[leoslizards]

I have this male guppy that's swimming very oddly. I've only seen him do this twice and both times it was late at night after I would turn the lights back on for a quick look at the tank. He would start swimming really fast crashing into everything and be in a twirling motion the whole time. Basically just spinning in circles while moving in a straight line. He does this for about 5 minutes then stops and rests on top of a leaf.
Another thing I find odd about him is that he never hangs around the other guppies. There's another male and four females in the same tank. Anyone have an idea why he does this? Is he sick?

I uploaded a vid of him doing this on the net. Feel free to download it and see for yourself. The video is a 2.2mbs .AVI file.

 

[blueguppygirl]

It's really hard to tell from the video but it's possible that it has an air bladder problem, or something else. How are the fins on his side? It's possible that another guppy may have nipped them causing him to lose some control. Maybe he's just different? It's hard to say. If he's eating fine and seems healthy I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Lupin]

What are your water parameters? Note that this part is very important.

 

[kunerd]

You say its right when you turn the light on. Could it be that he is being blinded from the lights and is freaking out. Maybe he needs some tinted glasses :biggrin:

 

[joejoeg]

kunerd i agree , it would look sexy.

 

[leoslizards]

It's really hard to tell from the video but it's possible that it has an air bladder problem, or something else. How are the fins on his side? It's possible that another guppy may have nipped them causing him to lose some control. Maybe he's just different? It's hard to say. If he's eating fine and seems healthy I wouldn't worry about it.

From what I can see he doesn't have an air bladder problem. I don't even know what a fish with an air bladder problem looks like. His fins seem to be all there. I put some food close to him but he wouldn't touch it, but I did notice a small amount of poop hang from his backside today.

What are your water parameters? Note that this part is very important.

Well I checked that last night and the parameters are way off then usual.
I did a PWC exactly 1 month ago and my parameters were, (before the PWC)
ph=7.6
Nh3=0
NO2=0
KH=150
GH=320
29Gallons

When I did the water change I added DI water because I wanted soft water and a PH of 6.5. I added about 10 gallons of DI water at,
PH=6.0
KH=30
GH=60

After that I didn't check the water to see if the DI water actually lowered my ph. I checked it last night and it was at,
PH=8.0
NH3=0
NO2=0
KH=170
GH=280

I thought that adding a lower ph,kh,gh water would lower my ph but I guess I was wrong. So I decided to leave all the water and not remove any. I added 5 gallons of DI water with a drip system at,
PH=5.8
KH=40
GH=20

Today I will check my parameters and see where they are at. Then I'll remove 5 gallons from the tank and add another 5 gallons of DI water to it. Right now I have the 5 gallons of DI water prepped at PH=5.8,KH=40,GH=20. I'll change it depending of my readings after another water test today.

You say its right when you turn the light on. Could it be that he is being blinded from the lights and is freaking out. Maybe he needs some tinted glasses :biggrin:

That might be it. During the day he is fine though, when the lights are on normally.
I did notice another odd thing today. All the other guppies have fully black eyes (as in you can't see their iris or the iris is covering the entire eye) and the guppy behaving weird you can see his iris perfectly. Is this normal? How should guppies eyes look like?

 

[kunerd]

My guppies get the black eyes and i never found out what it was. They all were fine until i got my Cichlid and he made a quick lunch out of them. The guppies that are still left do have the black eyes though.

 

[kimo]

There's nothing wrong with guppies that have black eyes.

With the guppy that spins when the lights go on... nothing wrong.
IF the guppy does this continously... its whirling disease. No cure for a guppy sized fish.

 

[Mangala]

as for the black eyes: I think that's just another variation. I've got two male guppies on my desk at work and one has black eyes and the other has a color and pupils. I personally think it's neat.

 

[sandiegoryu]

Well just wanted to add on your black eye thing. Well we all know its normal, but my endler female (which is the same species as a guppy), sometimes has black eyes and sometimes has "normal" eyes.

Wonder why? My endler males on the other hand are always "normal" eyed.

 

[leoslizards]

Well he seems to be doing better. I haven't seen him doing the whirling thing anymore and he's even hanging out with the other guppies now! When it's feeding time, he's right there with the others eagerly awaiting for food.

Well just wanted to add on your black eye thing. Well we all know its normal, but my endler female (which is the same species as a guppy), sometimes has black eyes and sometimes has "normal" eyes.

Wonder why? My endler males on the other hand are always "normal" eyed.

All my guppies are endlers/fancy guppy mixes. One male has black eyes and the other male has normal eyes.

There's nothing wrong with guppies that have black eyes.

With the guppy that spins when the lights go on... nothing wrong.
IF the guppy does this continously... its whirling disease. No cure for a guppy sized fish.

Is that really the name of a disease? whirling disease?

 

[elpezpr]

http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hitchhikers/others_whirling_disease.php

 

[mlpzaq52]

maybe hes just weird