Guppy Hanging Out Behind Filter

My male guppy recently started hanging out behind the filter. He'll come out and eat and will usually take a turn around the java moss, but then goes back behind the filter. One of the females started acting odd this morning, just sort of chilling in the corner of the tank. The other female seems to be perfectly fine and the 3-4 fry that the first female had the other day seem to be doing fine as well and growing quickly.

10G tank
Stable temp of 78
pH ~7.2
GH ~200
KH ~80
Amm <.25 (no free ammonia)
Nitrite <.5
Nitrate 40

The tank is almost finished cycling. Almost all the ammonia has been digested and the nitrates spiked and then dropped dramatically yesterday. The nitrate seems to be being soaked up by the plants. I did a 50% water change a little bit ago just to be on the safe side, but I can't think of anything else that might be stressing the fish. None of them seem to have any physical signs of illness, no sores, ragged fins, or anything like that. I fed them a green pea yesterday and they all ate well. The inverts in the tank (3 small snails and 2 ghost shrimp) seem to be doing fine.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

So you're using something like Prime to detoxify the ammonia and nitrites?

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Fish Lore Aquarium Fish Forum mobile app

 

Yep, changing water daily and using Prime to detoxify the nitrite and ammonia.

 

Awesome. Are there any physical changes that you can tell on the male and female that are acting strange?

 

Not really. Both are red-tailed tuxedo strain, while the green leapord spot female is the one that's doing fine. The male had two lighter streaks on either side of his head when I got him, and they look very slightly lighter than they did, but he doesn't otherwise look pale.

 

It does seem odd that your fry are perfectly fine and two of your adults are having difficulties. Are there lots of spaces to hide, etc.? Any bloating?

 

No bloating and I planted the tank two weeks ago so there's a little hide in the driftwood and a log of space under the java moss for them to go.

I'm wondering if it might be an oxygen issue? It seemed like the filter was creating enough surface agitation and the fish didn't really seem to like the current produced by the airstone bar, so I cut it off around the time I planted the tank. I'm wondering if maybe I shouldn't get a smaller one with a valve to control the airflow and see if that might perk them up?

 

Wouldn't hurt! Sorry I wasn't much help.

 

You can actually tie your air tubing in a knot and loosen/tighten it accordingly to restrict flow to an air stone if you think that may be the issue

 

I think that might have taken care of part of the problem, at least. I picked up a couple of small airstones and a gang valve from walmart and put them in the corners of the tank. The two sluggish fish have perked up a little bit, although they're still hanging close to one of the airstone streams, so maybe they'll be feeling better tomorrow.

 

Great! Keep us updated.

 

They seem like they're a little more active after I put in the airstone, but still sort of sluggish. Amm, Nitrite, and Nitrate today are practically nil.

Here's a pic of the male. Sorry, best pic I could get of him with my cell phone. I think he might be just a little bit constipated, so I gave them some green pea earlier instead of flake food. What do you guys think?

 

I'm not really familiar with how guppies are supposed to look but peas certainly couldn't hurt.

 

Yeah he's a little larger than mine were. I would keep doing peas and fasting. Assuming he is still eating. Hope that helps

 

Well, the male died. I'm thinking it must have been nitrite poisoning even though the levels were so low, because I noticed his fin had started to separate a little and he had developed a long white streak around his tail. Looked him over really good and I didn't see anything that looked like columnaris or ich or any other sign of parasite or infection. The female is moving around more at least so maybe she'll make it out of the woods.

I'm starting to think that the red tuxedo strain around here must just be really weak because of the two fish I had die, they were both the same type from the same place and the female that is sick is also of the same type and from the same location. The non tuxedo female and all the fry are active and doing their thing like nothing's wrong.

 

I'm sorry for your loss. I had a similar observation.

 

Could anyone tell me why my female guppy is hiding behind my filter? She's been doing it for the past 2 days on and off?

 

HI and welcome to fishlore!

To give you the most accurate answer, we need a bit more information.
1) could you post a picture?
2) what are your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels (if you know them)
3) how long has the tank been set up, how do you do water changes, and do you use dechlorinator, etc?
4) what tank mates does your guppy have?
5) is she pregnant?
6) have you recently added any new fish, had any fish deaths, or have diseases in the tank?
7) any other information you can think of or is unusual would be helpful

 

Not normal so she's very pregnant, stressed or sick.

 

My tanks been set up for 2 weeks and I bought my fish a week ago, I waited a week for the water to circulate around the tank. I used de-chlorinator also. I've got 3 guppies ( 1 male, 2 female), 3 neon tetras, 2 platys, 2 sucker fish and 1 molly, my other molly died before giving birth yesterday afternoon. I haven't done a water check.

