fish breathing heavily

9 posts

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


Dpil19901
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:03 pm

fish breathing heavily

by Dpil19901

For the last 4 day my 2 red eye tetras and 3black neon tetras have been sitting around breathing heavily my 3 red wag platys and 2 zebra danios are doing fine i just added a amazon sword and did a water change and adjusted the water temperature the tank is a 20 gal tall with an aqua clear 50 filter 2 air stones


Dpil19901
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:03 pm

by Dpil19901

forgot to mention added an air stone AND THE AQUA CLEAR is fairly new


dizzcat
 
Posts: 648
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am

by dizzcat

Have you checked your ammonia levels? They should be at 0. Also, when you did a water change, did you forget to add the dechlorinator? I am not good with sick fish advice, these are just a couple things I thought of.


Dpil19901
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:03 pm

by Dpil19901

ok thx and i did check ammonai today and its high like .28ppm(wat could i do about this) also i use uv sterlized well water for my tank


dizzcat
 
Posts: 648
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am

by dizzcat

To help get the ammonia down, do a large water change, at least 50%. If its still high the next day, do another 30% water change.


Dpil19901
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:03 pm

by Dpil19901

thank u alot dizzcat


zambize
 
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:14 pm

by zambize

Also check nitrites. Nitrites are actually deadly than ammonia and it sounds more like nitrite poisoning. After an ammonia spike you can often expect a nitrite spike.

You also need to be very concerned with why your tank is experiencing this spike. Is it new and going through the new tank cycle? Do you have to many fish? Do you not change the water often enough? Do you overfeed? Have you had fish die lately and not notice? What's going on? You've got to stop the source of ammonia.

Z


dizzcat
 
Posts: 648
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am

by dizzcat

Also, to add to what Z asked, do you wash your filter media under tap water? If you do, you are killing off all the good bacteria that keeps these levels down. ALWAYS rinse out the media (the sponges in a filter) in tank water only, never under the tap!


Dpil19901
 
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:03 pm

by Dpil19901

I think the ammonia was the prob since they are doing better now the tank been running for a least a year and i don't rinse with tap water i did have some decaying plant material which could the reason for ammonia spike

fish breathing heavily

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