Crazy acrobatic guppy!

[asincero]

One of the guppies I bought the other day appears to be acting rather strangely. Since I'm new to all of this, I can't be sure if this is normal guppy behavior. But since the other guppies don't behave like this, I'm assuming it's abnormal.

Basically, she's constantly twirling about. Like, doing corkscew swimming manuevers, and doing loops. At first I thought it was kind of cool and I figured she was doing that to keep herself amused. But I've noticed she's *always* doing that. Non-stop, 24/7. I'm thinking this can't be good. She has to stop to eat every once in while, no?

Is this fish sick? Is she gonna die? I've already lost a male :(. I don't know what happened to him. I found him swimming motionless in the corner this morning. I even stuck my finger in there and touched him and he didn't run away. I figured "cool ... a tame guppy". Then about an hour later he was swimming belly up. Hopefully he managed to knock up one of the other females before he kicked the bucket?? Doubtful. It's only been a day.

[monkey_toes]

Is this fish sick?
Yes. Could be a swim-badder problem if she can't swim straight.

Is she gonna die?
Probably.

Hopefully he managed to knock up one of the other females before he kicked the bucket?
It's highly unlikely to find a female guppy that is not pregnant if they've been kept in a mixed-sex setting for more than an hour.

Guppies are pretty hardy. Losing two in such a short time points to larger problems. Were there dead fish in the store's tank? What are your water parameters?

[asincero]

Yes. Could be a swim-badder problem if she can't swim straight.

Probably.

It's highly unlikely to find a female guppy that is not pregnant if they've been kept in a mixed-sex setting for more than an hour.

Guppies are pretty hardy. Losing two in such a short time points to larger problems. Were there dead fish in the store's tank? What are your water parameters?

Well ... I found her floating belly up this morning. R.I.P. little guppy :(.

The last I checked, which was two days ago, ammonia and nitrite were at 0. I didn't check nitrates though. I can't remember exactly what the Ph was, but I do remember thinking to myself "this reading seems to be in the right range", so I believe the Ph was good. Water temperature is around 78 degrees F. I'll check again tonight after work.

There weren't any dead fish in the tank I bought them from.

I can't explain why the male died. However, I did notice that he was fairly undersized compared to the other male and the females. Maybe he was a dud right off the bat?

And the acrobatic female was like that the moment I dropped her in my tank. I think she was always sick. I didn't pick her out or anything. I just told the person at the fish store to grab any.

I hope there's nothing wrong with my tank. I just bought 6 mollies last night and stuck them in the tank, despite the inner voice in my head saying I should wait until I can explain why that male guppy died. They seem to be doing OK so far. Unlike the guppies, they readily ate the food flakes I put in the tank. Which is another concern ... the guppies don't seem to like the flakes at all. Everybody (mollies and guppies) love the freeze dried blood worms, though. But since I read you can't base a fish's diet on blood worms alone, I think I might try using a different brand of flakes.

[Genral72]

How large is your tank?

[asincero]

How large is your tank?

36 gallons.