Guppy staying still by filter/top of tank

Hi Fishlore friends,

I have a cycled 5-gallon planted tank that has two male guppies and one mystery snail right now. Last night and this morning my mystery snail was floating around. He has stopped and is now clung onto the side right by the filter output. Additionally, one of my male guppies is hanging out right next to him. His fins are moving and he is staying pretty still right at the top of the tank, in the back by the filter. I have tried my best to inspect him for disease and don't see anything noticeable. No film on his skin, fins and scales look pretty normal. I find it hard to tell if a guppy is bloated, but he doesn't seem to be. Tested the water this morning and it is: Ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrates <10 ppm, Nirities 0 ppm. The ph is a bit higher than normal, reading 7.6 or above (highest color on chart), the tank is usually around 7. I have one airstone and an extra small sponge air pump filter (for setting up a QT if needed for quick cycling) that also has air/bubbles.

I cannot figure out what might be bugging him. The other guppy is acting maybe a little less active than normal, but not as still or hanging out at the top like his friend.

 

Welcome to Fishlore

My standard answer is always going to be "'when we see something off reach for the water changing equipment". How often do you do water changes? How much do you change each time?

Is this the first time you have seen your pH spike so far above its normal? What is the pH of your tap water? To get a true reading set a glass aside for 24 hours and run the pH test on it. For some the pH drops, for others it rises. That number will be your true pH level.

How long has this tank been up and running?

 

We've been doing water changes very often, at least once a week, about 25%. I was having issues with cycling so I was doing larger ones (25-50%) every other day, and then now it is cycled and we've gone down to about once a week. The tanks just seems a bit... dirty, so I've been trying to syphon things off the bottom at least once a week if not more.
This is the first time I've seen higher ph in the tank. It's been cycled for about two weeks, running for over two months.

 

Welcome!

I've found that snails like to float around sometimes; they can control their own buoyancy and if they're small enough can position themselves shell-down to eat algae from the water surface, which I think is nifty!
I don't have a lot of experience with guppies, but I'd suggest doing a water change and keeping an eye on things for a while. Is he in front of the water output, in the stream, or away from it? If he's in a fairly still part of the tank he might be looking for more cover, and adding something like decor or more plants for them to hide in if the waterflow is too harsh. Conversely, moving things to give more active waterflow if he's hanging out in a faster area.

Good luck!
-Inky

 

I agree with mattgirl. The fish are used to frequent water changes, now they are dealing with different water conditions which may cause stress. I would return to cycle waterchange frequency, see if this resolves your situation, and very slowly stretch to a more normal regimen, all with an eye on water parameter.

 

We've been doing water changes very often, at least once a week, about 25%. I was having issues with cycling so I was doing larger ones (25-50%) every other day, and then now it is cycled and we've gone down to about once a week. The tanks just seems a bit... dirty, so I've been trying to syphon things off the bottom at least once a week if not more.
This is the first time I've seen higher ph in the tank. It's been cycled for about two weeks, running for over two months.

In a tank this small I would be changing out at least half the water each week. Mystery snails are heavy waste producers thus the reason for the bigger water changes. Well that and fresh clean water is the best thing we can give our water pets. I actually change out more than that each week in my 5.5 gallon tank since i have a mystery snail and rabbit snails in it.

If it is the water looking kinda dirty try running some poly-fill in your filter. I keep a big bag of it on hand to run in my filters. It really helps polish the water.

 

Welcome!

I've found that snails like to float around sometimes; they can control their own buoyancy and if they're small enough can position themselves shell-down to eat algae from the water surface, which I think is nifty!
I don't have a lot of experience with guppies, but I'd suggest doing a water change and keeping an eye on things for a while. Is he in front of the water output, in the stream, or away from it? If he's in a fairly still part of the tank he might be looking for more cover, and adding something like decor or more plants for them to hide in if the waterflow is too harsh. Conversely, moving things to give more active waterflow if he's hanging out in a faster area.

Good luck!
-Inky

I read that about snails too and so I'm guessing that is pretty normal!
Our filter is a little weird as its in the back of the tank, completely concealed by a wall. So he is hanging out both by the input and the output of it, where there is flow. We have many plants in the tank and a cave and driftwood for them to hide in, so I'm not sure if cover is an issue.

In a tank this small I would be changing out at least half the water each week. Mystery snails are heavy waste producers thus the reason for the bigger water changes. Well that and fresh clean water is the best thing we can give our water pets. I actually change out more than that each week in my 5.5 gallon tank since i have a mystery snail and rabbit snails in it.

If it is the water looking kinda dirty try running some poly-fill in your filter. I keep a big bag of it on hand to run in my filters. It really helps polish the water.

I'm heating my prepped water change water now so I'll do a water change later today when it is warm. Thank you for the advice about general routine, I'll shoot for two a week now. I will try the poly-fill as well, an suggestions on what brand/kind?

