purvis6

I have a guppy that is laying on the bottom of the tank. He gets up and swims around a little and eats off of the bottom, but he is not behaving like the rest of them. I have 5 guppies in a 5 gallon tank. All of my water parameters have checked out ok. I don't know the exact numbers because I used a dip with 5 tests on it. A few days ago I checked my ammonia levels and it was a little high and have added something to bring the level down. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have never had guppies before.

nyrmel

I have a guppy as well and he can act very strangly when the lights are out or dim (room light only) he sortof goes to sleep often laying on his side in the gravel for long periods of time. I do not turn off any filters air pumps or anything so there are no changes other than lights are out. When lights come on he "wakes up" after a min or two and tells me it is time for breakfast by nibbling the algea wafer then zooming to the top looking for food then if it isnt there he will repeat wafer to surface until I feed him. I asked around and was told sometimes some fish (guppies)can just do that

__________________
NyrmelNeewbie extrodinary
luvr of things furry, finny, or the color purple
20 gallon planted few dozen mystery snails(bulldozers), 1 molly plethera of guppies Warning I can't spell to save my life, & I tend to ramble... alot Also an avid outdoor ponder with 5 koi, a dozen goldfish and 3 cats and my newest Justice the dog!

cichlidgirl

Ammonia , nitrite and nitrate are best removed by a water change. Is that what you mean or are you saying you just added a chemical treatment for ammonia ? I would recommend you change around half the water on that tank, be sure to dechlorinate you fresh water before adding it back in.(dont dump dechlorinator into the small tank, do it in a seperate container). See if that helps your little guy. you will be suprised at how much better your fish will be if you do a simple water change (take out old and add same amount of fresh) . Do it once a week or even twice a week on such a small tank. A five gallon tank will develop ammonia, and the others much faster than a larger tank because of the limeted water to disperse the wastes in. I would do it right away and see if the fish is better, you might see improvement right away.

__________________
125 gallon hap and peacock tank
72 gallon bow front mbuna tank
70 gallon tall flowerhorn tank
30 gallon long cichlid tank (no residents)
10 gallon hospital tank (no patients)

Jay

Hey Purvis...

Unfortunately, in this hobby we occasionally suffer fish loses. sometimes for no apparent reason.

Cichlidgirl is right on with her advice...

If you are going to keep guppies, IMO I would look into the quality of your GH. Guppies thrive in water rich in mineral salts. Not table salt. Seachem makes a product called live-bearer salt. I use it in my 20 gallon guppy tank with great success.

Jay