blood parrot turning white gasping for air

[JESS R]

need some info one of my blood parrots is turning white and looks like he is gasping for hanging out at the top of tank the rest of tank is ok any help

[slowlyburn]

Water change 50% Immediately! What are the water specs?

edit: They don't do well with high nitrates...

[JESS R]

nitrites 0 nitrates 20-40

[slowlyburn]

Yea you need to keep those fish under 20ppm. You will want to do an emergency change right now cause that fish could be dead by morning. The same thing happened to me some time ago with these fish.

[JESS R]

thanks i'll get right on it

[portabuddy]

wow i didnt realize they are that, sensitive my cichlid tank hets to 60 ppm sometimes almost 100ppm

[slowlyburn]

Thats a shame then... You have your fish in poor water conditions...

[fishcatch22]

wow i didnt realize they are that, sensitive my cichlid tank hets to 60 ppm sometimes almost 100ppmwow dude, even if it doesn't kill them NA readings like that will definetly hurt them. don't let it get higher than 20-30ppm. and JESS R.... how big is the tank your BP is in? how often do you do water changes?

[Jason_S]

what color was the blood parrot that is turning white?

way back when I had first gotten into the hobby (before I knew about hybrids and dyed fish) my girlfriend spotted a cute little blue blood parrot that she really liked. trying to get her involved in my new hobby I bought the fish. later I found out about the dying process and vowed to never buy another dyed fish. however I still had the blue parrot and had it for around 6 months or so before its color started to fade and the fish was turning white and it was exhibiting other signs of stress as well. after a couple of days it died.

I don't think blood parrots are as fragile as they've been made to sound in this thread. they can handle nitrates over 20 ppm just like most other central americans can. you do want to keep nitrates as low as possible but I don't think it's fair to say they must be kept under 20 ppm for blood parrots.

it could be a problem of low oxygenation. you might consider doing a nice water change of 30-50% and adding either an airstone or powerhead. also, what is the temp of the tank?

:)

[JESS R]

it's in a 55 and it's a true orange blood parrot and i have a fluval canister with an air pump hooked up to it in addition to the over the tank filter, i've had the parrot for about a year it's one of 2 . i try to do a 25-30% water change every week with the last one being tues

[fishcatch22]

hmmmm.... what are the other inhabitants, if any? those BPs or yours will need a bigger tank in the future, something along the lines of 100 gallons. how big are they now? what is the GPH rating of your filter?

[slowlyburn]

This is a blood parrot not a king kong parrot right? Blood parrots will reach maybe 6in. 2 in a 55g are fine and if you think it is acceptable to have above 15-20ppm nitrate then thank GOD I'm not your fish!!! Maybe you should tell the 2 parrots I accidently killed nitrates can be above 20ppm... I almost did it again with my new pair... You cant place this fish in a specific group... It is different and requires different things... If I skip a whole week of water changes on my Parrots they will let me know by hanging out at the top gasping for air and they loose color just like this poster's fish has... Blood parrots will reach maybe 6in.


edit: An airstone as jason suggested is useless. It will provide no more o2 to your tank than you taking a straw and blowing in the water. You will get more o2 by agitating the surface of the water. Water changes are the best!

[fishcatch22]

This is a blood parrot not a king kong parrot right? Blood parrots will reach maybe 6in. 2 in a 55g are fine!oh yeah, sorry... for some reason I thought bloods got to 12" :duh: :duh: :duh:

[jm1212]

oh yeah, sorry... for some reason I thought bloods got to 12" :duh: :duh: :duh:king kongs get to 12 inches- its a blood parrot +midas mix (if someone already stted that, good job lol. i saw the king kong parrot in a post)

blood parrots dont do well with lots of nitrates, get it down ASAP
he might be gasping for air because of lack of oxygen.

[portabuddy]

oh sorry, not that it realy matters but I didnt mean to say that my tank is always at 60ppm+ what i ment to say is they by the end of the week or if im unable to do the water change that week the water sometimes gets that high, if it was always that high i might have a lot of dead fish on my hands :) but i agree with you guys that it should be kept under 30ppm for best health, i try but some times life gets in the way :( and i once saw the water at 100 ppm(when I good friend was looking after them for 3weeks) when all of the fish where acting lethargic and shy... again sorry about the confusion...

I hope your BP gets better.

[Star_Rider]

actually nitrate readings are a guage we use to do water changes. a nitrate reading of 20 realistically won't hurt the fish.

I have tap that reads 20.
I keep discus and they are growing and vibrant.
I also maintain wild angelfish.
in planted tanks the nitrate is generally low so nitrates are added to get the reading up to 10-20 ppm.

jess only 1 BP is affected?
I would think there could be something else amiss.

if ammonia and nitrites are 0 . there could be something else..

water changes won't hurt..the first thing to do is administer a water change.

keep in mind BP have some problems characteristic of the hybrid crossing..it is possible something could be going wrong and it is genetic.
turning white could be a sign of stress(some fish turn black)

[slowlyburn]

Well how is the fish now?

[wataugachicken]

nitrates from the tap are not very good, but they mean something diffeent than nitrates in a tank. in the tank there is a buildup of organic compounds, wastes, and hormones. a high nitrate level is an indicator that these other things are building up, and that is really why changing the water is necessary. nitrates alone can go higher, but the dissolved organic products become harmful

adding an airstone to the tank does provide oxygen to the water. airstone releases bubbles, bubbles go up, bubbles break and cause surface agitation. voila!

[JESS R]

My bp has regained color and is active again .i was not able to change water yet still reading the same the tank is over stocked(shame on me) but all are small most eventually out grow and will deal with that then(convince wife to buy bigger tank ) thanks for all help and advice