Swordtail Stays At Bottom Of The Tank

I have a orange swordtail that is not looking good he stays at the bottom of the tank .He was bullied by my pineapple swordtail because I think they were going for the same female swordtail , I have 3other females but I added 2 more. It didn't work
My orange swordtail just stays
at the bo/tom and I 'm afraid hes going to die,the pineapple swordtail is huge!
I have a 5 gallon tank with dwarf shrimp in there but we never see them,they are very small.
Help I don't want my swordtail to die and he is very thin now.
My question : can I re-home him in the 5 gallon tank with th he dwarf shrimp? Can't get pic of the orange one he's hiding .
What should I do?

 

You can keep him with the shrimps if you don't mind him eating a few babies every now and then. But, I definitely think you should keep him away from that pineapple.

 

You can keep him with the shrimps if you don't mind him eating a few babies every now and then. But, I definitely think you should keep him away from that pineapple.

Thank you.I I think I'll put hin the 5 gallon tabk I want to keep him alive

 

Okay. Just make sure there is LOTS of plant cover for them to hide in, to reduce the chance of unwanted snacking.

 

Okay. Just make sure there is LOTS of plant cover for them to hide in, to reduce the chance of unwanted snacking.

Big fake plant and 2 houses which the swordtail can't fit in. He's actually starting to swim!

 

Permanently he can't live in the 5 gallon though, swordtails need a bare minimum of 29 gallons, preferably bigger

 

Permanently he can't live in the 5 gallon though, swordtails need a bare minimum of 29 gallons, preferably bigger[/Q
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I have 2 males and 3 females in my 10 gal. and they are fine . Plus 3 shrimp .I have had them since they were babies.

 

Permanently he can't live in the 5 gallon though, swordtails need a bare minimum of 29 gallons, preferably bigger

One can live in a 5 gallon....at least until OP can get a larger tank. Not for the rest of its life of course

 

Swordtails can live in 20 gallons. Very happily. They're only a few inches.

 

Permanently he can't live in the 5 gallon though, swordtails need a bare minimum of 29 gallons, preferably bigger

I disagree with that,sorry but I've had my swordtails since they

Okay. Just make sure there is LOTS of plant cover for them to hide in, to reduce the chance of unwanted snacking.

Since I got that tank with the dwarf shrimp I've never seen 9them, since I put my poor skinny almost dead swordtail in there , he's like a new fish, hes eating hiis food and swimming all over that tank. I saved him. The small house is for any shrimp that might be in there but I don't think there are any left , long before I put the swordtaI I'll in. When he gets big enough I'll put him back in my 10 gallon tank.

 

Permanently he can't live in the 5 gallon though, swordtails need a bare minimum of 29 gallons, preferably bigger

Sorry,, but I disagree , I have a male pineapple swordtail, I have a male swordtail and a female swordtail a panda molly a dalmation molly .I also have my shrimp which all are thriving! My fish and shrimp were all bought when they were babies. I see no signs of them being crowed. I am going to try to post some pics , I absolutely love my shrimp and the fish are not bothered by the shrimp. 2nd pic is the ghost shrimp he has moltrd 3 timess so far. The large shrimp has molted about 5 times , and my last pic is Samson he has molted about 4 times. So they were also very small when I got them. Brutus is the next to the last pic.

One can live in a 5 gallon....at least until OP can get a larger tank. Not for the rest of its life of course

Yes I know that , I'm giving him a chance to get bigger and stronger, them I will put him back in the big tank.

Here's a pic of my swordtail, he looks so much better!

 

Looking good!

 

I'm glad he's doing better! Does your swordtail have a name yet? If not, you could name him Spar or Sword.

 

Thank you ! What do you think of my Huge shrimp??

 

I love bamboos!

 

I'm glad he's doing better! Does your swordtail have a name yet? If not, you could name him Spar or Sword.

I like Spar, so thank you,you named my swordtail Spar! :

I

Swordtails can live in 20 gallons. Very happily. They're only a few inches.

I Am hoping to get a 20 gallon soon!

