Fish Acting 'strange' After Move

[geer head]

Okay, so I don't know if it's an emergency/problem or what. I recently moved (15 days ago) and ever since my fish have been acting weird.

Specs:
5 gal tank
10 gal filter (I take care not to kill the bacteria on the sponge)
10 gal heater keeps water around 76 F
some fake plants
recently (within last week) added two plants from long established tank
only a few hiding spots for my fish
PH: current unknown, tap water above 7.6
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Water changes: roughly every 2 weeks (using declorinator)
Algae: very little

Fish: 7 platties (they just won't stop giving birth and I don't have it in me to flush any)
4 ghost shrip (recently added, after problems with fish started)

Okay, so when I moved, I kept like 80% of my old water and tired to make the transfer as quick as possible. The fish were obviously a little stressed after the move and a couple days later they were starting to look a little better. They have not gone back to their usual self though. The older male (2 males) is recently aggressive to the other fish in the tank and a few of my females have been acting odd. Sometimes my fish make spastic movements of their body and dart around the tank a few times like this (the go on their side and then fling their bodies forward), sometimes careering into multiple things before calming down. My fish are not as cheerful as they used to be (still greed as ever for food) and I am very worried! Also, one of my females has been taking to lying down on the gravel over the last few days. Here are a few pictures of her lying down on the gravel. (my ghost shrimp are doing fine and get along with my fish)

Anyone have any advice, what I can do, what might be a problem, etc? All would be appreciated.

Thanks.

(flash)

(no flash)

 

[WILDER]

Livebearers are active fish and need to be in a biigger tank as they are active fish.
Need to know full water stats to rule out bad water quality.
Plus the tank overstocked for a 5 gallon.

 

[geer head]

Livebearers are active fish and need to be in a biigger tank as they are active fish.
Need to know full water stats to rule out bad water quality.
Plus the tank overstocked for a 5 gallon.

I've been at 7 fish since February, and it's just since moving that they are acting up. (yes I know I'm overstocked a bit) Also, what else do you need to know about the water? This is little else I can tell you (finding a hardness test kit seems impossible).

I'm most worried about the spastic movements, the fact that they don't always swim regularly, and that they are taking to lying on the ground more often. As long as my filter is running they don't show any signs of oxygen deprivation.

 

[geer head]

I just performed a water change and the tap water here seems to contain a lot of minerals. It is coludier than the water I used to use. Oh, I forgot to say, my male (who is being aggressive) jumped out of the tank while I didn't have the lid on a couple weeks back. I have no idea how long he was on the floor, but it was less than 2h and he wasn't moving & pretty dry.

 

[WILDER]

Do you use a water conditoner that removes heavy metals.
Darting can be a sign of parasites aswell as bad water quality.
First thing you have to look at is water quality, until we rule that out, its hard to say whats going off.

 

[geer head]

Yes, it removes heavy metals, but as I stated before I don't have any other testing kits, nor the money to purchase them. I forgot to say, iron levels in my tap water are 0.

Update: I removed the aggressive male (yesterday) and I have not notice any strange behaviour since, but I have not had lots of time to observe my fish. One of my fish does have 'multi-coloured' poop. it's light, dark, light... but I don't think that means anything. I feed them a mixed diet of blood worms (usually once every other day) and 'goldfish flakes.'

 

[WILDER]

Take a sample of your tank water to the lfs and tell them to write the readings down for you.

 

[geer head]

(I live in Canada) In terms of a lfs being that helpful, do any of the chain pet stores (like petsmart, or petcetra) do water tests for you, for free? I haven't found many lfs that are very helpful (even with all the stories I hear about getting gravel, or filter pieces for cycling, etc).

 

[WILDER]

In the uk its costs about one pound to have your water tested.
Until we know your water stats it hard to go any further, it the first thing you have to look at when there a problem.

 

[maya]

I'm almost positive that Petsmart will do it for free..

 

[geer head]

Thanks for taking your time to post. My fish have been acting normally for a day or two, (especially since removing my aggressive male).

I know it's not the best thing to do, but I'll assume my fish are okay now. I'll definitely have to spend more time finding out about water testing at pet stores.

 

[WILDER]

Good Luck.