Firemouth breathing rapidly

X

xiaosong

AC Members
May 12, 2006
66
0
0
I have 6 juvenile (about an inch long) firemouths in a 55 gallon and one of them is breathing rapidly. I got six of these guys from the LFS on tuesday, so 4 days ago. On wednesday, I noticed one of the new firemouths starting to breath rapidly and was lethargic and not eating. I thought it might have been bloat because his stomach was a little bit rounded. I isolated to a hospital tank and he was dead the next morning. I tested my water (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates, pH of 7.2) and brought the dead firemouth along with a water sample to the LFS. They tested the water, said it was fine, and gave me another firemouth and said it probably wasn't bloat, maybe just stress.

However, I have another firemouth doing something similar. This one is one of the ones that I got on Tuesday and has been fine till this morning. Now he is breathing rapidly but is still active, swimming around and looking in the gravel for food. He doesn't seem to be getting picked on and his color is about the same as the other 5 firemouths. He was eating well too.

Any idea what might be wrong with him? Could it be gill flukes?

I just did a 25% water change even though the water is fine and haven't seen anything different. Should I leave him in the tank or take him out?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
i had a similar problem with some albino kribs recently - never figured out what was wrong with them - everything else in my tank was unaffected.
both kribs died, as well as about 85% of the albino kribs that the store got in the shipment.

hopefully that is not the case for you. you could possibly try putting a large dose of stress coat in, see if that can calm them down. if that doesn't work, then I'm not really sure what else you can do.

wait - what about aeration? are you using CO2 for plants? if you have no aeration, and your filters aren't causing enough turbulence at the top of the water, they could actually be suffocating a bit
 
I have a filter that is rated for 75 gallons that agitates the water and a bubble wand that is always running. I'm not using CO2 for plants either. If it was an oxygen thing, i think all of the fish would be displaying those problems right?

Also, why do you suggest stress coat?
 
well when ever fish breath that hard, in my experience their is usually a bit of ammonia/nitrites you might want to go get a test kit for urself and check it yourself... but i could be wrong :sim:
 
Maybe his mouth is on fire and hes trying to put it out?


OK.. Stupid joke. Seriously, i'd go with the ammonia theory. Aeriation has nothing to do with it, and he looks healthy.


BTW, that fish looks aweosme! I wish I had a big enough aquarium. Crummy 10g. :(
 
No, i tested the water. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates, pH of 7.2 and that was before i did a 25% water change.

And yeah, they are pretty, even at 1 inch and i hear they get even better
 
I suggest stress coat for 2 reasons - latent ammonia, which shouldnt be an issue, and because stress coat has chemicals in it that cause fish to be less stressed - it will actually calm high strung fish. if your fish are just breathing hard because they are 'stressed' out, then it may help. I doubt this is your problem though - my bet is that you purchased sick fish, with an undiagnosed/able illness.

hopefully they pull through though, good luck
 
i would personally go with a big water change, myself, even though the test results are OK. it never hurts (unless you've got old tank syndrome, but it doesn't sound like you do).

i've heard that the aloe in stress coat can "gunk up" fish gills and actually interfere with breathing! has anyone else heard this too?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom