Is Something Wrong?

[Akasha72]

Hi,

I've been watching the fish since I got home from work and they're all acting strange. They keep going up to the top of the water as if they're drinking then going lower down and blowing bubbles. They don't appear sick, they're not gasping at the top it's almost like they're looking for food but I fed them about an hour ago. The filter is bubbling away so I can't think that there's a lack of aeriation, the water is clear and I checked my levels this morning and all was fine (PH 7.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5)

Any suggestions? Should I re-check my levels or are they just hoping they're gonna get fed again?

 

[creeker]

Are they the livebearers in your tank picture there? Hows the temperature in the tank?

 

[Akasha72]

checked my ammonia and nitrite anyway and all is fine ... just given them another small pinch of flake and in the time it's taken me to walk across the room and sit down it's all gone. Guessing they're hungry then lol

yes all livebearers except for the two remaining neons and otto. Temp is about 25 - lower than normal it's normally around 26-28

 

[soybean]

24-25 is a better temperature - try lowering your heater a tiny bit. The warmer the tank, generally speaking, the lower the fishes oxygen uptake.

You say the filter is 'bubbling away' - do you have bubbles shooting across the surface of the tank? Maybe they were gulping at these.

Doesn't sound like too much to worry about.

 

[creeker]

Yeah, It all sounds ok to me as well.

 

[Akasha72]

Thanks Soybean. I've been having a few problems with the filter being noisey and also a bit too powerful (it was blowing the fish around the tank!) and I read in the instructions that I could push it lower down in the water and turn the nozzle cup so it was directing the water upwards. I tried it last week and it's solved both the issues so I've just left it.

Anyway, all seems well again so I'm guessing it was nothing as you say. After all the problems I've had I'm still a bit paranoid it's all going to go wrong again! Having lost one of the neons at the weekend I'm worrying now that they're all gonna follow suit

 

[Akasha72]

Sorry, forgot to say thank you to creeker aswell

 

[Akasha72]

so, I got up this morning and couldn't find my male platy. Then I spotted him layed on the gravel under one of my ornaments - I thought he was dead. I switched the light on to see if that would shift him and he did move so I knew he wasn't dead. Decided to spinkle in a tiny bit of flake to see if he would eat - he went zooming up to the top to grab all he could but in doing this I noticed something and it's related to this post from yesterday. All my guppies are quite fat and getting quite big now - I know the females are fat because they are perminately pregnant but the boys have got serious bellies on them too! But I noticed all my platies are all small and very skinny and it was them mostly that were hanging round the top last night.

Is it possible that the platies arn't getting enough to eat because the guppies are greedy little .... and is that why they seem to be looking to be fed all the time? I don't know enough about fish to know if it works that way? And if my hunch is correct how do I make sure the platies (and possibly my two remaining neons aswell) get enough to survive without removing the greedy bunch from the tank?

 

[Greg_DS]

He'll just be sleeping, if I look into the tank in the middle of the night I see most of my platys doing that, moment the light comes on there up and about.

 

[Akasha72]

yeah I wondered what they did when the went to sleep and it did cross my mind he might be just having a rest. Regarding the feeding issue though .. do I need to be concerned that the platies and neons don't seem to get a look in at feeding time? Will they get enough from what they can get at or from the plants or bits in the gravel (not that there's much chance of any reaching the gravel with these greedy guppies)

All is well now with Mr platy ... he's chasing his girls round so he he must be feeling okay lol

 

[soybean]

Theyll be feeding fine - fish have tiny bellies, they don't need much at all. I dont even feed mine everyday.

 

[Greg_DS]

Mix it up with some flakes & sinking pellets, platys will eat happily from the bottom, they destroy the wafers I put in for my pleco lol Not sure about the neons, never kept them.

 

[Akasha72]

thanks

 

[CrazyAirborne]

platys like to graze all day long, i wouldnt worry about them getting enought food. they will eat anything they can to fill those bottomless pits! in my experience!

 

[Akasha72]

Thanks Crazyairborne, I had noticed they spend the day picking at the ornaments and stones - thought they might be eating a bit of algea but as I'm new to this I was unsure so thought I'd ask.

I've now decided that I like keeping the platies so much that that's all I want to keep now. So as my guppies and neons die off I won't be replacing them - I know that's gonna take time but I'm in this for the long haul anyway

Right, time to do a water check as I skipped a day yesterday ... fingers crossed for the 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites again