Why are my tropical fish swimming on the surface as if they're trying to

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dan_holliday83

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get air or searching for food? I have recently moved house with my tropical fish tank. Since re-filling the tank and setting everything back up i have noticed all the small fish (mainly tetra's) have been swimming on the surface, as if they are trying to get some air or searching for food. Has anyone any ideas why this might be happening? If so what remedies are available? I have a feeling it might be the water quality.

Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.
 
Gasping at the surface is a sign there's a problem with the water. Test your water quality and do a partial water change. When you moved did you keep any of the old water and keep the filter media wet? If not, you basically will have done a 100% water change, killed off the good bacteria and caused the tank to go back into the nitrogen cycle.
 
They aren't searching for food, they're probably gasping for air. I'm sure your feeding technique hasn't changed from your old house. If they are in a tank with no live plants, especially if they are in a tank that is not suitable for the amount of fish, and sizes that you have in there this could be the problem - overcrowding. Add in an air pump and an air stone into their tank so that they are supplied with oxygen. Test the water, and see if that is the problem, the ammonia might be too high, or they just might be stressed out from the ride when you moved.
 
Most likely it is due to water quality or lack of oxygenation.

When you moved the tank, did you bring over the old filter media?

What im assuming has happened is all the bacteria has died during transport or before you set it up again, and thus your tank is now re-cycling. Which such a large bio load as it's stocked back to what it normally is, there will be large spikes in ammonia and later on nitrite and nitrate as the tank bacteria rebuilds itself up.

If you can, test your water for Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Ammonia causes fish to have a greater difficulty in utilizing oxygen and would explain the issue you are having.

Best advice for this i can give is frequent water changes. I'm talking 20% every 2 days for the next two weeks, then twice a week for the month after. After about 6 weeks from initial setup, the tank should be cycling well and you can reduce it to 20% once a week.

Another possible cause could be that your water has a very low oxygen supply, which can be fixed by either causing movement at the surface, via an air stone or power head, or planting some live plants.

Hope this helps out.

Goodluck :)
 
Most likely it is due to water quality or lack of oxygenation.

When you moved the tank, did you bring over the old filter media?

What im assuming has happened is all the bacteria has died during transport or before you set it up again, and thus your tank is now re-cycling. Which such a large bio load as it's stocked back to what it normally is, there will be large spikes in ammonia and later on nitrite and nitrate as the tank bacteria rebuilds itself up.

If you can, test your water for Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Ammonia causes fish to have a greater difficulty in utilizing oxygen and would explain the issue you are having.

Best advice for this i can give is frequent water changes. I'm talking 20% every 2 days for the next two weeks, then twice a week for the month after. After about 6 weeks from initial setup, the tank should be cycling well and you can reduce it to 20% once a week.

Another possible cause could be that your water has a very low oxygen supply, which can be fixed by either causing movement at the surface, via an air stone or power head, or planting some live plants.

Hope this helps out.

Goodluck :)
 
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