Swordtail is sick?

[FishLover97]

I know something is wrong with my swordtail but I don’t know what is up. One week ago I cleaned their tank as I usually do. A couple days after that I noticed the swordtail was hanging on on the bottom of the tank, which was abnormal because he usually sleeps in the middle of the tank. He did that for a couple days and then started opening and closing his mouth all the time. Next day he was hanging out at the surface doing that and that’s when I knew he needed help because I’ve had another die after doing that. I tested the water and it was a bit high for pH and GH and KH were high as they always are (still technically within range just at the max they can be). I swapped out part of the water for distilled water two days in a row. I added a bubbler and it helped him for a little while but he was back up to the top again the next day. pH is reading somewhere between 7.5 and 8 which I know is still on the high side but I don’t know what to do to get it down. Yesterday I tested the ammonia and it was 0 but just in case something was wrong I cleaned the tank again anyway. I’ve added some beneficial bacteria stuff that I bought at the store. Nitrites and nitrates are reading zero. I just don’t know what to do for him. All the other fish in the tank are healthy and normal. I’ve had these fish for at least four months and I haven’t changed anything that I’ve been doing and they’ve been fine this whole time so I’m not sure what’s going on now. Anyway sorry for the long message I’ve just been trying everything and googling like crazy!

Edit: nitrates are a bit above zero with my last test. Those tests are so hard to read

 

[Salty&Onion]

0 Nitrates is an indicator that your tank is not cycled. Simple. The bacteria stuff are false, it is beter to do a cycle than putting stuff to water and then have problems with fish health. I would recommend you doing 50% today and then do one 50% every two days and test water parameters, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and ignore rest.

 

[Essjay]

Swordtails are hard water fish so they need a high GH. Their preferred range is 179 to 447 ppm or 10 to 25 dH, with a pH range of 7.0 to 8.0. For swordtails, you don't need to use distilled water.

What other fish are in the tank?

 

[Salty&Onion]

Swordtails are hard water fish so they need a high GH. Their preferred range is 179 to 447 ppm or 10 to 25 dH, with a pH range of 7.0 to 8.0. For swordtails, you don't need to use distilled water.

What other fish are in the tank?

Agreed. How long have you had the fish and for how long has the tank been set up?

 

[FishLover97]

Swordtails are hard water fish so they need a high GH. Their preferred range is 179 to 447 ppm or 10 to 25 dH, with a pH range of 7.0 to 8.0. For swordtails, you don't need to use distilled water.

What other fish are in the tank?

Thanks for fast reply! The GH was reading 180 but that was the highest that the test would go so it may be higher and I wouldn’t know. The pH was somewhere between 7.5 to 8 last test. The tests are so hard to tell what the colour is. I don’t usually use distilled water, I just read that it can tone down the KH which had been really high. I also have a platy, three tetras and a danio.

 

[FishLover97]

Agreed. How long have you had the fish and for how long has the tank been set up?

I’ve had these fish for 4-5 months. Tank was set up before I got them because the first batch of fish I had died with an incident with a slow food feeder (I won’t ever use that again!) I haven’t changed anything and this is the first time that one of the fish has acted up

 

[FishLover97]

0 Nitrates is an indicator that your tank is not cycled. Simple. The bacteria stuff are false, it is beter to do a cycle than putting stuff to water and then have problems with fish health. I would recommend you doing 50% today and then do one 50% every two days and test water parameters, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and ignore rest.

Thanks for replying. I just did a test and nitrates are slightly above zero. The tests are really hard to read but it does look like it is slightly pink. I will try doing a water change. I had been worried that it was something wrong with our tap water since I’ve started acting weird after I cleaned the tank

 

[FishkeeperLinz]

The tank should be cycled after 4-5 months. Nitrate tests have to be carried out to the letter. If your arm's not aching, you're probably not shaking one of the bottles hard enough. .

Do you use dechlorinator during water changes?

Thanks for fast reply! The GH was reading 180 but that was the highest that the test would go so it may be higher and I wouldn’t know. The pH was somewhere between 7.5 to 8 last test. The tests are so hard to tell what the colour is. I don’t usually use distilled water, I just read that it can tone down the KH which had been really high. I also have a platy, three tetras and a danio.

Tetras are software fish, so are danios, if I remember correctly. Plus they need to be in shoals of 6, or more. Each.

Apologies if you've already answered this, but what's the temperature of the tank?

