fish go into shock whenever light is turned on

[fIsHy13]

My fish really hate it when the aquarium light is on. As soon asi turn it on, they all dart around crazily, gills flapping. Then they will hide under a plant or the filter, anywhere there is shade. When i turn it off, they will act normallly after a few minutes. I can tell that it stresses them out big time, but am confused as to why because they used to not mind the light being on. I now never turn the light on incase i shock them to death! Why do they do this?
Its scary, plus a well lit aquariaum looks really nice, not a dark one!

p.s. the wattage is right for the size of the tank, incase ur wandering

 

[mooman]

Any current leaking into the tank? Can you feel a tingle when you put your hand in the tank?

How much structure is in the tank? what percentage of the bottom would you say is covered by plants, rocks, whatnot?

 

[fIsHy13]

There is no leaking in the tank, no. There are not that may plants in there- one big one, 2 or 3 meduim ones and 4 'grass' type ones that offer no shade. If you think they need more shade, i have a large rock i can put in and a flower pot. But why are they so stressed by the light anyway? That is the amount of shade/ plant coverage there has always been. At the store i bought the fish in, they had no shade and a strong light, but they were all fine. pLEASE HELP!

 

[Sploke]

If you leave the light on for a while, do they calm down and get used to it? It may just be the shock of going from dark to light with no gradient along the way. If they calm down after a few min, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[fIsHy13]

i'm gonna turn the light on now, amd see what happens, you know, if they calm down and stuff.

 

[mooman]

Just to be clear I was refering to electrical current.

 

[fIsHy13]

well i turned it on and they went CRAZY, except for 2 of them. Their gills flapped wildly and one of them turned really pale (a sign of stress).
i did not wait a few minutes to see if they would calm down- i had to turn the light off cos i didn't want to strss thme anymore. but i don't think they would of calmed down anyway


so what is up with my fish???

 

[fIsHy13]

moonman, i knew that

 

[fIsHy13]

god i am so stupid

 

[mooman]

Well, did this just start? New tank? Any light from outside able to get in?

It's pond season, if you drop the water level a couple inches, you can put water lettuce in there to provide some shade.