 

So I just got a pair of red velvet swordtails and a pair of mollys. Wonderfully beautiful fish. They did well when I added them yesterday but now one of the swordtails has decided to just sit on the bottom. He sometimes picks at food that's fallen to the floor but other than that he just sits there. Doesn't swim around. All the other fish are fine and swimming like the spazzes they are. (I think it's male?)





Water levels are fine. I don't necessarily have an ammonia test kit so that's my next goal I'll get them tomorrow but... My female betta developed dropsy and died a few days ago. Could there be a bacterial thing going on in my tank? They had me treat with a parasitic thing claiming dropsy was from parasites but... I have a feeling it was actually bacterial. I don't have a hospital tank and I don't have an aerator of any sort so I'm not sure if I should just treat the whole tank with an anti-bacterial.

Yes. I've done 25% water changes the last few days just to try and make sure the water is clean.

Welp... He passed sometime between this post and now. Found him on his side at the bottom. I don't know what is killing my fish but it's only one of them every time. The rest are fine!

 

You mentioned that you don’t have an ammonia test kit, so how do you know your levels are good?

How long has the tank been set up? Is it cycled?

 

Every other level is fine. I'm not entirely sure if it's cycled but I've had it set up for over a month now, so I assume it is? And I figured if it was ammonia levels, all the other fish of the same breeds would die as well.

 

Their may be a parasite in the water, or maybe just a sickly swordtail

 

Well, one of my Mollys has the shimmies now. I'm pretty sure it could be ammonia at this point. I know they don't do well with it.

But with nitrites and nitrates being 0ppm by my tests I don't really know if there is measurable ammonia in the tank. I've also heard that with both of those being 0ppm it's not cycled? The water is definitely not soft as it reads 120-180 ppm GH and 80-120 ppm KH. Ph is 7.0 ppm.

I didn't manage to get to the store today as my husband had the car all day and I can't send him because he doesn't know his head from his booty about fish stuff so I will get the ammonia test kit tomorrow.

 

I'm sorry about your fish
dropsy can be caused by poor water quality and/or overfeeding. make sure that you don't feed them too much, and maybe even add a fasting day to clear out their systems. if you don't do this already, that is. it sounds like it might be ammonia. to cycle a tank it's important to have a test kit for ammonia, so I have a feeling that this may have to do with new tank syndrome, and quickly adding to the bioload? you said it's been around a month since you first got the tank. it's not a good sign that you don't know if it's cycled, either. I haven't mentioned them yet, but parasites aren't really out of the question. I'm wondering how big your tank is, and if it's filtered?

 

The tank is 20 gallons. I have a filter and biofilter that has been in for quite a few weeks now, And a heater at 78F. I treated the tank for parasites once I discovered the betta with dropsy so I'm not really sure. I could try treating again.

I've noticed one thing and I'm gonna get a gravel vacuum asap because I saw fuzz on old food at the bottom. Which I KNOW is a problem and I wonder if that has something to do with it as well. It needs to be removed asap.
Very well could be new tank syndrome. Any suggestions?

I only feed them tiny amounts 1-2 times per day, so I'll try not feeding them tomorrow. They seem to have an issue getting all the food as I have a 20-40 filter so the flow of water is pretty fast in one area, sucking the food down from the top and straight to the bottom. I do not have funds to go out and buy another filter, however.
Maybe just feeding every other day will encourage them to pick at the food that they missed?

 

I only feed them tiny amounts 1-2 times per day, so I'll try not feeding them tomorrow. They seem to have an issue getting all the food as I have a 20-40 filter so the flow of water is pretty fast in one area, sucking the food down from the top and straight to the bottom. I do not have funds to go out and buy another filter, however.
Maybe just feeding every other day will encourage them to pick at the food that they missed?

yep. those fuzzy bits are rotting food and need to be taken out! your feeding schedule of tiny but frequent meals is good enough as it is. fasting every other day isn't necessary, and only one day a week does fine. fasting them tomorrow and seeing if they end up picking at the remains would be a good idea. be careful, though. make sure it doesn't start rotting and adding even more ammonia. since you don't seem to have any bottom-feeders, you'll have to keep up with vacuuming for food bits. I wouldn't try adding anymore stock, though, until you get your ammonia test kit with the cycle going. in this instance your fish are already producing ammonia, and therefore starting a fish-in cycle. if you want to, using a product like tetra safestart will not instantly cycle your tank, but give it a boost. the bacteria will feed on the ammonia and nitrites in your tank, and therefore lower the toxic parameters, then speed up your cycle.

about the filter.. for bettas it's common for people to DIY a filter baffle to slow the flow of their water. maybe this would work in your case if the filter sucking up the food is a big problem.

