Ember tetras acting strange?

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lonksenopa

Aquarium Advice Regular
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Mar 8, 2024
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I've noticed my ember tetras all gathering at the surface of the water. I know this is usually a sign of an oxygen issue but my filter keeps things pretty aerated and I have an oxygen stone as well. I'm not running CO2 and my water parameters haven't changed at all. This behavior is pretty recent and I'm not sure what's going on. They're also a lot taller than usual as well
 

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I don't see much surface agitation so lack of oxygen would be the first guess even with your air stone and filter. Because this is a planted tank, plants will intake oxygen when the lights are off so you may need to check your light bulbs. If they are not emitting the proper spectrum anymore, it may be making the plants think it's nighttime so they are absorbing the oxygen your filter and airstone are producing.
Another possibility is that something has gotten into the water and if you have done a full chemical panel and all is okay, I would do a water change. If the fish respond to the water change by not staying at the surface, that would show that there IS something in the water they don't like. Maybe there was something sprayed in the room that got into the tank? Maybe there was something on your hands or your equipment that went into the tank? In the end, there is always a reason. You just have to figure out what that reason is. (y)
 
Now that the tank lights are turned off for the night they seem to be back to hanging out in the middle column of the water and my female Betta that's in the tank with them isn't acting strange so I'm not sure what's going on
 
lonksenopa said:
Now that the tank lights are turned off for the night they seem to be back to hanging out in the middle column of the water and my female Betta that's in the tank with them isn't acting strange so I'm not sure what's going on
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Try and take a 1 minute video of the tank with the lights on and lights off during their normal times and post it. Let's see how they are acting in motion.
 
Whats the water temperature like, day compared to night? Warmer water holds less oxygen. Summer months in the northern hemisphere so water temperature could be warmer than usual, at night the temperature drops and this is compounded by the lights going out with a further cooling effect. You could be just at the tipping point where O2 is good at night and too depleted during the day?
 
Aiken Drum said:
Whats the water temperature like, day compared to night? Warmer water holds less oxygen. Summer months in the northern hemisphere so water temperature could be warmer than usual, at night the temperature drops and this is compounded by the lights going out with a further cooling effect. You could be just at the tipping point where O2 is good at night and too depleted during the day?
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I did just move somewhere a lot warmer than my old place. But they've been fine the last 3 weeks. They've only started acting this way today
 
But is it warmer now than it was 3 weeks ago? Where i live its around 10c warmer than it was last week. The room temperature, especially at night, is 3 or 4c warmer and my aquarium temperature is a couple of degrees c warmer too than last week. Im over 26c whereas im normally at 24c. And thats just from the lights warming the water above room temperature which is currently about 22c and normally 19c.
 
Aiken Drum said:
But is it warmer now than it was 3 weeks ago? Where i live its around 10c warmer than it was last week. The room temperature, especially at night, is 3 or 4c warmer and my aquarium temperature is a couple of degrees c warmer too than last week. Im over 26c whereas im normally at 24c. And thats just from the lights warming the water above room temperature which is currently about 22c and normally 19c.
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It's been about the same temp since I've moved in. I did a water change about 2hrs ago and they were acting pretty normal but now they're back to hanging out at the surface. Ammonia and nitrite come back normal so I don't know what's going on with them. About 30 mins after a water change they were swimming in the middle column with no issues like usual and checking on them now they're right back gaping at the surface 😥
 
lonksenopa said:
It's been about the same temp since I've moved in. I did a water change about 2hrs ago and they were acting pretty normal but now they're back to hanging out at the surface. Ammonia and nitrite come back normal so I don't know what's going on with them. About 30 mins after a water change they were swimming in the middle column with no issues like usual and checking on them now they're right back gaping at the surface 😥
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lonksenopa said:
It's been about the same temp since I've moved in. I did a water change about 2hrs ago and they were acting pretty normal but now they're back to hanging out at the surface. Ammonia and nitrite come back normal so I don't know what's going on with them. About 30 mins after a water change they were swimming in the middle column with no issues like usual and checking on them now they're right back gaping at the surface 😥
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That says to me that there is something in the water that the fish do not like. Did you check Nitrates & pH?
Did you do any cleaning of the substrate which included major disturbance of the lower area of the substrate? Are there any plants in the tank that are known to release toxins in the water? ( check out this list: 21 plants to avoid in the aquarium )

For now, if you have a separate tank, take the fish and acclimate them to the new tank without adding any of the water the fish are coming from. If they act normal after acclimation, I would do a 100% water change in the tank they came from ( AFTER checking pH and nitrates ) . 24 hours after that change, acclimate one or two of the fish back into the tank to see if they still act normal in the new water. 24 hours after the reintroduction, if the fish are still acting normal, acclimate the rest of the fish back into the main tank.
If you do not have a separate tank, I would do twice daily partial water changes ( same percentage you just did) and increase the aeration in the water. All this done after checking nitrate and pH.
 
As of today this is what they're looking like still a bit bizarre as they're usually swimming around more
 

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Andy Sager said:
Have you done anything I suggested?
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I did a water change and they go to the surface when I'm not near. When I approach the tank they start around the middle. It seems like the water change helps for a little bit then they go back to gaping at the surface
 
lonksenopa said:
I did a water change and they go to the surface when I'm not near. When I approach the tank they start around the middle. It seems like the water change helps for a little bit then they go back to gaping at the surface
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Do you have another tank or can you take the fish out of your main tank and then do a 100% water change before acclimating the fish back into the tank? If you can do this and then the fish still do this behavior, it points to something in your tank is making the water not safe for the fish.
 
Andy Sager said:
Do you have another tank or can you take the fish out of your main tank and then do a 100% water change before acclimating the fish back into the tank? If you can do this and then the fish still do this behavior, it points to something in your tank is making the water not safe for the fish.
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I don't have a back up tank unfortunately :(
 
So I did the change about 2hrs ago and they seem to be doing worse. They're a lot more plae than they were before :(
 
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