In the past week, I have added an Atlantic Rock Flower Anemome and a Bi-Color Blenny to my tank. For the past few days, all of my fish (Percula Clown, Purple Firefish and the Blenny) have been breathing VERY rapidly. I did a 25% water change, yesterday, to solve the problem...but, this morning was still the same. What is causing this and what can I do?
Rapid Breathing...???
- Thread starter AW2EOD
- Start date
A few possibilities:
1. Warm weather's here, and warm water holds less oxygen. What is the tanks temp?
2. The new fish brought in cryptocaryon, aka marine ich, which hits the gills first. If the fish develop spots, you'll know.
Water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalinity) will help a little in figuring things out.
How long has the tank been running?
1. Warm weather's here, and warm water holds less oxygen. What is the tanks temp?
2. The new fish brought in cryptocaryon, aka marine ich, which hits the gills first. If the fish develop spots, you'll know.
Water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalinity) will help a little in figuring things out.
How long has the tank been running?
No one has anything else to add? Come on, guys...dont let me down. Someone has to have an idea...anyone?...hello?....
The Blenny has developed large, lighter colored spots on it's body, that seem to come and go often. These spots dont look like ick at all. From pics that I've seen, etc...that is normal. Neither the Clown nor the Firefish have devolped any spots. The temp in the tank is a constant 80 degrees F. All levels in the tank are normal (ammonia, etc, etc.). My Porcelain Crab did molt, and I didnt realize it. I found the old shell decomposing in the bottom of the tank, and it had been there for a few days. Could this have raised the ammonia or anything? the tank has been running for...oh, let's say, around 3 months. I thought maybe the levels were up, so I've been doing water changes.
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How big are your fish? That seems to be quite a few to keep in such a small tank. Also from the other fish you have it may be a territiorial issue and he's getting stressed out big time. With s.w it's not so much how many can we fit as how well will they tolerate each other. Stress will kill s.w. fish pretty quick. The crab shell shouldn't have enough nutrients in it to cause any amonia problems but, I'd still test the water with the bio-load you have. Be carefull when you feed or you might push your tank over it's capacity.
The largest fish in the tank is the Purple Firefish, who is about 3 in. long. The Bi-color Blenny is at 2 in. and the Percula is 2 in. When I got the Blenny, I didnt purchase it from my regular fish store and when I told them my tank size, inhabitants, etc, they said it'd be ok. I got home, researched, and saw that the Blenny needs at least a 30 gal. Bad move on my part...I know. I'm cycling a 55 gal. right now,...converting it from freshwater to salt and am going to transfer everyone from the 15 gal. to the 55 gal. when it's ready. If they get any more stressed, I'm going to call the fish store and ask if I can bring back the Blenny for store credit or something. I'd rather take it back then have the other 2 (which I've had much longer) die from the stress. If anyone else is out there reading this....learn from my mistake. When you decide to go salt water, buy the biggest tank you can afford. It will DEFINATELY not cause as many problems as a small tank.
Hi,
I was just browsing and I digged this post out of the backburner.
How are your fish doing now?
I had a few ideas of my own of what could be wrong. But, I guess time may have already gave you additional hints.
reefpicker
I was just browsing and I digged this post out of the backburner.
How are your fish doing now?
I had a few ideas of my own of what could be wrong. But, I guess time may have already gave you additional hints.
reefpicker
Reefpicker:
To make a long story short...the Blenny that I added had some kind of bacterial or fungal infection...I dont know which. It ended up killing my Flower Anenome, and my Sally Lightfoot Crab. I took it back to the store, where the owner wouldnt give me a refund, even though the receipt said "refunds and exchanges within 7 days with reciept". I left the fish with her (the owner) and when I checked back a week later, it had died. I demanded a refund and was told "I'm not going to give you a refund on a dead fish". At the point, I was kicked out of the store because of the yelling and cursing I was doing. End of story. lol Since I took the Blenny out, everything is back to being perfect.
To make a long story short...the Blenny that I added had some kind of bacterial or fungal infection...I dont know which. It ended up killing my Flower Anenome, and my Sally Lightfoot Crab. I took it back to the store, where the owner wouldnt give me a refund, even though the receipt said "refunds and exchanges within 7 days with reciept". I left the fish with her (the owner) and when I checked back a week later, it had died. I demanded a refund and was told "I'm not going to give you a refund on a dead fish". At the point, I was kicked out of the store because of the yelling and cursing I was doing. End of story. lol Since I took the Blenny out, everything is back to being perfect.
I am glad your remaining fish are ok.
I was going to give you 3 guesses. One of them was a bacterial infection... I think it would have been #2 on the list.
I had a few fish that died in a similar fashion.... They also showed rapid breathing, but they had a mouth locked open too.
I doubt that a bacteria which killed one of your fish is also responsible for the death of your invertebrates.
If the invertebrates died first then it could explain what happened to your fish.
Consider that your fish are all held in a very small tank... You state the size as 15g but I doubt that there are 15g of water. When rocks and substrate are included, you probably have less.
I have observed that when fish are stressed, they will sometimes exhibit this symptomps.
One last thing...
So you have no NH4 kit?????? No NO kits?????
Test the water!!!
??????????
Keep working on the 55g. In any case, it will be a lot more fun to have a bigger tank!
I was going to give you 3 guesses. One of them was a bacterial infection... I think it would have been #2 on the list.
I had a few fish that died in a similar fashion.... They also showed rapid breathing, but they had a mouth locked open too.
I doubt that a bacteria which killed one of your fish is also responsible for the death of your invertebrates.
If the invertebrates died first then it could explain what happened to your fish.
Consider that your fish are all held in a very small tank... You state the size as 15g but I doubt that there are 15g of water. When rocks and substrate are included, you probably have less.
I have observed that when fish are stressed, they will sometimes exhibit this symptomps.
One last thing...
So you have no NH4 kit?????? No NO kits?????
Test the water!!!
??????????
Keep working on the 55g. In any case, it will be a lot more fun to have a bigger tank!