I purchased the guppies today, and fed them a little bit, since i don't know how much the store fed them. When it first introduced them to the tank, the all gravitated to the top, and i thought it was because they were still hungry, so i fed them a bit more, a few teaspoons of flakes, ground up between fingers, and they started exploring. when I came back up, later this evening, i found 2 of the 3 swimming at the top, like before, but near the heater. is this because the water is too cold? and one is all the way down at the substrate, moving back and forth very rapidly, almost like he wanted to dig a hole in the substrate. is this normal too?
Starter help!
- Thread starter SKSands
- Start date
Just how many guppies did you buy - and You fed them "a few teaspoons of flakes"?? Seems to me that would be a whole lot too much!! Think about it - a guppy isn't a very big fish and just how could they pack more than a couple of flakes of food into their stomach? You are going to have a big vacuuming problem IMO
It is not normal for a guppy to 'dig' in the substrate. What temperature is the aquarium kept at?
holding steady at 78-80 degrees F
ammoonia, nitrite are 0.00000.37 PPM and nitrate is .00024
the other two are completely fine, just hanging around near the top-middle. one even seems to have taken a liking to my new dwarf pleco.
this leads me to assume that it's a problem with the fish itself. the internet suggest gill problems, but no symptioms on the internet show what he has. gills are a dark colour, scale colour is vibrant, and there are no white spots. do help, i woke up this morning to find he's laying on the substrate gasping rapidly.
holding steady at 78-80 degrees F
ammoonia, nitrite are 0.00000.37 PPM and nitrate is .00024
the other two are completely fine, just hanging around near the top-middle. one even seems to have taken a liking to my new dwarf pleco.
this leads me to assume that it's a problem with the fish itself. the internet suggest gill problems, but no symptioms on the internet show what he has. gills are a dark colour, scale colour is vibrant, and there are no white spots. do help, i woke up this morning to find he's laying on the substrate gasping rapidly.
Your nitrite reading makes no sense. What is '0.00000.37' PPM mean?
What test kit are you using? I've never seen such a precise measurement of nitrate outside of a lab.
Every fish is an individual. Lack of oxygen will affect all fish eventually, but one weaker, younger, or injured in some way will show signs first.
I agree with FishDad. Ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning is likely the cause of the guppy's behavior. Guppies cannot be 'depressed' as you suggest; they are too simple of an organism to have emotions like that. Suffication due to lack of oxygen intake (ammonia burns the gills making them less able to take in oxygen, nitrite poisoning - read up on 'brown blood disease' - can sufficate a fish quickly even with plenty of dissolved in the aquarium water) is likely the cause of all of this. This is often called 'new tank syndrome.' Your beneficial bacteria cannot process the fish waste quick enough, and the waste is poisoning the fish.
Bottom line: Frequent water changes are a must, and quickly. Be sure to match the temperature of the new water to the old water and use a good dechlorinator.
What dechlorinator do you use? Some like Prime can be used to detoxify (short term only) ammonia and nitrite. It does this by using some of the dissolved oxygen so be sure to add extra aeration to the tank per the instructions on the bottle.
Long term - as suggested by others - a pleco of any type is too much of a fish for so small an aquarium. They produce a huge amount of waste for their size and can quickly overwhelm an established aquarium's biological filtration (beneficial bacteria) even under the best of care.
What test kit are you using? I've never seen such a precise measurement of nitrate outside of a lab.
Every fish is an individual. Lack of oxygen will affect all fish eventually, but one weaker, younger, or injured in some way will show signs first.
I agree with FishDad. Ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning is likely the cause of the guppy's behavior. Guppies cannot be 'depressed' as you suggest; they are too simple of an organism to have emotions like that. Suffication due to lack of oxygen intake (ammonia burns the gills making them less able to take in oxygen, nitrite poisoning - read up on 'brown blood disease' - can sufficate a fish quickly even with plenty of dissolved in the aquarium water) is likely the cause of all of this. This is often called 'new tank syndrome.' Your beneficial bacteria cannot process the fish waste quick enough, and the waste is poisoning the fish.
Bottom line: Frequent water changes are a must, and quickly. Be sure to match the temperature of the new water to the old water and use a good dechlorinator.
What dechlorinator do you use? Some like Prime can be used to detoxify (short term only) ammonia and nitrite. It does this by using some of the dissolved oxygen so be sure to add extra aeration to the tank per the instructions on the bottle.
Long term - as suggested by others - a pleco of any type is too much of a fish for so small an aquarium. They produce a huge amount of waste for their size and can quickly overwhelm an established aquarium's biological filtration (beneficial bacteria) even under the best of care.
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a lab blood particle tester, auto-claved and brought home for repair and testing. i'm using the fish tank to both run calibration tests, and ...set up the fish tank.
since i didn't expect do have to do a water change so soon, i don't have a large standby of water. i'm boiling some to remove the chlorine, will this be enough, or will i have to go out and buy a dechlornator?
EDIT: unfourtunetly, i have to return it in less than 1 hour. so goodbye to those super accurate measurements ;( i'll have to go out and buy a test kit. any reccomendations? I also plan on taking the Pleco back. seeing if i can't get a few more guppies instead.
since i didn't expect do have to do a water change so soon, i don't have a large standby of water. i'm boiling some to remove the chlorine, will this be enough, or will i have to go out and buy a dechlornator?
EDIT: unfourtunetly, i have to return it in less than 1 hour. so goodbye to those super accurate measurements ;( i'll have to go out and buy a test kit. any reccomendations? I also plan on taking the Pleco back. seeing if i can't get a few more guppies instead.
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Save yourself the trouble and buy dechlor. Many here recommend prime by seachem. It will detox chloramine/chlorine and ammonia.
Regarding water changes. Consider them as crutial as food, your fish will not survive w/o them. Just about every time you come here to post a problem the first thing anyone is going to tell you is "do a water change". Its like restarting your computer, something seems wrong but you don't know what, so you restart your computer and everything is back to normal. I do 50% changes every week religiously and sometimes if the fish just seem to acting strange I do one for good measure. Alway be prepared to do water changes at a moments notice. I have a water change "kit" that I made. That way when I need to do one I have everything I need inside a 5g bucket - 2 syphons, faucet adapter, towel, wrench, prime, net, and algae scrubber. Like a minuteman ready for the redcoats (no offense to any englishmen that may be here). Or if your a car guy, its as crutial as oil changes. Don't put all that money and effort into a beautiful automobile and not change the oil.
Regarding water changes. Consider them as crutial as food, your fish will not survive w/o them. Just about every time you come here to post a problem the first thing anyone is going to tell you is "do a water change". Its like restarting your computer, something seems wrong but you don't know what, so you restart your computer and everything is back to normal. I do 50% changes every week religiously and sometimes if the fish just seem to acting strange I do one for good measure. Alway be prepared to do water changes at a moments notice. I have a water change "kit" that I made. That way when I need to do one I have everything I need inside a 5g bucket - 2 syphons, faucet adapter, towel, wrench, prime, net, and algae scrubber. Like a minuteman ready for the redcoats (no offense to any englishmen that may be here). Or if your a car guy, its as crutial as oil changes. Don't put all that money and effort into a beautiful automobile and not change the oil.