Mystery guppy issues/behavior

[Ameris]

Put simply, what the heck is going on with my guppies?

They’re these cute little gold tuxedo guppies (6-8 adults, not exactly sure, ~5 babies) that I got from a breeder friend in January. They’ve never had issues before, but suddenly they’re acting very off. They had (just moved it) this moss thing (pictured below) floating in their tank and they loved it, but now they’ve started somehow ending up on top of it/half on top of it, just limply lying there. Once I move the moss and get them off they float around for a minute then go back to acting normal. Today I got home to find one of them on there again. I got him off the moss but even after over an hour he’s floating upside down, barely moving. He’s alive, but I’m very worried.

Currently I’ve isolated him from the other fish. It’s important to note the guppies are never more than 10% out of the water, they always have water covering them on the moss, they’re just insanely close to the surface and I don’t think they can move themselves off. I’ve removed the moss:

And it’s now in another tank where there aren’t any inhabitants that pay any attention to it.

I have tested water parameters and everything looks fine, if not pretty good.

I recently added ten albino glowlight tetras as I don’t plan to keep the guppies for any longer than a week more (giving them to a friend.) Luckily both groups keep to themselves, so im not sure if it makes an impact.

Any ideas? Please keep in mind that I am not a super experienced adult (I’m 16 and have barely been doing this for more than a couple of years) so I’m definitely not perfect and I might need some things put in simpler terms.

I’ll take any help I can get!

 

[Colin_T]

I need a video of it but some fish like being near the surface protected from underneath. I have seen marine fish (blue spotted blenny) moon baking on rocks out of water at Geraldton (450km north of Perth). This fish would hop out of the water at night and lay on their backs in the moonlight. When someone went near them, they flipped over and hopped back in the water.

I have seen Bettas, mollies and killifish laying in branches of Water Sprite plants just under the surface. They simply liked to sleep there. Not all Bettas, mollies or killifish do it, in fact most don't do it but some do.

Your guppies found a nice little play thing and you took it away from them
Put it back in and get some video of it. I like seeing unusual/ interesting behaviour in fish

 

[Ameris]

My issue isn’t that they’re playing, that would be fine and dandy. My problem is that they seem injured/distressed. Once they get off the moss they float around limply for up to five minutes. It’s been hours since I got this specific guppy off the moss and he’s still swimming upside down. I posted this before I went to bed and I just woke up and he’s still struggling.

 

[Ameris]

Here’s a photo of him right now.

not only is he struggling to swim normally, he also appears that he’s gasping for breath.

 

[TNG]

He looks very skinny too. Sad to say, he may not last the night.

 

[Ameris]

Does he?! I feed them once each day, brine shrimp and flakes. I don’t want to over feed them, so I’ve been worried. The others look fine I think? Aaahhhh my poor little guy

 

[TNG]

It's not that you don't him enough, it's just he's been sick for a while by the looks of it.

 

[Ameris]

It's not that you don't him enough, it's just he's been sick for a while by the looks of it.

Awww noooo poor little guy. Maybe I should go out and buy some clove oil? I don’t want him suffering.

 

[Colin_T]

Maybe he was sick and ended up there after.
He is curved in a weird way that is not normal and the heavy breathing probably means there's more to this than sitting on some plants at the surface.

Give him an hour or so and if he doesn't get better, euthanise him and watch the others for any weird behaviour.

 

[emeraldking]

Sorry to say but he won't last that long anymore...
Better to euthanize him.

 

[Ameris]

Picking up clove oil at the pharmacy now.

 

[emeraldking]

Picking up clove oil at the pharmacy now.

That's the most humane thing to do...

 

[Ameris]

Finally just had time to post this update, and it’s a weird one.

The fish is suddenly fine. Like, flipped back over, not gasping for air kind of fine. He isn’t eating, and he’s staying towards the edges of the tank, but he’s much better. I’m not sure what to do next, to be honest. Celebrate? Worry?

 

[Colin_T]

He might have had a stroke or got spooked and went into shock. Monitor and see how it goes over the next 24 hours.

 

[Ameris]

Will do, he seems fine this morning.