desilu77

Hey Everyone,

I have had a 8-gallon BiOrb tank set up for about three to four weeks now. It holds two platys, three tetras, and two ghost shrimp -- all of which are small enough so that the tank is definitely not overcrowded. All the chemical levels are just about normal, the ammonia level is in the "stressed" range but I figure that's because the nitrogen cycle hasn't fully completed yet.

I am concerned about my fish, however, because the two platys (both of which are male, if that has any significance in this case) have been displaying odd behavior, but none of the common fish diseases I have read about so far have described what they are doing:

- Both of them frequently and frantically swim up and down the side of the aquarium for an extended period of time, as if they are trying to escape or get out of the tank.
- They also seem to go up to the top of the tank to get air, but only very rarely (once a day, if even that). This is the only possible sign of ammonia poisoning that I have seen.
- They occasionally will chase each other around the tank, but it doesn't seem to be aggressive at all and no physical signs of "violence" between the two can be seen.

Perhaps what is confusing me the most is that the three tetras show absolutely no sign of any stress. They seem to be acting perfectly normal, especially compared to the two platys. I already did a 30% water change a week ago and added conditioners just in case this was ammonia poisoning, but their behavior did not seem to change. I have looked through as many fish disease descriptions as I can find, but they all seem to have primary symptoms that include lethargy and/or physical damage (either of which the platys have).

Any ideas about what's troubling the platys? Or am I just overreacting because I'm new to this hobby?

Thanks!

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!
when you cycle with fish, you have to do daily partial water changes to keep them alive....if you can find some prime, that will detox the ammonia/nitrites for 24 hours until your next water change...each fish handles ammonia differently and they have a high likely hood of dieing without the water changes as well, bioorbs dont offer the swim space needed for the type of fish you have..and im sure thats stressful added to the cycling process....good luck!

pepetj

Hi Desilu. Welcome to Fishlore.

As for taking care of ammonia, consider doing daily partial water changes with treated tap water. There are several brands that aid handling ammonia so your fish won't suffer.

As for the odd swimming, I would blame the geometry of your tank. It is a topic of debate, still makes sense to me, that bowls and hexagonal tanks, as well as too narrow-too tall tanks, disrupt fish spatial orientation. Some fish seem more prone to suffer this than others.

Also some livebeares males to coexist require a significant number (say four or five) so a hierarchy is formed. That I know applies to Swordtails (I found the hard way, loosing one beautiful green Swordtail male) but not sure about Platies (if two males share a tank, one will most likely than not kill or harass the other).

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

ynaggo

In my experience, Live bearers swim on the side of the tank because of the algae, sometimes they like eating algae of the glass.

desilu77

Hey Everyone,

I just set up an 8-gallon BiOrb tank around 3 weeks ago. Currently, it houses two platys and three tetras. All the chemical levels are normal.

When I first bought the tank, the fish store told me that all the fish were male (because I didn't want any breeding going on this early). At the beginning, all the fish swam along peacefully, but lately (within the last two days) they seem to be chasing each other around the tank almost constantly. This would seem normal to be if 1) there were females in the tank or 2) if there was some sign of "physical violence" between the fish, but neither of those conditions exist. What's most interesting is that this didn't happened at all until just two or three days ago.

Any ideas about what's up with my fish? Is it possible that either the fish store was wrong about the gender of the fish or that the larger fish are mistaking the (slightly) smaller ones for females?

Thanks!

desilu77

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm just going to keep doing a partial water change every other day and adding AmmoLock as directed. Hopefully it works.

aquarist48

Hello Desilu77. Ammonia poisoning affects different fish in different ways at different times. A very good idea to keep up with your water changes and AmmoLock until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and under 20 nitrates. Once you are out of AmmoLock I would recommend Prime or Amquel +. These two chemicals not only detox ammonia but nitrites and nitrates as well. I don't believe AmmoLock takes care of anything but ammonia, chlorine and chloramine.

Best of luck. I hope your fish do well. If you have any questions by all means let us know.
Ken

Hello Desilu. It it's possible can post a photo of the Platy's? I'm sure some of our members can help to sex them for you.
Ken

iloveengl

Hmmm, I can't think of any reason for them to start this all of a sudden. Weird. Side view pictures would help for identifying the sex. If it's a m/f thing then that would make more sense. Still kinda odd to just spring up after three weeks. Not sure why they platys would've waited so long to get down to business if they are m/f.

Good luck! This is quite the mystery to me....

aquarist48

Hello Desilu77. I have merged your two threads since we are dealing with the same tank and same fish. I think it will be a lot less confusing to other members. I think once you have your ammonia issues resolved you'll see a big difference in the behavior of your fish.
Ken

peacemaker92

Just wanna Welcome to Fishlore!

Great info and advice above. Hope everything gets better soon. Good luck!

Shawnie

ammo lock wont do anything for nitrites which can kill the fish also
id up to daily partial changes