# fish swimming erratically



## virginia karlsbroten (Oct 12, 2009)

I recently restarted a 55 gallon tank. It contains various African cichlids. I noticed this morning one was swimming in an erratic fashion....backwards, sideways, even upside down. Then things seemed normal again, then the crazy swimming again. I did a partial water change and cleaned the filters yesterday...tank has been set up for just over 2 weeks. He/she had always a very good appetite and was super active. I am wondering if it will just be that one, or should I be concerned that the whole tank will be affected


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## frozennorth (Dec 16, 2008)

Was this tank cycled before adding fish?

Have you tested the water for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate? If yes what are the results.


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## virginia karlsbroten (Oct 12, 2009)

Good suggestion. I have never checked that stuff before and have had incredibly good luck. Only reason I could check now is the test kit came with the tank. The nitrites look high and the ammonia may have been elevated, no test for nitrates. Did a partial water change and changed the filters. Wish me luck. How often can a person do a partial water change? thanks vk


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## cholly2 (May 17, 2008)

Hi Vk. Get salt fast! salt at 1tsp /gal no iodine sea salt is best/add prinme or Nova aqua plus for Nitrite/ammonia neutralizing. It makes h20 safe almost immediately. Good luck & test frequent /feed 1x day LITE/and Let it cycle too many chges & U start removing the good bacterias tryin to multiply.


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## webgirl74 (Jan 30, 2009)

Sounds like the tank was not cycled, which is pretty common for new hobbyists. I did it many times myself when I started fishkeeping, and before the internet existed. I always wondered why I had problems with fish right after I started up a tank. Keeping an eye on your tank parameters will be essential in keeping your fish alive, and there's no guarantee that they will make it. Stop cleaning out your filter as the good bacteria needs the chance to establish itself. Water changes in one sense are counterproductive to cycling your tank, but you will need to do some to keep the nitrite and ammonia levels to a minimum. There are products on teh market to help get the good bacteria going, but I've never used them myself so can't vouch for them. Go to the library section and check out the info on tank set ups and cycling. Will give you a really good overview of all you need to do to cycle your tank. If you have someone with an established aquarium, you might want to see if they can take your fish for a while until your tank has finished cycling. Good luck. :wink:


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## webgirl74 (Jan 30, 2009)

Sounds like the tank was not cycled, which is pretty common for new hobbyists. I did it many times myself when I started fishkeeping, and before the internet existed. I always wondered why I had problems with fish right after I started up a tank. Keeping an eye on your tank parameters will be essential in keeping your fish alive, and there's no guarantee that they will make it. Stop cleaning out your filter as the good bacteria needs the chance to establish itself. Water changes in one sense are counterproductive to cycling your tank, but you will need to do some to keep the nitrite and ammonia levels to a minimum. There are products on teh market to help get the good bacteria going, but I've never used them myself so can't vouch for them. Go to the library section and check out the info on tank set ups and cycling. Will give you a really good overview of all you need to do to cycle your tank. If you have someone with an established aquarium, you might want to see if they can take your fish for a while until your tank has finished cycling. Good luck. :wink:


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## smith2287 (Oct 13, 2009)

Hey
I thing you have to tested water with ammonia.


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## virginia karlsbroten (Oct 12, 2009)

Thanks to all who responded, I have done some partial water changes and added sea salt as suggested. The fish seem a lot more active and happier. Lost 1 but I thought I was going to lose at 3 by the way they were acting. Gotta pay more attention. Guess I was probably killing them with kindness and probably overfeeding. I really do know better. thanks again. I love this site. vk


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Depending on the type of filter you have you usually don't want to change the filters too often as this is where most of your beneficial bacteria resides. (Beneficial bacteria is what you get after your tank has cycled.) 
Ideally you want to have more than one filter on the tank--or a filter that uses more than one filter cartridge. This will allow you to stagger the filter cleanings/maintenance. So if for instance you have a Emperor 400 filter with two media cartridges, change one of them one month and the other one the next month. If they ever seem to be clogged up with waste then you can rinse them out in a bucket of tank water/ or a bucket of declorinated water.

good luck with your tank 

Robin


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