Super frustrated with my new tank!!

[Trisarahtops]

Hi everyone, newbie to this site here. I have a 5 gallon tank set up with 4 guppies (2 male and 2 female) and a small pleco and I have had nothing but problems so far.

The tank has been set up since November and the guppies were just added last weekend. For a few days, they were great. Then one of my male guppies started sitting on the bottom of the tank, motionless. He would be breathing fine but he looked dead at first glance. As I don't have a water test kit, I brought a sample to my local pet store. He said everything was fine but my pH which was 8.2 (yikes?). He sold me a pH regulator which I put in two days ago. Now my male that was at the bottom is sitting in the same exact spot at the TOP of the water. Not having breathing issues or anything, just staying in one exact spot. But now he won't eat!! He looks totally normal otherwise.

Then I have my other male which suddenly has a huge notch out of his tail? I assume from fighting/nipping??? I am just so frustrated with how many problems I'm having... any tips? I'm about to throw in the towel to be honest.

 

[Tifftastic]

I have a few comments and a few questions.

What kind of pleco do you have and how big is he right now? Chances are this tank is overstocked and the employee at the shop failed to test ammonia, which would let you know that this tank is both overstocked and likely not cycled. What kind of filter is on the tank? Is it heated? What is your maintenance routine i.e. how often and how much water do you change, how often do you change your filter media? Additionally, a 1:1 M:F ratio is not usually a good idea with guppies and live bearers in general. You should ideally have a 1:2 or more M:F ratio.

 

[Trisarahtops]

Hi there. I am not sure what kind of pleco he is as it was actually from my friend's tank (she moved away and asked me to take him).

The pet store did check ammonia because he said that is what he was suspecting the problem to be, but it was zero!

It has a built in filter (Its a fluval spec) and I have a 5 gallon heater in there as well as an air stone.

I do water changes every other week (just 15% or so) and change the charcoal filter every 3-4 weeks.

And I just trusted the guy at the pet store I bought the guppies from which is my problem I guess

 

[Tifftastic]

I also forgot to mention that pH regulators are never a good idea.

I would up your water change routine to every week and I would suggest changing at least a gallon at a time (20%). I find it interesting that your ammonia is that low tbh. There are a few things I would suggest: if you can take back one of the male guppies, do a 2 gallon water change, and get a good liquid test kit. They are a little pricey at first but the trips to the pet store that it will save you will quickly make up for it. But also it is much more accurate than strips and will last you a very long time. Any time my fish start acting weird the first thing I always did was to take a sample of the water and set it aside, then immediately do a 30-40% water change, and then test the sample I took after the water change is out of the way. The guppies could be getting picked on by the other male, could be bad stock, or it could be a water quality issue that wasn't detected. In any case, changing the water will lower the pH better than the pH regulating chemicals. What is more important to fish is to have a stable pH rather than one that goes high or low on a regular basis, which will happen with those chemicals.

 

[Trisarahtops]

Well I'm not sure what to do then. Our tap water (I live in the midwest are of the US) is prone to being a pH of 7.5-8.5 range usually. So what can I do to remedy the pH level if that's what our tap water is like??

And he did use a liquid kit to test my water by the way, not a strip test. So I'm pretty stumped here. Unfortunately, the pet store we got the guppies from is quite a hike away from us too.

I'm just pretty frustrated at this point. I always seem to mess my tanks up and I am starting to think I'm just not meant to have one

 

[Tifftastic]

The water out of your tap is fine, captive bred fish adjust to a consistent pH, whether that be high or low, very easily. I wouldn't worry about it to be honest.

Honestly, this is an easy fix problem. More consistent water changes will likely keep the problem at bay. However, with male and female guppies together your 5 gallon will quickly become over populated. Smaller tanks are really hard to do right. I would be willing to bet if you got something bigger, you wouldn't have any problems or at least much less problems.

 

[Trisarahtops]

So is there anything I can do for the fish having problems other than water changes? He's just sitting at the top of the tank staying in one spot. Not breathing hard, no red gills. Just being motionless. And he won't eat. Everyone else is acting totally fine! Could he just be a dud?

 

[Tifftastic]

Water changes are the only option at the moment. He could have something wrong with him that could be an infection or something non-communicable, or he could just be stressed. Most of these scenarios will be helped by water changes. If you can return him to the store or isolate him, that would be the best option as if it is communicable, the other fish could be infected.

 

[Trisarahtops]

So you recommend weekly water changes? I did one this morning so I will be diligent about them!!

 

[Tifftastic]

Weekly changes of 30% are usually my starting point. However, it depends on a lot of factors and you may need to do a larger volume of water or change it more often, a test kit would be really helpful on determining this.
As a side note plecos are messy and that can increase your waste and result in you needing to up the changes. Additionally, that 5 gal won't suit him very long. . . he will outgrow it.