fish cant breathe help

[vaderbanger]

i have a 26g fish tank with plants and very few small fish, but the fish cant breathe too well and i was wondering can i add an airstone for the fish to add oxygen?
i have a power filter, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 30ppm
i do weekly water changes of 20 percent

[rainstorm]

Sure, I don't see why not.

[Debisbooked]

i have a 26g fish tank with plants and very few small fish, but the fish cant breathe too well
i have a power filter, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 30ppm
i do weekly water changes of 20 percent

What's going on that makes you think the fish cannot breathe very well? How long has the tank been set up? Have you done anything different to it lately? Added more fish, etc?

[vaderbanger]

yes my penguin filter died the other day and i had to buy a new filter and aqua clear, i lost 2 angel fish since then and my irredescent shark is having trouble breathing
everything was fine since then but i feel they need air for some reason, one white cloud is gasping at the surface now, he wont make it thru the night.
so if i can run an airstone 24/7 ?? is that ok with plants? i have hardy plants like anubias, moneywort and swords

[rainstorm]

Was your amonnia too high when this happened? Add some air and some aquarium salt.

[vaderbanger]

i just checked again and its zero i dont get whats happening. the tank is getting cloudy from no filter for 24 hours. i tried to get a piece of the cartridge filter floss from the penguin and i added it to the new aqua clear but it was such a small piece
this is just terrible...is salt ok for the ottos and plants?

[rainstorm]

Well, I'm not sure what an otto is (I'm new here, but have had tanks for years-both fresh and salt water). And as far as the plants, I'm not sure. But salt will help with gill function. I just looked at my box of salt, and it doesn't ward against ottos or plants. Maybe you could take the fish out and treat in another tank. Do you know if the amonia levels went up when your pump broke and are now back down? This would have left your fish with damaged gills. How long was your pump down? When was your last water change?

[vaderbanger]

yes maybe the amonia went up when the filter broke i didnt check at that time. the filter was out for 24 hours
my last water change was last monday i did about 20 percent as usual.
i found an old airstone that was kinda crumbling lol, i rinsed it off and hooked it up to the tank, it seems to be helping a bit at least the fish now arent at the top of the tank hanging there.
ill get a new airstone tomorrow and new pump, just a small one
ill also pick up some aquarium salt. oto's are those small sucker mouthed catfish and ive always read they are sensative to salt, but im not sure if its marine salt and that basic aquarium salt is fine?
so the aquarium salt is ok for the plants you are sure of this??

[rainstorm]

No, I'm NOT sure that the salt is OK for ottos or plants. I said that I looked at my box of salt and it doesn't say anything about being bad for any fish or plants. If you are real worried, I'd put the fish in a separate container and treat them there. It will be a bit of an experiment with the ottos, I guess...you need to try to figure which would potentially be worse-fish not breathing or salt that MAY not be good for them. Maybe you should just wait and see how the air helps.

[wannabefishguru]

maybe you have to much co2 in the tank are you supplementing co2 via DIY or pressurized?

[vaderbanger]

im not supplementing anything
i have only 3 plants, the only thing i do different is add tetra fertilizer very little every few weeks
the plants have grown alot and are not dead or decaying
i have a basic 20 watt flourescent light left on for 12-14 hours. i have no algae but the otos wouldnt let algae grow in a tank :)
i think im better off with plastic plants lol

[wannabefishguru]

im not sure if salt would do anything but if it is a true lack of o2 or excesive co2 then running a airstone at help well help, basically that is all i can tell you, hope that works.

[vaderbanger]

the airstone has been on about 14 hours now and i see an improvement in the fish. too bad i didnt put the airstone on sooner, i lost 2 juvi calico angels :sad:

[Roan Art]

I'm a little confused.

Four days ago in a thread you started in the General Forum on using air stones, you blasted everyone for giving you "bad advice":

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=517821&postcount=19

You said that because everyone said they weren't needed, you took the stone out of your tank. Ten days later it appeared that your fish were having difficulty breathing.


". . .i tried it and it did not work for my fish at all they really do need the airstone.

i never had a mess from an airstone not sure what you mean, but as for noise yeah they are very loud but i keep all my tanks in a "fish room" so with all the tanks and waterfall noises i really cant hear the airstone pump.
i feel it wasnt right to suggest tossing my airstone, it is needed in my situation"It's four days since you posted that. If you were so sure that the advice -- no, opinions -- that were expressed in the original thread were so wrong, and your fish were having trouble, why did you wait four more days to put an airstone back in?

Sorry, just confused
Roan

[IceH2O]

I've reread the original post and it was about 50/50 on use.

You decided to take the 50% that didn't use them advice and not the 50% that did use them. You can't fault us for choosing wrong. Some of us don't need airstones, have other options that give us aeration. In all actuality the thread was worded as an opinion question and not a factual question.

You say you have a spray bar but its only 8 inches long and won't move the water but on 1 side. I haven't setup my tank yet but it seems like an obvious move to a side wall would work. That way it pushes the water from left to right instead of back to front.

[vaderbanger]

yes and if you compare the posts its 2 different tanks im talking about
this is the only planted tank i have, and from reading online sites it sounded like the plants give off oxygen and i didnt need to supplement them with an airstone. then if you read above my filter broke and the tank went off balance, i wasnt sure if an airstone was good for the plants thats why i asked the question
the other topic was about my cichlid tank that is unplanted, please stick to the subject and dont hijack my thread with a previous post i made. you will then throw people off and they wont respond acccordingly

[IceH2O]

My bad.

But for future consideration 3 plants in a tank does not make for a planted tank.

[vaderbanger]

its plants so its planted :D
actually its 4 plants i forgot the one in the front. i didnt get many because the plants i have get big and will soon take over. my sword is about 10" wide now and 14" high so its getting pretty big considering the tanks dimensions are only 24x15x24
the rest are decent in size too