Male Guppy Keeps Laying On The Bottom

[Doug62]

Hi all,
I set up a new tank about three weeks ago and after running it in for 2 1/2 weeks i bought 7 guppies to get it started. Anyway, they have only been in for 3 days but one of them keeps swimming to the same area at the bottom back corner of the tank (this area is quite secluded by plants and the sand goes into a delve lower than the rest). Then he just lays motionless untill another Guppy comes along then he swims away quickly, seems to try and give the other fish the slip then goes back down to his corner. I have also noticed that his eyes seem a little 'bulgier' than the others. could this be a result of the stress of moving into a newly set up tank? I have checked the water and the nitrates are fine (No3 is 0 and No2 is between 1-5). I also had a bit of a didaster on their second night in that my heaters thermostat didnt seem to work and when i came down in the morning the water was up to 32 degree's so i switched it off till it came down to 26 then put a new one in. The rest seem fine but i'm wondering if this has damaged this one fish? Any help would be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Doug

 

[WILDER]

Sadly guppys don't make good cycling fish as they are sensitve to water quality, i would recommend a water change, do you only have guppies in there at the moment if so i would add some salt one teaspoon to 5gal, plus increase aeration.
The guppy has a bacterial infection but once the lay on the gravel not good news he has popeye.
For popeye anti internal bacteria med by interpet.

http/www.flippersandfins.net/pop-eye.htm

 

[Doug62]

Thanks for the reply Wilder,
Well the only reason a bought them was because i was advised by the lady in my lfs that they were the best to start with (or platy's or mollies). Typical. The tapwater were i live is about as hard as you can get so i dont know if that has anything to do with it? Do i need to buy special salt or is household ok? And do i need to treat the one fish in isolation or can i do it in the tank with the rest?
Thanks again for the help, this newbie stuff is trickier than i anticipated!!
Doug

yeah, only Guppies btw. Also what causespop-eye and is it contagious?

 

[WILDER]

Yes it's definately not easy when you are a newbie, if you can issolate it to a hospital tank that would be better, if not add the med to the main tank, in small doses tablet salt is fine.
But if you get the med buy some tonic salt.
Though be prepared to lose the fish as once the rest on the bottom not good, fingers crossed.

 

[Weaver]

Hi Doug
The tap water where I am is hard too and my guppys dont seem to mind so dont worry on that score.Guppys are now so inbred that they are a lot weaker fish than they used to be so you can really expect to lose the odd one.
Platys are much tougher and would have made a much better fish to cycle with.Unfortunately fish shops sometimes give out duff advice and yours certainly did.
Popeye is a bacterial infection and as far as I can remember its not contagious

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Whats your ammonia reading? If you are cycling your tank with guppys, they could just be sick from ammonia in the tank- its vital to test your tank for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates every day when cycling with fish as these stats can fluctuate alot.
Temperature fluctuations are also bad for fish- the huge drop from 32degrees to 26 could have been enough to kill any of your guppys- when lowering the temp next time, try to do it just 1degree a day max even if the temp is really high, its the large change in temp that is often the worst for fish, as their metabolism is controlled by the temp of the water around them, big fluctuations in temp can be very stressful on their bodys.
I would just do small daily 10-20% water changes with dechlorinator over the following week and see how your guppys go, adding a full dose of meds and salt could be too stressful for the guppys to handle right now- the bulging eyes is a condition often brought on be undesirable enviromental conditions, use a dose of a gentle antibiotic med like Melafix and keep up on regular water changes and it should go .