Oxygen problem

[Tristan]

hey guys...
I have a serious problem... my fish have been at the surface all day...
I did 2 water changes and it didn't really help... my filter outlet is also above the water surface so the aereation should be quite good...
There is some peat in my tank... maybe it's decomposing...
but the peat has been there for ages...
so... what could be wrong?
tia

 

[wishmaster]

How warm is your tank water. The warmer the water the more you'll want to aeriate it.

 

[Cichlid Woman]

How new are the fish? If you just got them, it could be ammonia poisoning before they went into your tank (unforunately, I've had to do some research on that lately.) Hopefully that's not the problem.

-- Pat

 

[Tristan]

The fish have been there for about a month...
the water temperature is about 29C...

Very strange. This has never happened to me before... the aquarium and fish and plants have been doing very well up till now... all of a sudden...

My shrimp will all be dead by tomorrow if I don't get this fixed...
Do rasboras mind? I think they live in peat swamps right?

 

[AnthonyNYC]

Go to the LFS and get yourself a $20 powerhead. I have 2 powerheads for circulating the water as well as aeration.

Anthony

 

[RTR]

Tell us about your substrate and its maintenance? Is the tank planted?

 

[MP]

And measure ammonia and nitrites (not nitrAtes).

 

[Cichlid Woman]

Your heat is really up there ...

-- Pat

 

[Tristan]

The substrate is gravel and some peat mixed into it... about 2 inches thick in front and 5 inches at the back....
The tank is planted with low light plants... crypts and ferns and moss... I don't inject CO2...

I've drained out some water from the tank... so the filter outlet it much higher than the water surface and there's water splashing about... that seemed to solve the problem... I'll refill it tomorrow and see if the problem comes back.
Thanks for all the help...

btw is 29c too warm? sometimes the water temperature can reach 31c... it's really warm in Singapore so... not much I can do about it. My bettas and gouramies seem to like it...

 

[Serrateeth_2002]

tropical fish like tropical temperature,very high nitrates can kill but i doubt that happened,probably your water parameters.