fish at surface of water could be a sign of either ammonia/nitrite poisoning due to fact tank is uncycled. Or possible lack of oxygenated water.

But since you mention your ammonia is at 0.3ppm, I think this is more likely due to fact tank is not cycled with the bacterias needed to process ammonia.

A cycled tank will usually always show 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.

Read the link I posted above and let me know if you followed that at all or did you cycle tank another way?

 

[manish79]

i've read the link you gave. thanks.
 
I actually had abit of trouble with the fishless cycle when i first started it. I had my aquarium setup with live plants and put tap water in it. I followed the instructions about the antichlorine liquid and the bacteria supplements that came with the fluval edge. i left the cycle running for a week before i started checking for ammonia and nitrite. these were high as expected and every few days would measure the levels. However, the ammonia and nitrite levels were always high even after 3 weeks. I asked the people where i bought the aquarium from what was going on and they couldn't explain it. I did have trouble with the live plants as they wernt rooting well and i could see signs of the plants dieing. So i had to remove them (only had a few) as i thought the ammonia must be coming from there. Still no luck, so then i did water changes and put in extra biomatrix. 
 
Finally the tank started giving results in the right direction. I only recently took a sample for the maidenhead aquatics to check the water and they confirmed it was safe to add first batch of fish.
Thats when i added 3 guppies.
 
They seem okay, no signs of sickness, have had the fish for a week and a half and have done 1 water change so far. The water is clear, though when i did the water change it went cloudy but a after a day or two it absolutely clear.
 
Im checking the ammonia levels every few days when it was showing 0.3 ammonia.
 
Ive had a hard time getting the cycle going and i think im there now.
 
is there anything else i should do?
 
 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Can you give the full specific readings of your most recent water tests?
 
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH.
 
Tank temp?
 
Have you cleaned the filter out, rinsed media in tap water, or added new media?
Am assuming this is the Edge hob filter btw.

 

[manish79]

Thanks, I will take up to date results tomorrow and get back to you.

 

[manish79]

Hi there,

Jus took my water to be tested today and the results are:

Ammonia - 0.06
pH - 8.5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10-20

The guy at the aquarium place said that he was perplexed why ammonia was present and no nitrites. He suggested perhaps the pH was throwing the result off? But he said since i have guppies in there already and they doing fine i shouldnt worry too much.

Im using bio water to do my water changes which has minerals added to it.

In my tank i have no live plants as i removed them because they started to die and it was affecting my cycle.

Should i be worried?
My water temperature is 26 degrees. It is quite hot here in uk for now. Wont last long as usual.

 

[manish79]

Yes i cleaned the filter when i did a water change as it was mucky with brown stuff. I cleaned it with water from the tank that i removed. When i was having problems with the cycling process i read somewhere that you could try puttin in extra biomatrix, so i replaced the carbon layer with extra biomatrix for a while. Now i have managed to put thr carbon back in whilst having 2 bags of biomatrix in the filter. I always clean the sponge, carbon and biomatrix using the old water. I was replacing it with tap water but since my troubles with cycling im using bio water with added minerals.

 

[Arcticfox1977]

Is your water surface rippling via your filter?
You must address the ammonia levels. If your tank is FULLY cycled there should be no ammonia readings. You will have to do water changes often to reduce the levels. To me you are going through a fish in cycle.