This Can't Be Normal

[amoch]

We have two male guppies, a fancy and one that was labeled a tequila sunrise (but he looks like a smaller fancy). We had an ich problem break out a couple weeks ago; but it was only on the guppies. We have been medicating as direted and they look much better now, with only a couple spots left on each. Right before the ich appeared, they were hanging out in the corners of the top of the tank and not eating much. Ron, the bigger one, would just float in front of the filter. It was almost as if he were swimming against the current from the water coming out. Tom, the smaller one, would just hang out it the corner and barely do anything. Once the ich appeared and treatment began, they both began to eat normally again and swim like they used to. They were back to their normal selves. Now a couple days ago when we were feeding them, we noticed that we could literally see through the top of Tom and see his insides. We don't remember ever seeing this before and it is really weird. He doesn't seem to be sick or doing anything out of the ordinary though. We've looked online and haven't been able to find anything like it. Maybe it's just they way he is supposed to be and we never realized? Our ammonia is a little high at 0.25, so I'm hoping a water change might help that; I don't know if that would have been a contributing factor or not. Everything else is fine: pH is 7.6, nitrite is 0, nitrate is 20. Any help or ideas would be great. Thanks.

 

[comocrayfish5]

i have guppies too and you can see inside them from the top. as for the odd behavior, do a water change and i would lowed you pH to about 7- 7.3, 7.6 is a little high which might have caused the weird behavior.

 

[amoch]

Oh good! I was freaking out about it. Glad to know it's a normal thing. I'll have to see what I can do about the pH.

 

[fluttermoth]

Guppies prefer harder, alkaline water, so don't bother trying to mess with the pH (sorry to disagree with you there, comocrayfish).

 

[comocrayfish5]

Guppies prefer harder, alkaline water, so don't bother trying to mess with the pH (sorry to disagree with you there, comocrayfish).

its ok. my guppies are happy with my 7.3 pH and the ph stays around there so i dont pay attention to it that much

 

[amoch]

Well my pH has been 7.6 since we started the tank, so I'm glad I don;t need to mess with that.

 

[OldMan47]

Do nothing about the pH it will just end up getting you in trouble trying to control it. It is simply not necessary. This tank is a mere 10 gallon with a pH of 7.8. I pull a half dozen adults out of it every few months and sell them just to control the population somewhat.