Is anything wrong with my new swordtail?

[imbellis]

I bought 2 swordtails today. One of them occasionally goes to the bottom of the tank and just sits there for quite some time. All other fish in there are fine.

Tank size is about 25 gallons. Lots of plants and the other fish are quite active.

[Alfcea]

What is the pH and hardness of the water? If your water is soft and acidic, and you didn't acclimated properly, what you are seeing is the result of the shock. Are they "flashing"? Rubbing against hard surfaces? Just give him a couple of days.... he may get better...

[troy]

What are the tank parameters?

[imbellis]

Bah, he just turned over on his side and died all of a sudden. Strange =/

He just got up, but is now back down again on his side.

pH level is 7.2

[troy]

We need tank parameters to solve the problem.

[imbellis]

80 cm long, 30 cm wide, 40 cm tall.

The fish is appears to be dead again. All other fish including the other sword tail are all swimming happily.

Edit: The fish is dead, we have removed him from the tank. I think I can safely blame Pets Unlimited (Canadian pet store) for this. They are known to sell unhealthy fish sometimes.

I really doubt there is anything wrong with my aquarium, as there have been other fish swimming happily in it for at least a month now. This swordtail lived about 1 hour. I will just return the fish and get a replacement.

[Alfcea]

What troy means with "tank parameters" is pH, hardness, concentration of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and temperature, not the dimensions. Could you please provide us with all that?

[imbellis]

What troy means with "tank parameters" is pH, hardness, concentration of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and temperature, not the dimensions. Could you please provide us with all that?

oops, sorry :)

This is the info that I can supply:

pH - 7.2
Ammonia - .25
Nitrate - 0
Temperature - 23 degrees celcius

[troy]

How long has the tank been setup and was it cycled.

[imbellis]

How long has the tank been setup and was it cycled.

It has been set up for quite some time now. I let it cycle for about a week. I had my water tested by a local tropical pet store before buying any fish.

[Gayle]

A week? Humm.

When you are a fish in a little tank, with lots of other fish, and a big net comes and chases you down, pulls you out of the water, dumps you in a bag you get stressed! Then you are carried around in this bag spooked, then somehow you end up in yet another tank. Stressful! Very stressful! It would only take just a little more to put you over the edge. So if your water parameters were off any at all it could have been enough to kill the fish. Just adding the fish without acclimation could be enough to kill a stressed fish. If the fish was sick and then moved that would also be enough to kill them.

How was the fish acting at the store?
How did you add the fish to the new home?
How are your fish acting now that this one has died?

You may want to look into setting up a QT tank. If the fish was ill prior to purchase, you may have contaminated the tank and fish you all ready have.

How are the nitrites?
What are you using to test the water with?