need help asap.. fish gasping at the surface

kidsofcarnage said:
the filter is a penguin 350 which is a double bio wheel filter the covers all but like 5 inches of the tank and the water is down with a splash that shakes the whole tank

i did buy a pump today wuth an airstone that i am going to throw in but most people have told me online that ive asked said that isnt neccasary but its worth a shot i hope your right it would make my night
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Even if you're agitating the surface, if you don't have some current to carry the oxygenated water down and bring up the depleted water for replenishment you might still have problems as all the O2 is staying at the top. The airstone should help with that.
 
Couple of guesses: 1. Disease affecting gill function. 2. Possible contamination of the water poisoning the fish. Is your water change bucket clean?
 
there gills appear to be red nothing other than that

the buckets were purchased brand new and sprayed down with a power washer
 
mrgrudge said:
Even if you're agitating the surface, if you don't have some current to carry the oxygenated water down and bring up the depleted water for replenishment you might still have problems as all the O2 is staying at the top. The airstone should help with that.
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If you have a submerable heater at the bottom of the tank, that will cause a lot of convection currents in the tank. Also, if the intake goes almost to the bottom of the tank, that will move the water around as well.

The ph swing shouldn't cause them to gasp at the surface. It might be kind of stressfull, but shouldn't affect their breathing. I would just keep up on the water changes, keeping ammonia and nitrites (when they appear) below .25ppm. I was doing water changes almost every day for a month. It was kind of a hassel, but since it was my first tank, I kind of enjoyed it. I did loose a few, but not too many, fish. Its definatly worth it now though. The only fish losses I have had since my tank has cycled (November) have been 2 new oto's, and thats fairly normal for those fish when they are new.
 
Did you add any products like amquel. Sometimes the amquel will cause a drop in O2. I made that mistake once ( also was to cheep at the time and made my own lid out of plexyglass ) big mistake.
 
i use prime when i change water but heres what i have done and i dont know exactly what it means

water from tap 7.6ph
left sitting out over night 7.2ph

water before prime 7.6
1 hour up to 48 hours later ph 6.8

tank 1 hour after doing water change with water at 6.8ph it goes right back to 7.6

...but still the fish are gasping at the surface and the only problems i see is the ph and the tank ammonia levels going up and down as i do water changes

i just wish the **** fish would swim around and throw me a smile here and there, *******s
 
Sounds like there's definently an irritant or pathogen at work. What type of Danio are they? afaik most have a temp range that will allow for lower tank temps than 75F. Lower tank temps will increase the waters dissolved oxygen carrying capacity and also lower the the fishes metaboloism, which in turn will lower their disolved oxygen demand.

What brand is your ammonia kit? Does it use two reagents?

Are you using activated carbon in your filtration system? If not and you do have some, I'd suggest adding it.

I'm thinking if water quality issues can be eliminated with a reasonable level of confidence, then it probably would be a good idea to start looking at possible pathogenic causes.
 
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