 

I'm heating my prepped water change water now so I'll do a water change later today when it is warm. Thank you for the advice about general routine, I'll shoot for two a week now. I will try the poly-fill as well, an suggestions on what brand/kind?

I am not sure of the brand I buy. You do want pure polyester not cotton. You want to make sure is isn't listed as having a fire retardant added to it. I get mine in the fabric department at Wal-Mart. It is normally used to stuff pillows or stuffed toys but works perfectly for polishing the water in our tanks. I don;t know how you will situate in the built in filter but I am sure you will find a way.

Since I don't depend on it for bio-media I just replace it as needed. Normally a couple of times a week. I have plecos and they are heavy waste producers. You may not need to replace as often. Some folks rinse and reuse but since it is so inexpensive I just replace.

I do rinse it before tossing it though. I use the water it is rinsed in to water my house plants. Fish tank water is great for plants. I no longer use miracle grow

I am curious as to what you do to prep your water. Are you using RO water?

 

I am not sure of the brand I buy. You do want pure polyester not cotton. You want to make sure is isn't listed as having a fire retardant added to it. I get mine in the fabric department at Wal-Mart. It is normally used to stuff pillows or stuffed toys but works perfectly for polishing the water in our tanks. I don;t know how you will situate in the built in filter but I am sure you will find a way.

Since I don't depend on it for bio-media I just replace it as needed. Normally a couple of times a week. I have plecos and they are heavy waste producers. You may not need to replace as often. Some folks rinse and reuse but since it is so inexpensive I just replace.

I do rinse it before tossing it though. I use the water it is rinsed in to water my house plants. Fish tank water is great for plants. I no longer use miracle grow

I am curious as to what you do to prep your water. Are you using RO water?

Gotchya! Thank you so much for that info. As for prep, I have been using API Water Conditioner, but have decided to switch to Seachem Prime for my next bucket of water. I am not using RO water.

 

Gotcha, I thought maybe you were since you were having to heat your water. Thankfully most water conditioners work almost instantly. I still do my water changes with buckets. I fill the bucket with temp matched water. I add the conditioners as the bucket fills and by the time it is full it is temp matched, conditioned and ready to pour in the tank. Much easier than trying to heat the water later.

 

Hi Fishlore friends,

I have a cycled 5-gallon planted tank that has two male guppies and one mystery snail right now. Last night and this morning my mystery snail was floating around. He has stopped and is now clung onto the side right by the filter output. Additionally, one of my male guppies is hanging out right next to him. His fins are moving and he is staying pretty still right at the top of the tank, in the back by the filter. I have tried my best to inspect him for disease and don't see anything noticeable. No film on his skin, fins and scales look pretty normal. I find it hard to tell if a guppy is bloated, but he doesn't seem to be. Tested the water this morning and it is: Ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrates <10 ppm, Nirities 0 ppm. The ph is a bit higher than normal, reading 7.6 or above (highest color on chart), the tank is usually around 7. I have one airstone and an extra small sponge air pump filter (for setting up a QT if needed for quick cycling) that also has air/bubbles.

I cannot figure out what might be bugging him. The other guppy is acting maybe a little less active than normal, but not as still or hanging out at the top like his friend.

guppies have moods for sure, and if you change tank look or do a big water change they may hide. guppies like to hide by top if possible. After quarantine I put a group of purple guppies in my 55gal tank recently and they all sat by the top behind filter for a few days until felt comfortable.

how long have these two guppies been together?

that is also a fairly small tank (but not bad for 2 guppies) and if one male if very dominate the other may be hiding from him. just a thought.

guppies like hard water i have 440ppm tds 12gh 7kh and 8ph. although a fast swing from 7ph to high seven may stress them.

have you ever sat tap water out for 24hrs and tested the ph on that to get true ph of your tap water?

 

guppies have moods for sure, and if you change tank look or do a big water change they may hide. guppies like to hide by top if possible. After quarantine I put a group of purple guppies in my 55gal tank recently and they all sat by the top behind filter for a few days until felt comfortable.

how long have these two guppies been together?

that is also a fairly small tank (but not bad for 2 guppies) and if one male if very dominate the other may be hiding from him. just a thought.

guppies like hard water i have 440ppm tds 12gh 7kh and 8ph. although a fast swing from 7ph to high seven may stress them.

have you ever sat tap water out for 24hrs and tested the ph on that to get true ph of your tap water?

the guppies have been together since I got them on December 8th.
The general hardness (according to a test strip so) is at 120-180 ppm. Kh is <40 ppm. In my op I mentioned that our ph has suddenly increased. It’s usually around 7, and right now it is reading above 7.6. We added driftwood today.
when we got them we had a third guppy that died after a week (guessing from bad water qualities, we were new and stupid and hadn’t cycled the tank fully). These two have been pretty active together, some chasing and such. Since we lost the third I’ve paying close attention to their behavior to watch for bullying. They don’t nip at fins or anything and he’s never been stressed about them together before.

