krib not breathing right ? please help !

[leigh]

ive just recently noticed that my male krib is not breathing right, and has been resting in the corner of my tank looking awfully miserable. he was fine yesterday. He looks well , other than the fact i noticed that there is only gill movement on one side ! the other side seems clamped shut what is wrong with him and what can i do to help him to get better, please help!!

 

[OrionGirl]

Water parameters? Any new introductions? How long has this fish been in there? Tankmates?

 

[leigh]

water perameters are all fine except nitrates slightly high which im battling with 15-20% water changes every 2 days.

no new intoductions.
tank m8's are :-
3 clown loach, 2 bala shark, 1 golden algae eater, 2 ancistrus, few neons and danios.

in the last week iv'e started giving my clown loache's cucumber slices!
i also put in an airstone.

we've had him for 4 months roughly.

 

[OrionGirl]

The symptoms typically relate to an irritant of the gills. An ammonia spike or a parasite are the most likely causes--I'd have the ammonia test kit results verified, and start monitoring closely for a parasite like ich--it could have snuck in on a fish, and the rise in nitrates (or whatever caused that rise) could be stressing the fish to the point where they are more susceptible to a parasite.

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

What size is the tank?

 

[NatakuTseng]

The fish really aren't all that compatable either, clown loaches prefer warm water, 80ish. The balas like it a bit cooler as well as the danios and neons. Kribs are fairly adaptable, the golden algea eater is most likely an albino gippiceps pleco they get quite large, easily over a foot, and the ancistrus are very adaptable. With no new tank additions recently you can probably rule the new fish introduction thing out. I would suspect beginning cycle of ich or it could also be gill flukes. As has been asked what size is the tank, what is the water temp, and what exactly is the Nitrate,Nitrite and Ammonia reading?