 

So it appears that you don't know about the nitrogen cycle then. You are going to have some work to do then.

The very first thing you need to do is a 60% water change. I suspect there is a build up of toxins in your tank.

Your fish produce waste. This waste builds up as a product called ammonia in your tank. Rotting/old fish food also turns into waste/Ammonia. This will build up in the tank pretty quickly and will injure your fish. So it is very important to do 50% water changes at the very least once a week. In a tank that hasn't had its nitrogen cycle addressed, more like 50% every other day. You need to be sure that you are vacuuming the tank very well. Get the as much waste out of the tank as you can. Move your decorations, get under everything.

Make sure you dechlorinate your water before you add it back into the tank. Do not clean your filter at all. Do not change your filter pad. This is very important. You can rinse it gently in old tank water, but that is about it.

Now onto the nitrogen cycle.

The waste (Ammonia) in your tank is food for good bacteria. This good bacteria will eat the ammonia, which is very toxic, and convert it into a slightly less toxic form called nitrites. Then a second bacteria will eat the nitrites and convert it into an even less toxic form called nitrates. This whole process is called the nitrogen cycle. It takes time and coaching to get your tank to complete the nitrogen cycle.

You will need a good dechlorinator for sure. I always recommend Seachem Prime because it does several things. It dechlorinated the water, and will detoxify ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates in the tank. Protecting your fish. It also adds a stress coat that also protects your fish. The second product you will need is a bottled bacteria. If you are going to use Seachem Prime, the one product I don't usually recommend is Tetra Safe Start. Prime & TSS don't play nice together. I would recommend API quick start, Seachem Stability, or Dr Tim's one & only. They are all great products.

You also will need a way to test your tank water parameters. The kit we use most often here is the API Freshwater Master Test Kit (liquid) if you want to use test strips the API brand is garbage. Highly inaccurate. I just recently heard the Tetra 5 in 1 test strips are pretty accurate, but you will need to buy an additional ammonia test kit. You can get the full API kit on Amazon for $20 and I strongly urge you to get that one.

Once you have all these pieces in place we can help you get your tank cycled. This means that the beneficial bacteria will eat all the ammonia and nitrites in your tank, leaving the tank less toxic. You will have nitrates in your tank, but you can remove those with maintenance water changes. Very easy to manage once you have your good bacteria in place.

Welcome to Fishlore. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you have. I know that it is a lot of information thrown at you all at once. We are all here to help. Again Welcome.

 

Platys * autocorrect

Thank you very much, I'll do it today.

 

My guppy is doing the same thing. I had 3 female guppies a week ago. 1 gave birth - and now I have 7 babies in a separate tank. A day or so after, that guppy died. Then, another died. Now the last one is doing the same thing as the pregnant one that died did....she is leaving "gunk" all over the bottom of the tank. There is a long squiggly thing hanging from her, that is sorta clear, and doesn't look like poop. This is what happened the day my other guppy gave birth. She had a very red spot where the babies come out. She looked fatter yesterday, but not so much today. I'm waiting to see what happens. I have changed the water completely once already, when the babies were born, after I learned they could eat them - I separated them.....I put them in several bowls until I got another tank the next day - and I think moving the adult around too much, may have stressed the others out, and died. The 7 baby guppies are doing well, in a 3 gallon tank - and are eating, and seem a lot healthier than anything I bought at the pet store. From now on - I am only buying MALES!

Here is a picture of what is hanging out of my female guppy. Like I said, the last one that gave birth - had this same thing happen, right before.
Can someone confirm is she is likely pregnant, or not?

This is the "gunk" that is on the bottom, and some was floating on the top yesterday. It is see-through - with a jelly fish like, but shredded appearance. It's like waste....do guppies have like a "pre-birth" material that comes out? The other fish did the same thing, but it happened much faster - all in about 4 hours. This started 2 days ago. You can see the stuff lightly above the gravel in the photo....

Here are the baby guppies, that resulted. They are about 5 days old now. They are on the bottom left of the photo.

 

Here is a picture of what is hanging out of my female guppy. Like I said, the last one that gave birth - had this same thing happen, right before.
Can someone confirm is she is likely pregnant, or not?

Sadly, my guppy died overnight.....I think she miscarried, or maybe the water was not right.

 

Sadly, my guppy died overnight.....I think she miscarried, or maybe the water was not right.

Try making another thread so urs and the OPs don't get intertwined.