 

[Essjay]

Are you using strips or liquid testers?

Platies and swordtails are hard water fish, tetras and danios are soft water fish. One or other group won't be happy.


If it was something wrong with the water, I would expect the other fish to show signs.

 

[FishLover97]

The tank should be cycled after 4-5 months. Nitrate tests have to be carried out to the letter. If your arm's not aching, you're probably not shaking one of the bottles hard enough. .

Do you use dechlorinator during water changes?



Tetras are software fish, so are danios, if I remember correctly. Plus they need to be in shoals of 6, or more. Each.

Apologies if you've already answered this, but what's the temperature of the tank?

Thanks for replying. I don’t use dechlorinator because I am on well water at home here, so there isn’t any chlorine in the water. The pet store when I bought the fish told me that they would be fine with just three and didn’t mention anything about the danio. I’m going to try and at least get him one friend when quarantine is over. Unfortunately my tank is pretty full as it is so I couldn’t really get any more. The tetras and danio are doing fine though, they’re active and healthy as usual. The temperature hovers around 78-80 Fahrenheit.

 

[FishLover97]

Are you using strips or liquid testers?

Platies and swordtails are hard water fish, tetras and danios are soft water fish. One or other group won't be happy.


If it was something wrong with the water, I would expect the other fish to show signs.

Thanks for reply. I’m using a 5-in-1 test strip. I also agree that it is weird the other fish aren’t showing signs if something was wrong with the water. Although on the high side for hardness the tetras and danio are the same as they’ve always been. I thought the swordtail was reacting to the hardness because I just moved back home where the water is harder than I had been using, but from what it sounds like, he shouldn’t be the one having an issue with it! It makes me worry that he has something more on the lines of a disease since he’s the only one acting up.

 

[Colin_T]

High GH and pH did not cause this.

Nitrates can be at 0 in an established tank if there are lots of plants and you do regular water changes.

Have you tested the well water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, phosphate and anything else you can think of?

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Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
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[FishLover97]

High GH and pH did not cause this.

Nitrates can be at 0 in an established tank if there are lots of plants and you do regular water changes.

Have you tested the well water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, phosphate and anything else you can think of?

-------------------
Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

I’ve tested for nitrite, nitrate, ph, KH, GH and ammonia, all have been within range for a tropical fish community. I got a couple short videos of what he’s been doing. The other thing he’s doing is sitting on the bottom of the tank. Not on his side, or his nose or anything, just horizontal with belly on bottom of tank. He’s never slept like that before until this started happening. He won’t do it for me to take a picture but if I catch a picture I’ll add it. Sorry for bad video quality, it’s what happened when I uploaded them, but you can kinda see his little mouth moving like he’s gasping.

 

[Colin_T]

He's definitely breathing heavily and looks like he has pop-eye (inflamed/ enlarged eyeball).

The heavy breathing would suggest poisoning or gill damage, especially since this started just after a water change.

You need to get the well water checked by a water testing company to see if it is safe for fish and people. Until then I would add a bit of salt and hope for the best. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep the salt in the for 2 weeks then water change it out.
If you do a water change while using salt, add salt to the new water before adding it to the tank.

Well water and tap water should be aerated for at least 30 minutes before using it in an aquarium containing fish. Well water can be stagnant and contain no oxygen and this can cause problems to the fish. Aerating it for 30 minutes before using it will get the dissolved gasses back to their normal levels.

 

[FishLover97]

He's definitely breathing heavily and looks like he has pop-eye (inflamed/ enlarged eyeball).

The heavy breathing would suggest poisoning or gill damage, especially since this started just after a water change.

You need to get the well water checked by a water testing company to see if it is safe for fish and people. Until then I would add a bit of salt and hope for the best. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep the salt in the for 2 weeks then water change it out.
If you do a water change while using salt, add salt to the new water before adding it to the tank.

Well water and tap water should be aerated for at least 30 minutes before using it in an aquarium containing fish. Well water can be stagnant and contain no oxygen and this can cause problems to the fish. Aerating it for 30 minutes before using it will get the dissolved gasses back to their normal levels.

thank you for the advice. I had never had a problem before so I didn’t know that the water should be aerated before but I’ll do that for future water changes. As for adding salt, would I have to quarantine him? I’ve heard that tetras can’t handle any salt and I have some in the tank with him. I’m worried that quarantining him would cause him stress. Is there any medication I could get to help him? Would it help to get some store bought water and do a few partial water changes with that?