 

I should probably mention I have 2 albino corydoras. So I do have bottom feeders. I also use the safestart.

I have 7 guppies, 2 corys, 2 mollys and I did have 2 swordtails until last night. I know the tank is at capacity with all those fish.
Guppies seem to be fine as are the corys and the betta was fine up until 4 days ago. It's the new fish I seem to really be running into problems with. The guppies and corys have been in there for 2+ weeks. I had the tank set up for 2 weeks before adding them as per my instructions from petco.

Sorry if I'm not posting the right info.

 

I should probably mention I have 2 albino corydoras. So I do have bottom feeders. I also use the safestart.

I have 7 guppies, 2 corys, 2 mollys and I did have 2 swordtails until last night. I know the tank is at capacity with all those fish.
Guppies seem to be fine as are the corys and the betta was fine up until 4 days ago. It's the new fish I seem to really be running into problems with. The guppies and corys have been in there for 2+ weeks. I had the tank set up for 2 weeks before adding them as per my instructions from petco.

Sorry if I'm not posting the right info.

all of those fish were probably a huge shock to your parameters, especially since it doesn't seem like it's been cycled.
I'm probably not the best to go to for step by step on the nitrogen cycle; I haven't looked into fish-in cycles if that's your route.

 

It will have to be my route as it's my only tank. I will get the ammonia kit tomorrow and I'll have to order the vacuum off Amazon. I'll look into fish-in cycling. Thank you.

Alright so here's what I did.
Instead of waiting a week to purchase a vacuum I looked up a DIY and made one out of the tubing I normally use to change the water, and a water bottle! I pulled 50% of the water because I'm almost certain my ammonia levels are way too high, and after doing some research on fish-in cycling I decided this would be my best bet.
I also pulled all the fish and stuck them in a temporary 1 gallon glass bowl I had while I did this because I'm so scared of sucking up fish into the tube. I added my safestart, as well as decided it couldn't hurt to treat the tank again for parasites so I added the herbal stuff I have for that.
I disrupted the gravel extensively and used my net to get all the big pieces of food I could find. This isn't perfect but it was better than nothing and I feel something is better than doing nothing. I'll continue to do 25% changes every day with my makeshift vacuum until I start seeing nitrite and nitrate levels... And of course I will get a proper test kit later on today. I'm not sure how much the master kits are but at the very least I'll get strips for now.

 

Best test strips are by Tetra, if you get the 7-in-1 test strips it will also test for Ammonia.

 

Holy. Darn. Ammonia.
I got the API Master test kit. And I'm actually glad I was forced to. (they didn't have all in one test strips and I wasn't about to pay 15 bucks JUST for ammonia strips)
Testing came out to 1.0 ppm! Nitrites at 0.25! Nitrates 0ppm.

I changed 50% of the water because oh my lanta. Oh, and I also found out I was using the wrong TSS+. No one told me to use the GREEN one. I'd been only using the blue one which is just a water conditioner and thinking everything was fine! I bought the bacteria and dumped the whole thing in the tank as if it were a new tank.
Today's test read ammonia at 0.5 ppm and nitrite at 0.5 and nitrate 5.0 ppm. For heaven's sake my fish were dying from poison!
Now my only issue is I can't get my darned airstone to stay at the bottom of my tank. Darn thing keeps coming up.

Oh, and the sick Molly passed away yesterday too before I got home with the stuff for the tank.

