why are all my fish breathing so fast?

FishyMatty

FishyMatty

FishKiller
Jan 30, 2007
876
0
0
45
Milford,CT
I don't understand. My tank is fully cycled I thought I had an ammonia problem but it turns out it was the test kit. Everything else is good. Did a large water change today because I thought I had an ammonia spike. The fish seem to be breathing really fast. I had two new discus I got yesterday but I brought them back because I didnt want them to die. But all my Tetras and 2 blue rams are breathing fast. I had to turn the temp up a little for the discus but since there gone I turned it down thinking that was it. I have the airstone going. I've since discontinued the use of c02. What else could it be? When you do water changes how do you dechlorinate the water? fill a bucket with the correct amount of prime/stress coat or what ever. Then poor it in. Is there a step I'm missing maybe they are being hurt by the chlorine?
 
what's your temp according to thermometer (not the heater setting)? a few weeks back I had a heater overheat the tank, and all the fish were sucking pretty hard for oxygen. is your heater working properly?
 
Some dechlorinators will drop the oxygen levels in your tank. Make sure you're running an airstone or good surface agitation.

When you did the water change, how did you introduce the new water to the tank? How much water did you change?

If you add the water quickly, and/or change too much at once without following a very slow refilling method, and it's very different in temperature or pH, you can really shock the hell out of your fish.
 
I think the heater might be screwed up or the thermometer. I've turned the heater down to 79 but the thermometer still says 85. It said 90 earlier. The water change was about 50% b/c I had my discus and I thought I had an ammonia problem. I dained 5 gallons at a time filled my 5g pale with tap water and de-chlorinator and poured it in slowly over a plate I did this about 6 times. I try to keep the temp close and the ph is only about .4 different.
 
90 degrees will certainly reduce the amount of available oxygen in the water, so that is a factor. have you been keeping good surface agitation? (HOB filter, airstone, etc)

The only thing I would say to do differently is just to make sure you add the water very gradually when doing a change of 40% or more. Even a degree or two of difference, if added too quickly, can stress the fish out a little. Try the siphon from bucket method - where you place the bucket on a shelf or stand (make sure it's stable and safe! 5 gallons of water weighs around fifty pounds) fill the bucket, treat the water, and then run the siphon hose from the bucket to the tank - use that method to introduce the new water. Time consuming yes, but it pays off with a guarantee of not stressing the fish - even if the pH and temperature are quite different from the tank water. It's a bit like drip acclimating for an entire tank.
 
i agree with echo, sounds like theres not enough oxygen in the tank
 
I am willing to bet that the .4 swing on your PH and your temp change (depending on how fast you changed it) are causing osmotic stress. A PH swing of more than .2 alone can cause havoc as well as a temprature change of more than 2 degrees. Also if you have just added the stock to your tank they are already stressed out as it is from the move. You may want to turn the lights off and leave them alone for a day or two. I bet in Fish-ese they are screaming "leave the friggin tank alone".
 
Thanks for the advice. All the little fish have been in there for about 4 weeks. My water has been perfect. I have been testing it almost every hour for the past 2 days and it is consistently good. I ran the air stone and shut off the co2 since yesterday. Now all the fish are back to breathing good. I shut the air stone off this morning but I'm going to observe them for a little while before I go pick my discus up. I am just doing something wrong with the co2. I will take into consideration the advice given for water changes and do my best to leave the tank alone.
 
Glad to hear things are improving! :cool:
 
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