Guppies sitting on the bottom

[Annie]

Here's the scenario. I have a 30 gallon tank. I had a hard water problem and added less than needed Prime and lost all my fish but one...a Tetra his name is Felix, as in Felix the Cat with 9 lives! LOL Anyhow, I cleaned out all of the plants and everything except about the first 3 inches of my rocks and underground (bacteria needed).....so now I restocked.

I STILL have hard water and my PH was a bit low (I have been putting TOPFIN ph increaser in, thus far 3 treatments, and I added ammonia remover just because I have been scootching around plants and such and didn't completely clean out the water. I don't put anything in my tank unless it is tank safe, so I have a lot of plants (plastic) in the tank for the fish to play in and out of, plus a large pottery pot with air; a motorcycle with air, and the two air ratorrs for the underground and of course the filer, my temp is about 73ish.

Problem is, my guppies have been at times swimming happy go fish; but I went away a few hours and come back and many are sitting on the bottom and one went semi veritical. The other fish seem to be doing ok. They have been in the tank for about a week now and I haven't had this problem until I put the ammonia remover in and I added a larger plant today and my third dose in 2 days to increase the ph. I have to tell yeah, I have never Ever had a problem like this and I though over 30+ years I had had them all.

Thanks for any advice. Annie :fish:

[Gil klogher]

when they sit at the bottom and dont move it is called "lethargic", which may indicate a disease of some sort. check to see if they are "breathing " heavy. sometimes the fiash willl act this way when they get gill flukes or ich. high amonia levels can burn their gils which may cause similar response. check all these things, I will be praying for your remaining fishes.

[Lukenasia]

Hard water and slightly off pH is nothing to be worried about really, a STABLE pH is better for fish than when it is constantly adjusting. It is very easy to make your pH higher but harder to make it lower and keep it lower. Swings in pH caused by solids in the water can cause some fish to be very ill. Could we have an exact number on the pH of your aquarium using a test kit?

Also with the hard water, almost all fish can adjust to hard water, where I live we have the hardest water in the UK however even by using tap water (Declorinated of course!) I'm still able to keep American Cichlids which prefer soft and slightly acidic water, where mine is very hard and slightly alkaline.

Adding chemicals to water, even if they say its for raising the pH and is meant for aquariums, you will have better results on leaving it alone and letting the fish adjust to it.

One thing that concerns me is the temperature, 73F is quite low for a tropical aquarium, ideally you'll want the temperature to be at 78F (26C), is your aquarium heated at all, also like pH a stable temperature is better a swinging one :14:

Also when you refill your tank after a water change do you use Dechlorinator, that sometimes can make fish very ill as chlorine is designed to kill any bacteria in the drinking water, and will afect fish and kill your nitrobacter (bacteria) that is used to cycle the tank, this is why the filter media must be washed in used tank water.

[gadget228]

Agree that using chemicals to adjust your pH isn't a good thing to do, to raise pH you can add crushed coral if it is needed. Please post what your pH is at.

[Annie]

when they sit at the bottom and dont move it is called "lethargic", which may indicate a disease of some sort. check to see if they are "breathing " heavy. sometimes the fiash willl act this way when they get gill flukes or ich. high amonia levels can burn their gils which may cause similar response. check all these things, I will be praying for your remaining fishes.

No, I don't have any "stress" type symtoms. Just sitting on the bottom. Today they were fine... all have a tendancy to stay to one side (under my auto feeder)..go figure. But they are moving around more. I don't have amonia is ok & fish not sick. (spots & such). This all blows my mind because I have never had any problems like this in the 36 years I have been in aquarium and I've had my aquarium set up now (until I changed all out (except the rocks) for over 2 years.

[Annie]

Hard water and slightly off pH is nothing to be worried about really, a STABLE pH is better for fish than when it is constantly adjusting. It is very easy to make your pH higher but harder to make it lower and keep it lower. Swings in pH caused by solids in the water can cause some fish to be very ill. Could we have an exact number on the pH of your aquarium using a test kit?

Also with the hard water, almost all fish can adjust to hard water, where I live we have the hardest water in the UK however even by using tap water (Declorinated of course!) I'm still able to keep American Cichlids which prefer soft and slightly acidic water, where mine is very hard and slightly alkaline.

Adding chemicals to water, even if they say its for raising the pH and is meant for aquariums, you will have better results on leaving it alone and letting the fish adjust to it.

One thing that concerns me is the temperature, 73F is quite low for a tropical aquarium, ideally you'll want the temperature to be at 78F (26C), is your aquarium heated at all, also like pH a stable temperature is better a swinging one :14:

Also when you refill your tank after a water change do you use Dechlorinator, that sometimes can make fish very ill as chlorine is designed to kill any bacteria in the drinking water, and will afect fish and kill your nitrobacter (bacteria) that is used to cycle the tank, this is why the filter media must be washed in used tank water.


My PH is 6.2. I just checked my temp it is 75. I do have a heater and had it set at one time to the factory setting (78) but ALL of my fish went extreme--they just stopped swimming at all, just sat there (it was just over one night) and so in the morning I put it back to the this setting and now they seem happier. I didn't want to come home from work to a fish fry...literally...(and that's not to make light of me loosing my fish either, I love my aquarium). The only thing I ever put in my water when I set up is start right and I have never had a problem with that. I also add some platties tonight, just to see how they will do. I have always had difficulties keeping them so I'm hoping I can make it work this time. When I use my test strips, my general hardness for the water is over 180. Tomorrow after work I will run the full chemical lab on the water. I also have a ph and amonia stripe on my glass with nothing out of whack except for the low PH. For now, I will try to let everyone adjust to their new environment. But I still don't understand why some are staying on the bottom. I have also used stress coat in the water to assist them with the adjustments; which I have always done. That's the whole thing with this, I have not don't anything different then I normally would in setting up, exchanging water, etc...

[Annie]

Agree that using chemicals to adjust your pH isn't a good thing to do, to raise pH you can add crushed coral if it is needed. Please post what your pH is at.


Thanks for the advice, the pH is 6.2 Love the bike (I am a hard core biker myself, FLTCHI).

[Gil klogher]

hmm. It jujst occured to me that my guppies behaved similarly when i made a drastic change to the decor...new fake plants, moved some large objects and add a different color gravel in the middle. they all sat by the powerhead for a while, then went back to what seemed normal, back and forth for a few days before returning to normal. My best guess was that they were stressed by the changes to their established territory and my arm in the water for so long. they almost seemed confused ffor a bit, but they turned out ok. hope they are doing well now, please update us.