Leopard Danio Erratic Swimming.

[nortonmad213]

hi, this may not be the proper place for this but i'm not sure where to put it. 
as it says in the title one of my danios is swimming oddly.
its nose down most of the time and only occasionally eats.

 

[the_lock_man]

Don't worry, I moved the topic for you.
 
You haven't given us much to go on, so if you could answer a few questions, it'd be a help for us to help you.
 
What are your current levels for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
How long has your tank been set up?
How did you cycle the filter?
How long has the fish been in the tank?
Have you added any other fish recently?
Have you added anything else to the tank recently?

 

[nortonmad213]

ammonia and nitrite at 2ppm and nitrate at 15ppm
tank has been set up for a little over 3 months,
fish have been in there for around 6-7 weeks,
nothing else has been added for a month now.
thanks.

 

[the_lock_man]

There's your problem - 2ppm of ammonia and nitrite are both lethal - I'm quite surprised that the fish are still alive!!
 
Right now, you need to do a big water change, as much as you can possibly do, just leave enough water for the fish to swim upright in, replace with roughly temperature matched, dechlorinated water. Leave it half an hour, and do another test. If you see any reading at all for either ammonia or nitrite do the same again.
 
On a daily basis, you need to be doing the same sort of thing - read the green link in my signature area for more details on what to do, and why you need to do it.

 

[nortonmad213]

thanks for your reply. omg i didnt realise that level was lethal, i'll keep a tighter watch on it from now on. 
i have been doing large water changes the past two days now and the levels are 0 again, 
i introduced the fish two at a time each fortnight, i thought that would allow the filter enough time to get used to it.
 
thanks again.

 

[nortonmad213]

just a side note, the fish has become more active after the water changes, 
however one of the danios is still swimming nose down.

 

[the_lock_man]

Have you continued to do the large water changes in between the 20th and 22nd? Or did you stop because the levels had come down to 0?

 

[nortonmad213]

once the levels returned to 0 i continued to do 50% changes daily and are still doing that now