 

the guppies have been together since I got them on December 8th.
The general hardness (according to a test strip so) is at 120-180 ppm. Kh is <40 ppm. In my op I mentioned that our ph has suddenly increased. It’s usually around 7, and right now it is reading above 7.6. We added driftwood today.
when we got them we had a third guppy that died after a week (guessing from bad water qualities, we were new and stupid and hadn’t cycled the tank fully). These two have been pretty active together, some chasing and such. Since we lost the third I’ve paying close attention to their behavior to watch for bullying. They don’t nip at fins or anything and he’s never been stressed about them together before.

with a KH of less that 40ppm puts you under 2degrees and that is already low and high kh helps keep ph stable so a low KH leads to possible ph swings. AND depending on the type of driftwood it will release tanning witch can slightly lower kh and ph. with your KH being so low i wonder if the driftwood made KH crash and ph to swing heavily. not expert in this area but a thought. i have lots of driftwood in my tanks but my KH is triple yours.

also livebearing fish love hard water so i wonder what your TDS is. with low GH and KH

 

with a KH of less that 40ppm puts you under 2degrees and that is already low and high kh helps keep ph stable so a low KH leads to possible ph swings. AND depending on the type of driftwood it will release tanning witch can slightly lower kh and ph. with your KH being so low i wonder if the driftwood made KH crash and ph to swing heavily. not expert in this area but a thought. i have lots of driftwood in my tanks but my KH is triple yours.

also livebearing fish love hard water so i wonder what your TDS is. with low GH and KH

We just added the driftwood today, and the parameters from this morning and just now when I tested are the same, so the driftwood hasn’t affected anything yet. I’ve been confused on why the hardness is low with a higher ph, and I’m not sure how to raise it without raising the ph. So many thoughts and I don’t know what to do for the dudes.

 

We just added the driftwood today, and the parameters from this morning and just now when I tested are the same, so the driftwood hasn’t affected anything yet. I’ve been confused on why the hardness is low with a higher ph, and I’m not sure how to raise it without raising the ph. So many thoughts and I don’t know what to do for the dudes.

I would just keep eye on parameters and personally would let tap sit 24hrs and test to see tap true ph. do a few %50 water changes each day over next few days and see if ph stabilizes

 

the guppies have been together since I got them on December 8th.
The general hardness (according to a test strip so) is at 120-180 ppm. Kh is <40 ppm. In my op I mentioned that our ph has suddenly increased. It’s usually around 7, and right now it is reading above 7.6. We added driftwood today.
when we got them we had a third guppy that died after a week (guessing from bad water qualities, we were new and stupid and hadn’t cycled the tank fully). These two have been pretty active together, some chasing and such. Since we lost the third I’ve paying close attention to their behavior to watch for bullying. They don’t nip at fins or anything and he’s never been stressed about them together before.

lol the exact thing happened to me, I got 3 males for my 5.5 gallon and one died within a month due to ich. The other 2 survived and are perfectly happy!

 

So the fi

Hi Fishlore friends,

I have a cycled 5-gallon planted tank that has two male guppies and one mystery snail right now. Last night and this morning my mystery snail was floating around. He has stopped and is now clung onto the side right by the filter output. Additionally, one of my male guppies is hanging out right next to him. His fins are moving and he is staying pretty still right at the top of the tank, in the back by the filter. I have tried my best to inspect him for disease and don't see anything noticeable. No film on his skin, fins and scales look pretty normal. I find it hard to tell if a guppy is bloated, but he doesn't seem to be. Tested the water this morning and it is: Ammonia 0 ppm, Nitrates <10 ppm, Nirities 0 ppm. The ph is a bit higher than normal, reading 7.6 or above (highest color on chart), the tank is usually around 7. I have one airstone and an extra small sponge air pump filter (for setting up a QT if needed for quick cycling) that also has air/bubbles.

I cannot figure out what might be bugging him. The other guppy is acting maybe a little less active than normal, but not as still or hanging out at the top like his friend.

So the guppy, Nixon, and the snail, Marcus have both died. I really am not sure why. Like I described, Nixon didn't look sick physically, just acting that way. He died last night along with Marcus. The ph still hasn't gone down/ I haven't been able to stabilize it. I didn't want to add any harsh chemicals like ph down to it while they were sick, tried some peat moss but it hasn't helped yet.

My other guppy, Chris, is all alone now. So we will be going to get him some guppy friends and possibly another snail.

Anyone have any other advice on getting the ph down, and hardness up? the GH and KH are weirdly low while the ph is high.

Thank you all for the advice as well.