Why are all my fish staying at the surface?

[Dopatri]

I have 6 fish in my tank, 3 guppies and 2 balloon mollies. However, since last night, I’ve noticed they’re all swimming around at the surface of the tank. Particularly the guppies. I’ve got no clue why because I have a pump that sprays bubbles so I’m sure there is enough oxygen in there for them. Also my parameters seem ok, my nitrites and nitrates are low. I changed the water yesterday but I added tap safe solution and Tetra safe start bacteria solution because I added a new fish. Also the temperature is 26 C. Is this normal behaviour for these types of fish?

Thank you for reading!!

 

[On_a_dishy]

Your nitrite should be 0. I had exactly the same problem and went out and bought an air pump, but it turned out to be a nitrite spike and I came so close to losing them all. Keep testing your water and performing water changes if there is nitrite present. Good luck!

 

[kwi]

Ammonia and Nitrite should read 0, if they ever don't it's water change time.
Did you quarantine your new stock before adding them?

 

[mbsqw1d]

Does the tank have a filter or just the pump with the airstone?
Have you 'cycled' the tank before adding the fish?
This is a process over the course of several weeks where you add ammonia to the tank and wait for the nitrifying bacteria to develop. If not, your fish are being intoxicated by the ammonia that they are producing which is building up in their water.
What size tank do you have?

 

[Tykey]

Hi. I made a total pigs ear of starting my tank up. After 30 years, I seemed to have lost all my experience.
Any road up, I finished up with fish dying by the hour, the water was grey and smelly with a scum on top. My aquarium shop advised using this stuff, so I put some in. The next morning, the tank was clear and bright, and the fish stopped dying. Worth a go, maybe. Good luck!

START UP - Kit de démarrage pour aquarium d’eau douce - Prodibio

START UP permet un démarrage rapide et sûr de votre aquarium d’eau douce ou d’eau de mer. Les bactéries vivantes spécifiques contenues dans ce kit (BIODIGEST START) sont adaptées aux besoins d’un nouvel aquarium, l’association avec un bloquant naturel de l’ammoniaque (STOP AMMO START) favorise...

www.prodibio.com

 

[cdelly]

starting up without cycling, so the start up adds bacteria and kick starts your filter.

love the fact the webpage states

When should Start_Up be used ?​

• When you start an freshwater or saltwater aquarium
• Start Up enables you to quickly introduce 1/3 of your toughest fish into your
  new aquarium:
  - after 4 hours in freshwater
  - after 12 hours in marine water

how do you know the toughest fish, start a tournament for them to battle it out

 

[Tykey]

Cdelly, don't know, I wondered about that?. But if all the fish are already in there and suffering, it makes very little difference. It certainly doesn't make it worse, and the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as we Brits say??