Goldfish gasping at night?

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Comet

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Apr 1, 2003
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Singapore,North
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I have quite a number of fantail in my 29g tank, and some ranchu in an temperory 3g tank. All of them seems to gulping at the water surface. And they only do it mainly at night. I thought it was lack of oxygen so I added airstone but it still not work. What causes this, is it part of there feeding habit?
 

avoxo

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Jan 25, 2003
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Hi Comet, how many goldfish do you have in the 29-gallon, the 3-gallon and how big are they?
They could be gasping because they might be overcrowded. If the tank has alot of decaying food or waste, it will also use up alot of the oxygen in the water and that will make them gasp. Do they gasp after they’re feeding? If you are overfeeding goldfish they will gasp at the surface to help push the food through their digestive tract, try smaller feedings. If you have plants or lots of algae, it will take in the oxygen at night and the goldfish will gasp.
 
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goldfish freak

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Oct 16, 2001
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I agree with avoxo, it might be a lack of oxygen or overeating. Another consideration is that your pH might be dropping very fast and heading for a pH crash. Fish gasping at the surface is a one sign that this is happening. Also if you have a fair amount of plants and this is happening only at night then it could be that the plants are not supplying the oxygen that they do when the lights are on, as well as consuming some of it during these hours.
 
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