 

Holy. Darn. Ammonia.
I got the API Master test kit. And I'm actually glad I was forced to. (they didn't have all in one test strips and I wasn't about to pay 15 bucks JUST for ammonia strips)
Testing came out to 1.0 ppm! Nitrites at 0.25! Nitrates 0ppm.

I changed 50% of the water because oh my lanta. Oh, and I also found out I was using the wrong TSS+. No one told me to use the GREEN one. I'd been only using the blue one which is just a water conditioner and thinking everything was fine! I bought the bacteria and dumped the whole thing in the tank as if it were a new tank.
Today's test read ammonia at 0.5 ppm and nitrite at 0.5 and nitrate 5.0 ppm. For heaven's sake my fish were dying from poison!
Now my only issue is I can't get my darned airstone to stay at the bottom of my tank. Darn thing keeps coming up.

Oh, and the sick Molly passed away yesterday too before I got home with the stuff for the tank.

oh my, so sorry about your molly, but I'm also so so glad that you're getting this issue sorted out! seems like you've got it all under control, now. and yeah, when you're fish shopping be sure to keep real observant and do research about what you're buying.. some companies will twist things to make you buy more. for example, a company says that you should buy more of their filter media to replace every month. that's not true! it could totally ruin your cycle. so, yeah, doing your research and talking to your peers is really worth it!

 

The API kit was the best way to go. It will last years. It’s good that you’re starting to show nitrates. The cycle is happening. Your ammonia and nitrites will go to zero and nitrates will go up a bit. It will take awhile though so continue with the water changes so the fish don’t suffer to much. That’s what makes a fish-in cycle tough on the fish.

 

Yeah any fish that survive this deserve a medal. Lost a guppy this morning. Weird thing is it was spontaneous. Something was sticking out of his mouth though and that hasn't happened with any of the fish so far so I wonder if he had something else wrong with him. It was bizarre.

Ammonia is 0.5 ppm but nitrites spiked to 5.0 ppm. Nitrates read 20 ppm... In 24 hours? Concerning?

 

Ammonia is 0.5 ppm but nitrites spiked to 5.0 ppm. Nitrates read 20 ppm... In 24 hours? Concerning?

If you put tetra safe start in your tank it will give you really wonky readings if I remember right!!!

 

Well it's been 2 days since I added it. I'll be buying more today to add with water changes but I think you're right. I may have read that somewhere but I do know it shouldn't affect ammonia readings unlike seachem prime. As long as ammonia is low it should be okay but nitrites that high even if a wonky reading have me concerned. I'll do a wc today and see what happens. Even 0.5 ppm ammonia is too much for my livebearers. Especially my Molly.

Thoughts on marimo moss balls? I don't want to add actual plants as that's a whole new level of tank keeping to me, but I've heard they're pretty good and even the most inexperienced keeper should be okay with one. I'm sure I could get one from an established tank at petco but idk.

 

yeah! moss balls are great and don't take much to care for.

 

Well it's been 2 days since I added it. I'll be buying more today to add with water changes but I think you're right. I may have read that somewhere but I do know it shouldn't affect ammonia readings unlike seachem prime. As long as ammonia is low it should be okay but nitrites that high even if a wonky reading have me concerned. I'll do a wc today and see what happens. Even 0.5 ppm ammonia is too much for my livebearers. Especially my Molly.

Thoughts on marimo moss balls? I don't want to add actual plants as that's a whole new level of tank keeping to me, but I've heard they're pretty good and even the most inexperienced keeper should be okay with one. I'm sure I could get one from an established tank at petco but idk.

Marimo moss balls are okay to add. Your tank is cycling. Keep doing water changes, keep feed only what they'll eat in a couple of minutes and take a deep breath. Once ammonia and nitrites are zero, you should quit losing fish. Unfortunately, advice from Petco isn't always the best. Just 'running' your tank for a couple weeks doesn't cycle it. You are doing the right stuff now!

 

I added a regular tethered aquatic mossball because it was in their established tank. It was also a bit cheaper than the marimos. I'll still get the others probably because I like them and how they sit on the bottom. Just not today. Got more live bacteria to add a hit during the water change and I'm hoping things start evening out and cycling fully. I'm trying to take a deep breath but dang lol.