Red Tailed Guppy strange behaviour

[russkev]

Hi

Well on Saturday added my first fish to my new tank (juwel 125) and purchased 6 Neon Tetras and also 2 Red Tailed Guppes (Not sure exact name). Anyway so far so good but a little concerned with one of the Guppies. It is swimming around very strangely and essentially swimming up to the surface and straight back down. This it does repeatedly and then has a break for a few minutes. I seem to recall from another post that this may indicate a lack of Oxygen, so purchaed a pump and Oxygenator. Previousy the tank had a pump but also 6 live aquarium plants which I had thought would be sufficient.

Anyway I am a little concerend as to what it might be. I suppose it's possible it may be a stress effect after only being added yesterday.

Any thoughts/comments or suggestions would be gratefully accepted. I've got a horrilbe feeling I'm going to come back to my first dead fish in the tank !

Thanks

Kevin

 

[WILDER]

Is the tank cycling, can you post water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

 

[russkev]

Wil do. I had the water checked yesterday but the shop and they said it was perfect. That's after 2 weeks with the 2nd week having plants added. Will do the tests laster and post them. The last test I did was a NO2 test on Friday and that < 0.3 mg/l. I haven't done an Ammonia test although did buy a kit today.

Kevin

 

[dwarfgourami]

Have you read about cycling a tank? If not, there is a very good pinned topic on this forum.

It is possible that your guppy is simply suffering from ammonia poisoning. Guppies these days are not really considered hardy enough to cycle a new tank.

One of the most essential fishkeepers items is a test kit to test the water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. The liquid kits are the best. (don't rely on the shop, they are not always reliable). During the first 4-6 weeks you will need to do this very frequently, at first as often as once a day.

Any ammonia or nitrite reading over 0.5 ppm is basically bad news for your fish, and will need to be diluted by frequent partial water changes (say 15-20% a day) replacing with dechlorinated water of the same temperature. Once the water stats are stable, a weekly 25 % water change is still a desirable part of maitnenace routine.

Keep a careful eye on your neons; they are supposed to be very sensitive to poor water quality.

 

[russkev]

Guys

Thanks for the responses.

I've just performed an Ammonia test. This is currenlty showing Yellow or 0 mg/l so I guess this is fine and too early. The water sample being taken from the surface. Is there any guidelines on this ?

As for cycling I have read various docs on the matter and some say that it is possible to perform cycling with fish. As the shop said the water was ok decided to go ahead. I have already added 6 teaspoons of Stress Zyme and another load to be added tomorrow.

Anyway just looking at the fish now shows that they are moving around quite normally again. The Tetras look fine also.

Will keep an eye on the amonia and Nitrate tests though !!

Thanks again

Kevin

 

[WILDER]

Just keep a close eye on water quality, got some bad advice with the neon tetra's very sensitive fish to water quality, and really need mature tanks of six months, good luck.

 

[Funny Pie]

Hey, thats funny cause I got the exact same thing and started the way you did. I got 2 fancy guppies and 6 neon tetras 4 days after getting my tank ( kinda a mistake) The guppies did the same thing except they'd go down and up against the glass with each other, my other fish did that for a while but i just thought they were playing so i let it be. 3 weeks later they're fine...

 

[dwarfgourami]

As for cycling I have read various docs on the matter and some say that it is possible to perform cycling with fish. As the shop said the water was ok decided to go ahead. I have already added 6 teaspoons of Stress Zyme and another load to be added tomorrow.

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It is possible, but the only fish recommended for cycling are danios or platys (or possibly black widow tetras), not the more sensitive guppies and neons.

Still, you've got them now, and you may be lucky. Just keep on checking the levels (ammonia and nitrItes are the crucial ones, not nitrAtes so much), and be prepared to do water changes if the levels shoot up.

 

[russkev]

Thanks again for the responses. Checked the levels again tonight and all still seems ok but half expecting to start to see the levels rise ! Added the second addition of Stress Zyme also tnought.

One of the Tetra's sat away from the rest tonight for a while and then when the light went off out he came to join the rest. Again was prety sure was going to wake up to a dead fish.

Still only 2 days since fish were added and 16 days since the tank was first setup !

Was looking to add some more fish this week but maybe I'll leave it a little longer !

Thanks

Kevin

 

[WILDER]

I agree leave it abit longer, it will just take you back to a mini cycle, then stress the fish again.