shaking fish

meikalynnt2001

My swordtail has been shaking up to the side a lot lately. It has been several days. I thought maybe it meant he was going to die but he hasnt. does anyone know why he would be doing this?

he shakes a little throughout the day but at night is when he really starts to shake. he will be swiming and shake to the point where he gets on his side and does it continously.

1077

You provide very little information on your aquarium. What size? how many fish? what temperature is the water ? how often do you change the water ? how much water do you change? What test kit if any is used? what are readings for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? If you don't have a test kit ,maybe you could take a sample of your aquarium water to the fish store and ask them to test it for you. Then you can come back with the answers to the questions above and pehaps there are those who could offer more help.

meikalynnt2001

there are 2 yellow swordtails, 2 zebra danios, 3 pink danios, 1 green danio, 2 yellow danios, 1 guppy, 1 algae eater, 3 glass fish

i change the water 1 time a month between a 50-75 percent water change. i use the stress coat. i also vaccum it at that time.

i tested my water tonight with a test strip and everything was in the safe levels. the only thing i am not sure about is what is the normal ph suppose to be?? mine is the second to last one on the strip. i cant remember off hand what that one is to tell you though.

1077

Were it me, (and it ain't) I would purchase a dechlorinator or water conditioner such as PRIME or AMQUEL+ for treating the new water I added to the tank at water changes. Most experts recommend changing 20 percent of the water in aquariums WEEKLY which is what I would do. I would use the dechlorinator for the new water BEFORE I added it to the tank. I would also try feeding the fish once every two days for a while. Fish will not starve and when I did feed them I would feed no more than I actually SEE the fish eat in approx. one minute. The things I have mentioned will improve the water quality which in turn will result in happier, healthier fish with fewer problems and is what I would do if it were me.I would also purchase a test kit like API freshwater master kit that use drops and test tubes or vials. They are EASY to use and are far more accurate than test strips in my expierience and will allow you to test for ammonia, nitrites,which should be zero and nitrAtes which should be below30 . Water changes of 20 percent WEEKLY will help you get those readings along with not overfeeding. Good Luck

meikalynnt2001

thanks for your advice 1077

veganchick

OMG! the exact same thing happened with my guppies, I had the right amount of declorinater, but I added a little more, and they were fine after that!