My platy fish keeps jumping out the water! Help!?

Question:

I have two platy fish and on of them is swimming around really fast and keeps jumping up out of the water, luckily so far it keeps landing back in the water but i'm worried it will manage to jump out as there is no top on my tank! She's never acted like this before. She's been swimming around at a crazy speed for about half an hour now and has jumped out of the water about 5 times! My other platy fish is just hiding away under the filter. The one that keeps jumping out has bumped into things as well but nothing seems to slow her down. Any idea what might be wrong or is she just playing? I'm worried! Both my fish are females, I don't know if that makes any difference!

Answers:

You should have a lid for your tank. It's protects the fish and it keeps dust and any debris out of the water. I would be concerned about this since one fish seems to be hiding which is usually due to stress or illness. The other one seems to be trying to escape the water. If you have a test kit check the water asap for ammonia. Otherwise take a sample to your local pet store and they usually will check it for free. If you can't check it right away at home I would do a 20-25% water change (making sure you use dechlorinator) and then go to the store and get it checked. This isn't normal behaviour for platies. I've had platies for years and they are active fish but mine have never tried to jump out of the water like that.

I wouldn't worry too much. What you should do is to get a lid for your tank. They have hoods with lamps at the pet store or even at your local wal mart :) If you don't get a hood your fish could jump out of the tank and suffocate!

You should get a hood for your tank, or some glass window pains to cover the top.