New Member and Guppy Concerns

[Noidstradamus]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum and have only been fish keeping for a little over a month. I actually joined this forum bc I have a problem with my fish and need some help.

I have a 10 gallon tank with a few fake plants, two pieces of driftwood, and some moss balls. There are currently 6 adult guppies (2 males, 4 females) and around 8-9 fry. The tank is fully cycled and has been for about 3 weeks. The adult guppies have been in there for 3 weeks and the fry for maybe 2 weeks.

Everything has gone pretty well up until the last couple of days. All 6 adult guppies are exhibiting behavior I can only describe as "terrified of humans." Rewind a week ago, whenever I came anywhere near the tank, they would stack up near the front corner of the tank under the feed hole. Feed me! Feed me! .............NOW, if I come anywhere near the tank, they zoom off to the back corners to hide and speeds that make me scared they are going to hurt themselves. They do their absolute best to move to the opposite side of the tank whenever I try to look at them. While hiding in the corners, they are typically facing upwards with their rear fins angled down. They also seem to have lost their "luster" (color) so to speak. They have NOT lost their appetite tho. If I put food in the tank and walk away, they will eat it. But if I stand too close...zoom back to the corners, even with food in the tank. Also, if I sit down on the other side of the house and watch them, the adults will swim around the tank, albeit a little flighty. They kindof dart about a bit. Lastly, the fry do not exhibit any of this behavior.

I conducted a water test with the API Master test kit and everything is perfect. I called my local fish store, and explained the situation, and they had me treat them for Costia with aquarium salt and Quick Ick. That was 2 days ago and I have not seen any improvement.

I do have a 2 y/o but to my knowledge, she has not been hitting the tank or anything................to my knowledge.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

PS: Apologies, I prob should have posted this elsewhere in the forum. I just read the forum rules.

 

[aqua.land]

Hi! Welcome to the forum!

If they would have been behaving like this from the beginning, I would say that they are just getting used to their surroundings, however at the start everything was fine. This is also very strange because guppies are schooling fish (I think) and the behaviour that you described is normally shown by non-schooling fish...

Many fish don't like bright shirts....(but I doubt that you always wear a bright red shirt...)
Maybe the room is brighter than the tank...I'm not 100% sure how this affects the fishes friendliness but I read it somewhere.
Maybe try to feed the fish but not go away, stand at a distance (or sit) until they come out, then, every time you feed them slowly move a bit closer....and closer.. soon they may get used to you. If they don't come out when you are even far from the tank, then maybe move back even further.
Here are some links that may help.
Coaxing your fish out of hiding spots
How to calm stressed fish

I hope this helps

 

[Retired Viking]

You may want to try dimming your lights in the tank or turn them off and leave only room lights on. Loss of color maybe a sign of stress. I have guppies too and have not experience this. Is the room normally quiet ? if so turn on a tv or radio so there is noise during the day.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Welcome to the forum! Could you post pictures of the fish? And what are your exact test readings?

 

[Noidstradamus]

Welcome to the forum! Could you post pictures of the fish? And what are your exact test readings?

My exact readings are as follows:
pH: 7.2
Temp: 76
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

I have attached 3 pictures as requested.

They are SLIGHTLY less flighty today. I was able to get a bit closer to the tank without them hiding, but as you can see, they are still cornering themselves.

 

[Naughts]

Cute fry! I agree that dimming the lights may calm them. Also adding a background (black paper/binbag) will help.
Keep an eye out for ammonia, the readings show an uncycled tank. If bacteria were processing ammonia there would be nitrates. You are probably going to need water changes to keep the water safe.

 

[Retired Viking]

I agree with @Naughts a back ground would also help too , you may want to add some fast growing floating plants like water sprite, hornwort or anacharis to help absorb the ammonia. These types of plants take what they need from the water and also help improve your water quality. They would give your guppies additional places to hide which may also help with the stress. You can just "plant " them in your gravel or let them float. The moss balls will help with excess nitrates, they are actually a form of algae. I have several in 3 of my tanks.

 

[Noidstradamus]

Copy all. My nitrate reading might be that low bc I had done a water change 3 days prior to the test. The time before last when I tested the water, nitrate was about 10ppm. And ammonia and Nitrite were 0.

I will def get a background. Does anyone have any ideas on how to dim the lights? They are built in LEDs in a Marina 10g and only have 1 setting. Tint film maybe? Plastidip? Those were a couple ideas I thought of.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Copy all. My nitrate reading might be that low bc I had done a water change 3 days prior to the test. The time before last when I tested the water, nitrate was about 10ppm. And ammonia and Nitrite were 0.

I will def get a background. Does anyone have any ideas on how to dim the lights? They are built in LEDs in a Marina 10g and only have 1 setting. Tint film maybe? Plastidip? Those were a couple ideas I thought of.

Try getting some floating plants. These will provide shade and be very beneficial to your tank. The fish will also feel more secure as well. You wont even have to mess with the lights

 

[Noidstradamus]

Try getting some floating plants. These will provide shade and be very beneficial to your tank. The fish will also feel more secure as well. You wont even have to mess with the lights

How do y'all maintain an optimal guppy pH with live plants? Bc the pH buffers say not to use them with live plants.

 

[Retired Viking]

Why are you using ph buffers? Guppies can handle a wide range of water conditions compared to other fish.

 

[Noidstradamus]

I read they did the best in 7.5 - 8. My fish store guy echoed that as well. Is that not true?

 

[Retired Viking]

I think it is more like 6.8-7.6 but GH is far more important and ph is only a major factor if it becomes unstable and make big moves up or down.

 

[Essjay]

You need the hardness of your water. Look on your water provider's website for hardness. You need a number and the unit of measurement rather than some vague words.

GH (hardness) is important as fish have evolved to live in water with a certain amount of calcium and magnesium. If they are kept in water with significantly different levels, they won't do well.

My fish store guy echoed that as well.

One of the lessons we all had to learn is that fish store advice cannot be trusted. So many of them talk rubbish.

 

[Mrs Pancakes]

It doesn't sound or look like your tank has adequately cycled. The reason I say this is because you said you have only had the tank a little over a month, and your readings indicate a non-cycled tank. You can do all the water changes you like, and your Nitrates will never be zero in a fully cycled tank. Follow the advice of getting a background, and turning off the lights. In addition, I would dose with API Stress coat and API Stress Zyme (cheapest on Amazon), and add two rounded tablespoons of Aquarium salt (Must be Aquarium salt, not table salt). Give it 48 hours, test the water parameters with an API master kit, and do a 50% water change with another dose of stress coat/zyme. Continue until you have Nitrates showing up at the very least of 5ppm and DO NOT Touch your filter for at least two months. Good luck!