The tank is about a month old, and I have had 6 fish in there for about a week (3 species of Platy).

Water stats:
Ammonia < 0.1
Nitrite < 0.1
Nitrate < 5
pH ~8.0

They occasionally rub and flick against a plant or rock, most of the time is spent seemingly trying to swim through the glass (not sure if this is rubbing or they just can't work out that there is glass there).
No white spots/fin rot.
Any help is much appreciated.

This post has been edited by Wippy M: May 12 2008, 12:18 AM

Well your tank is in the middle of cycling witch is why your fish are not acting normal. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish, so that is going to be bothering them. I suggest reading the pinned topics on cycling and also doing a water change. I wouldn't be surprised if they have external parasites, but you should worry about the cycle for now. Also what kinda water tests are you using?

I know the cycling isn't quite complete - these were recommended as hardy fish that would help the process. I was told water changing would slow down the cycling - mixed opinions make things even more confusing. What do you mean "what kind of water tests"? It's just a Nurafin test kit I bought from my LFS.

Is it a test kit w/ strips that you stick in the water or with vial test tubes that you add liquid too? The latter are perfered, cuz they are much more accurate.

Water changes will slow down the cycle, but they are nessicary if you want the fish to survive the cycling process. You need to keep the levels of ammonia and nitrite low so your fish do not get too stressed out. If they do they will become sick or die as a result.

this topic should help you out some

http://www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/

the flicking and rubbing is the fish telling you that they are not at all happy with how things are. the poor water quality is irritating them, they may well have ammonia burns (not always visible).

you should be doing daily 25% water changes as a minimum until the tank is cycled. i would seriously consider returning the fish to the shop and doing a fishless cycle, it's much more humane. There's plenty of pinned topics on how to do this.