Gasping Fish

[littlegiles]

I have an established 55g tank....well, the filter and gravel were established.

I moved into a new house the middle of November and and set up the fishtank. I used the same gravel (with some new added) and the same plants (fake) and the same filter (Fluval 304). In this tank I had 4 zebra danios and one sole-surviving Purple Emperor Tetra (just a baby who was born in the tank). The above mentioned fish seem to be doing fine as does the betta I added to the tank. Over the past couple weeks I have tried to add some additional fish. First I purchased 15 Black Neon Tetras and 7 of them died the first night. I then added a Pleco who looked as if he was doing great (lasted 1.5 weeks before I found him dead last night). I added a medium Angel fish (died). Then I added another medium Angel fish (died in hours). Both of those were from the same fishtank in the same lfs so I assumed there was something wrong with the shipment. I then added the two dwarf gourami that are now in the tank.

Current Occupants:

1 Blue Neon Dwarf Gourami
1 Red Dwarf Gourami
1 Male Betta
3 Zebra Danios
8 Black Neon Tetras
1 purple emperor tetra

All of my fish seem to be gasping for air and the colors are fading. I tested the water; the ammonia level is 0 and the nitrite level is 0. The pH is showing 6.0. I am noticing a lot of detris floating in the water and there is somekind of hair algae growing on a bunch of the plants. I originally thought maybe I had overloaded the tank too quickly, but all the tests seem ok except the pH. That is significantly lower than it was in the old house. Could that be the culprit?

I don't know what else to do. Is it possible there is something lurking in the gravel? I stirred it up and rinsed most of it off when I set up the tank in the new home. Maybe I should change the filter media?

Any help would be appreciated. I have attached a photo of the tank in case you guys see something I'm missing. The first photo is of the entire tank ( I have a bubble wand in the middle, and bubbling ornaments on both sides). The second is a blurry picture of the fuzzy plant and the third pic is of the top of one of the columns showing the settlement of detris I'm getting on everything. ARGH!!

[littlegiles]

Here is the fuzzy plant photo

[littlegiles]

Here is the third and final pic

[OrionGirl]

Looks like there is a diatom blom--that's the fuzzy stuff, should wipe away easily. They normally wear themselves out in short order.

I would have the water tested, just to confirm your test kits readings. However, one thing to note--the spikes could be short lived, and damage the fish in only a day or two. Gradual additions of fish would be better, rather than adding a bunch at one time. You may want to test the KH of your water as all--it should be stable, as should the pH. If there was a sudden drop in pH, this could be stressing your fish as well.

[littlegiles]

Thanks OrionGirl. I'll go have the water tested tomorrow just to make sure.

I'm holding off adding any additional fish until I'm sure everything is ok.

I'm gonna clean the filter (been about 3 months) just in case.

[OrionGirl]

You should be rinsing the filter off with each water change--otherwise, the solid wastes break down, and contribute to the bio-load. Keep in mind that there are a lot of bad things other than nitrogen wastes that can accumulate. I'm beeting you have really high nitrates--nitrates are not harmful by themselves, but indicate a high load of other things not easily tested for.

[Alainuws]

You have fake plants and only 1 filter that doesn't disturb the surface much.

I would add a air stone connected to a air pump to add some oxygene in the water.

Hmm, i just looked at your picture. I should of looked before answering :)

[duck]

looks to me that the filter is putting out a pretty good bit of aggitation.. I don't htink theres a problem there.

[littlegiles]

To ease everyone, there is plenty of aggitation in the water.

I cleaned out the filter and added some additional bio material. They seem to be doing much better now.

Is there something to get rid of the diatom bloom? The columns have only been in the tank a month and they are covered with the icky brown looking stuff.

Dale

[OrionGirl]

Remove the decoration, rinse all the brown off, and return. Diatom blooms prosper only when there is silica available, and usually where themselves out. Removing the diatoms from the water will reduce the length the bloom lasts.

[Must4ng s4lly]

I think you need a good month of cycling before you add anything else! I had this same thing happen with fish gasping and super cloudy water. It was a newly reset-up tank and after losing a ton of fish an doing endless water changes sometimes twice a day, I finally took all the fish out, put them in another tank, and let the cloudy tank cycle for a month. No problems since! I had to learn it the hard way!

[littlegiles]

Thanks everyone for all the advise.

All the tests are coming out fine and the tank is looking much better and the fish are acting normal.

Thanks again.