Have I Freaked My Fish Out?

[Greygal]

Hi everyone,

Really hope you can help with this one as I'm quite concerned about my 2 platys.

Got the fish just over 2 weeks ago after a fishless cycle and they settled in really quickly, feeding well and swimming around a lot. I've kept a close eye on the water and have tested every 2-3 days since getting the fish and the ammonia & nitrite have remained at 0 and nitrates below 10.

I did the first partial water change on Saturday in preparation for getting some new fish and also cleaned the glass and gravel. Approx 1 hr after the water change I tested the water and got a 0.25 ammonia reading so tested again in case it was a mistake. Ammonia read 0.25 again but an hour later was back to 0 and has remained so ever since.

Fish hid when I was changing water, doing gravel vac, etc, but were swimming about soon after and feeding normally. However, yesterday they hid for most of the day, only coming out to feed and then came out after their light was switched off in the evening. Today they came out first thing and ate their food but have been hiding ever since and I am really worried that I've done something wrong.

Is it normal for fish to behave like this.? Water parameters are perfect, as is the temperature. Have I missed something? Will they get back to normal?

Any advice would be great as I have no idea what could be wrong.

Thanks,

GG x

 

[lilfishie]

Any idea on the Sex of your 2 Platies?

They could still be settling

 

[ZoddyZod]

for the ammonia spike - have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Sometimes tap water will contain it, but not at high levels.

 

[the_lock_man]

There have been a few reports recently of the API ammonia test giving an iffy 0.25 result.

 

[ZoddyZod]

There have been a few reports recently of the API ammonia test giving an iffy 0.25 result.

but if the retest is showing a 0, sounds like the filter has had a chance to process the ammonia after the water change.

 

[KittyKat]

for the ammonia spike - have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Sometimes tap water will contain it, but not at high levels.

+1, test after dechlorinating, in case your water contains chloramine.

 

[Greygal]

Any idea on the Sex of your 2 Platies?

They could still be settling

Hi, from the images I've seen on this site I think that my red wag is female and my mickey mouse is male.

X

for the ammonia spike - have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Sometimes tap water will contain it, but not at high levels.

Hi, I did test the tap water and it was 0 for ammonia. I'm very confused.....

for the ammonia spike - have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Sometimes tap water will contain it, but not at high levels.

+1, test after dechlorinating, in case your water contains chloramine.

Hi Kittykat,

How do I test for chloramine? I used water conditioner, could this still be a possibility? Sorry if this is an obvious question.

X

for the ammonia spike - have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Sometimes tap water will contain it, but not at high levels.

+1, test after dechlorinating, in case your water contains chloramine.

Hi Kittykat,

How do I test for chloramine? I used water conditioner, could this still be a possibility? Sorry if this is an obvious question.

X

 

[ZoddyZod]

How do I test for chloramine? I used water conditioner, could this still be a possibility? Sorry if this is an obvious question.

you can't, but if your water does have chloramine then your dechlorinator will bond with it and turn it to harmless ammoniUM, which will still register on your test kit, and still be processed by your filter, but is harmless to fish

(someone please stamp on me if I have that all wrong!)

 

[Greygal]

How do I test for chloramine? I used water conditioner, could this still be a possibility? Sorry if this is an obvious question.

you can't, but if your water does have chloramine then your dechlorinator will bond with it and turn it to harmless ammoniUM, which will still register on your test kit, and still be processed by your filter, but is harmless to fish

(someone please stamp on me if I have that all wrong!)

Thanks, that's a relief. I'm hoping it's nothing worse than a bit of stress from their first water change with me. I'm leaving them in peace as much as possible and hope that they come round.

Thanks for your help.

X

 

[KittyKat]

How do I test for chloramine? I used water conditioner, could this still be a possibility? Sorry if this is an obvious question.

you can't, but if your water does have chloramine then your dechlorinator will bond with it and turn it to harmless ammoniUM, which will still register on your test kit, and still be processed by your filter, but is harmless to fish

(someone please stamp on me if I have that all wrong!)

Not quite correct: dechlorinator will leave ammonia (NH[sub]3[/sub]) behind, but dechlorinators which claim to "deal" with ammonia will then convert the harmful ammonia to the less harmful ammonium (NH[sub]4[/sub][sup]+[/sup]). The ammonia to ammonium conversion is only temporary and eventually it will revert back to ammonia, but the idea is that plants or the filter would have taken care of it by then.

Any idea on the Sex of your 2 Platies?

Hi, from the images I've seen on this site I think that my red wag is female and my mickey mouse is male.

You need to figure out how to sex them for sure: males have gonopodiums, females have anal fins. It is recommended that one keeps two females per male in smaller groups because the males will stress the females.

 

[Greygal]

Any idea on the Sex of your 2 Platies?
[/quote]
Hi, from the images I've seen on this site I think that my red wag is female and my mickey mouse is male.[/quote]
You need to figure out how to sex them for sure: males have gonopodiums, females have anal fins. It is recommended that one keeps two females per male in smaller groups because the males will stress the females.
[/quote]


Just had a look at the sexing info on this site and I may have been mistaken as it looks like both of my fish are female. Will 2 females live happily together?

 

[KittyKat]

Two females are fine, but keep in mind that if they have been with any males at the shop, they can still give birth for 3-9 months after being separated, which means that you may have to deal with 3-10 batches of fry!

 

[Firecc]

Hi everyone,

Really hope you can help with this one as I'm quite concerned about my 2 platys.

Got the fish just over 2 weeks ago after a fishless cycle and they settled in really quickly, feeding well and swimming around a lot. I've kept a close eye on the water and have tested every 2-3 days since getting the fish and the ammonia & nitrite have remained at 0 and nitrates below 10.

I did the first partial water change on Saturday in preparation for getting some new fish and also cleaned the glass and gravel. Approx 1 hr after the water change I tested the water and got a 0.25 ammonia reading so tested again in case it was a mistake. Ammonia read 0.25 again but an hour later was back to 0 and has remained so ever since.

Fish hid when I was changing water, doing gravel vac, etc, but were swimming about soon after and feeding normally. However, yesterday they hid for most of the day, only coming out to feed and then came out after their light was switched off in the evening. Today they came out first thing and ate their food but have been hiding ever since and I am really worried that I've done something wrong.

Is it normal for fish to behave like this.? Water parameters are perfect, as is the temperature. Have I missed something? Will they get back to normal?

Any advice would be great as I have no idea what could be wrong.

Thanks,

GG x

Do not worry. Your Platy fish are just fine. They tend to like their plants to hide in. They will swim when it is calm. My platy fish hide when I am working around in the tank and then come out to feed. Yes, they do enjoy the night swim, but most of the time they like to hide.