Glofish Staying At The Top Of Fish Tank

[Kristi_s]

I have a new 10 gallon tank that has been running for 4 days with no fish until last night (12-30-2010). I have it set to 76 degrees with a submersible heater, tetra filter, bubble stone with air pump, gravel, decorations, and now 3 glofish. I tested the water with a 5 in one test strip everyday and no change...the nitrate is at 0, the nitrite is at 0, the total hardness is at 0 (very soft), the total alkalinity is hard to read but looks like 180 or higher, and the pH has remained alkaline (guessing between 7.8 and 8.4). A couple hours before adding the glofish the water looked a little cloudy and still does after having the glofish in all night and doing a 10%-20% water change. The fish have been swimming around (sometimes energetically) at the top of the tank. The only time they went to the middle or bottom of the tank was when I did the small water change but immediately returned to the top when I finished. They act hungry all the time and eat all of their food when given, which has only been twice now since I put them in about 14 hours ago. The water filter does a good job at aerating the water itself, but I also have a bubble stone. What should I do about the high pH level and cloudiness and why are the fish staying at the top of the tank when there should definately be enough oxygen in the water? Help!


p.s the fish were purchased at walmart (have no other place to purchase fish within 55-60 miles) and I made sure not to add their tank water to mine.

 

[symon_say]

You need to cycle your tank, read on the sticky at the top of this sub-forum.

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi Kristi, welcome to the forum

As symon says you need to cycle your tank to get the right bacteria growing in your filter. You will probably need to be changing your water every day for a few weeks.

I'd suggest you invest in good liquid reagent test kits for ammonia and nitrites, as these are the most toxic to fish; the test stips are notoriously inaccurate, I'm afraid! If either of those substances test for anything above zero, you will need to do a large water change with warm, dechlorinated water.
Large water changes are nothing to be scared of, and won't upset or hurt your fish; they'll also help reduce the cloudiness, which is most likely a bacterial bloom that is very common in new tanks.

Don't worry about the danios swimming near the top of the tank all the time; that's just their natural behaviour; as long as they're not gasping for air it's fine.

Good luck with your new tank, and don't hesitate to ask any questions that may occur to you

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Glofish are the result of a scientific experiment ~60 years ago on Zebra Danios, they were genetically altered to "glow" in the presence of radiation. Behavior wise and how to keep them is exactly the same as Zebras, which means I need to point out somne things from what you have written in your first post...

• Zebra Danios are very active top dwelling fish for their size and so they need an usually long tank for their size, at least 3-foot and ideally 4. They are going to need an upgrade over that 10 gallon ASAP, especially if it is 10 US gallons. They love current surfing and will have a ball in a setup with filters or powerheads giving 6-10x the tank water volume in turnover per hour (so 60-100 gallons per hour in that temporary 10 tank).
• These fish are not truely tropical, so keeping them at 76F (25C) long term is a bad idea. This high temp will increase their metabolism, which will make them crave more food (so more waste) and shorten their lifespan (not to mention the oxygen levels of the water will be lower). Except perhaps in summer, they will do far better at 18-20C (64-68F)
• Like many Danios (including my Pearls), lower numbers bring out their nasty side amongst each other and any tankmates. The sooner you can bring the group upto 6 (8-10 would be better), if you intend on keeping them long term, the better. I bought an additional six Pearls after a disaster late summer, as the remaining four became territorial with each other.
• The sooner you can replace the test strips with a liquid test kit, the better, as strips are infamous for giving inaccurate results. If this is a brand new tank and filter, I would do ~50% water change every day until you can get a liquid kit, as the water can quickly go toxic in an "uncycled" tank.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Hello & welcome.

I am afraid that your tank is not cycled so the fish are living in their own waste & so being slowley poisoned, but dont panic, all is not lost.

First you should buy a liquid based master test kit, i recomend API but there are many others.

Then you have two options.

1. Keep the fish in the tank & do a big water change everyday whilst testing the water to try to keep the ammonia & nitrite as close to zero as you can, this can be tedious & hard work. This is called a Fish In Cycle

2. Take the fish back to the shop do a fishless cycle wher you will not be doing water changes, just adding ammonia (artificial fish waste) & testing to see if the filter can handle it. This is called a Fishless Cycle

Both options are fully explained in the Beginners Resource Centre, a link to which is in my signature.


Good Luck.