strange swimming - water issue?

[Maria_012]

Hello everyone,

I've been into this hobby for a year now, and have had experience with two tanks: one super nano 11L aquarium, and one larger one, around 20 gallons. I've dirted both tanks and figured out how to get plants to grow, but there's this one thing I can't pin down.

My fish and shrimp would often swim up and down the aquarium glass, almost as if they want to escape. I find this behaviour unsettling and unnatural, and I would like to get rid of it.

The larger tank was given to me by some relatives, along with some fish. The fish also exhibited this behaviour. Long story short, I decided to sell the fish and start anew. With the second setup, I had no issue whatsoever. The fish did not exhibit this strange swimming pattern at all, and I was relieved. After a few days I fed them for the first time, and this behaviour started. I tried doing water changes, adding a filter (it previously had no filter), but to no avail.

My nano tank had always had fish exhibit this behaviour.. my two adult guppies and one shrimp died, and I suspect that it is due to the cause of this strange behaviour.

Any ideas on what I can do?

Thanks

 

[Ch4rlie]

Well first off the 11litre (2.9 US gals) tank is too small for any fish specie really to put it bluntly, sorry.

But perfectly fine for shrimps and snails only set up so that’s ok, just need to keep a good eye on water parameters as due to the small volume it’s easy for parameters to change quickly.

The larger 20 gal tank should be fine for most fish but of course not all, so care has to be taken for choosing good species for a 20 gallon (you don’t mention if this is a standard rectangular or a tall tank).

Anyhow, for shrimps and fish to display behaviour akin to escaping type behaviour usually indicates something is up with the water parameters somewhere.

Can you possibly give us accurate water test results for all ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and tell us what test kit you use for those test, this will be helpful.

Also can you give us an idea of your routine for water changes, how much and how often and what you do in terms of cleaning / maintenances, there may be something that could give us a clue there also.

And lastly can you tell us what livestock you have and how many of each. This may help determining stocking levels etc.

Oh and a picture of your tank set up may be helpful to see if there’s anything amiss.

Lots of questions but potentially may point to a clue or clues as to what might be causing your livestock to behave like this and the potential causes to the fatalities.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

'Pacing' is stress related, so I would agree with above that it's probably water related, have you tested?

 

[FishHobby99]

yes & the super bright pet store lights.

 

[FishHobby99]

Well first off the 11litre (2.9 US gals) tank is too small for any fish specie really to put it bluntly, sorry.

But perfectly fine for shrimps and snails only set up so that’s ok, just need to keep a good eye on water parameters as due to the small volume it’s easy for parameters to change quickly.

The larger 20 gal tank should be fine for most fish but of course not all, so care has to be taken for choosing good species for a 20 gallon (you don’t mention if this is a standard rectangular or a tall tank).

Anyhow, for shrimps and fish to display behaviour akin to escaping type behaviour usually indicates something is up with the water parameters somewhere.

Can you possibly give us accurate water test results for all ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and tell us what test kit you use for those test, this will be helpful.

Also can you give us an idea of your routine for water changes, how much and how often and what you do in terms of cleaning / maintenances, there may be something that could give us a clue there also.

And lastly can you tell us what livestock you have and how many of each. This may help determining stocking levels etc.

Oh and a picture of your tank set up may be helpful to see if there’s anything amiss.

Lots of questions but potentially may point to a clue or clues as to what might be causing your livestock to behave like this and the potential causes to the fatalities.

This was an outstanding response. dang, you’re good.

 

[Ch4rlie]

This was an outstanding response. dang, you’re good.

Well, thank you, we aim to please

 

[Maria_012]

Well first off the 11litre (2.9 US gals) tank is too small for any fish specie really to put it bluntly, sorry.

But perfectly fine for shrimps and snails only set up so that’s ok, just need to keep a good eye on water parameters as due to the small volume it’s easy for parameters to change quickly.

The larger 20 gal tank should be fine for most fish but of course not all, so care has to be taken for choosing good species for a 20 gallon (you don’t mention if this is a standard rectangular or a tall tank).

Anyhow, for shrimps and fish to display behaviour akin to escaping type behaviour usually indicates something is up with the water parameters somewhere.

Can you possibly give us accurate water test results for all ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and tell us what test kit you use for those test, this will be helpful.

Also can you give us an idea of your routine for water changes, how much and how often and what you do in terms of cleaning / maintenances, there may be something that could give us a clue there also.

And lastly can you tell us what livestock you have and how many of each. This may help determining stocking levels etc.

Oh and a picture of your tank set up may be helpful to see if there’s anything amiss.

Lots of questions but potentially may point to a clue or clues as to what might be causing your livestock to behave like this and the potential causes to the fatalities.

Thanks for your reply!

I use a amtra multi 6 in 1 water parameter test kit.

Results came as follows:
Nitrate: 0 mg/l (guppy grass is growing like crazy, so explains low result)
Nitrite: 0 mg/l
GH: >16
KH: 6
pH: 6.8
Chlorine: 0 - 0.8mg/l


Photos of test kit and aquarium attached.

I have endlers in my tank, one has grown to adulthood but the others are still small.

For this setup, I also tried the deep substrate method to help with nitrates etc.. Not so sure if it worked. I previously had some wood in the tank which had some type of bacteria or fungus, which started growing down the sand. It may have outcompeted the denitrifying bacteria.

As for the size of the tank, unfortunately this is the only one I have for now. I can only fit one aquarium in my room, on my desk... I was thinking of upgrading to a 5 gallon sometime. I have seen videos on youtube which have had very successful results with a 5 gallon, particularly Foo the Flowerhorn. (

). What do you think?

 

[FishHobby99]

Hello everyone,

I've been into this hobby for a year now, and have had experience with two tanks: one super nano 11L aquarium, and one larger one, around 20 gallons. I've dirted both tanks and figured out how to get plants to grow, but there's this one thing I can't pin down.

My fish and shrimp would often swim up and down the aquarium glass, almost as if they want to escape. I find this behaviour unsettling and unnatural, and I would like to get rid of it.

The larger tank was given to me by some relatives, along with some fish. The fish also exhibited this behaviour. Long story short, I decided to sell the fish and start anew. With the second setup, I had no issue whatsoever. The fish did not exhibit this strange swimming pattern at all, and I was relieved. After a few days I fed them for the first time, and this behaviour started. I tried doing water changes, adding a filter (it previously had no filter), but to no avail.

My nano tank had always had fish exhibit this behaviour.. my two adult guppies and one shrimp died, and I suspect that it is due to the cause of this strange behaviour.

Any ideas on what I can do?

Thanks

Not sure if I replied to this or a similar post. The big box pet stores often sell tanks very cheap. I saw one the other day that had 20 G for $21. Think I paid $40 for my 40 G.

 

[Avel1896]

yes & the super bright pet store lights.

Once again !!
Aquarium keeping on advices of petshops is the worst thing that can happen to a fishkeeper !