My poor dwarf puffer is sitting on the bottom of the tank breathing hard. Condition has gotten worse over the last cupple days. I did a 20% water change with RO water and after that we spotted him breathing hard. He has been hiding and laying on the floor of the tank. He has not eaten for almost 2 days. He doesn't show any signs of bacteria..eg fins and look good He is in a tank with an Angel and 4 Guppies for almost 8 months, i ususally do routine water changes bi-weekly. It is a planted tank

Other fish in the tank look bloated and the pregnate guppies breathe hard

Anyone have suggestions?

Brian

Breathing heavily can be caused by either gill flukes or something bad is in the water and the fish have been poisoned. Low oxygen levels will also cause it but normally the fish will hang just below the surface gasping away.
The bloated guppies could have an internal bacterial infection. If their scales are sticking out then they are probably doomed.

Have you checked the water quality, ammonia, nitrite & PH?
What is the temperature and is the thermometer correct?
Is there any surface turbulence from an airstone or powerfilter?

I use the 5-1 test strips and everything seem to be fine...or within tolerance. Temperature stays at 74-76 degrees most of the time, when i do water changes it dips down a couple of degees, but never had any negitive effect on the fishes. I use a power filter to generate O2 and filter the water. It doent look good for the lil fellow, his breathing has slowed and doesnt move much. I do water changed every two weeks, and also add freshwater salt. I started a parisite treatment to help protect the other fish.

We called him Grim cuz he took all the lives of the sails that were in the tank..but i think death is staring down at him...

Need to know your water stats.

As I expected the puffer didnt last...couple days later died

The guppies still look bloated after medicating them for velvet.

I think it may be an internal bacteria

Current water conditions
GH 60
KH 40
pH 7.5
NO2 0
NO3 80

Does everything look ok?

Thanks

Brian

the nitrates are a bit higher than I like but not such a big issue.
I gather the GH & KH are in mg/L or ppm and not dGh. If so they are fine but maybe a bit low for the guppies.

For all the fish to start breathing heavily after the water change it sounds like something got into the water. Has anyone used your fish buckets for cleaning?

How long ago did you treat for velvet? I ask because puffers can be sensitive to medications and if you treated him it might have been too much medication that upset him.

Fish can heavy breath for many different reasons from bad water quality, lack of 02, parasites to bacterial.
Do your fish have velvet.

80 for Nitrates is way way high for puffers and most other fish for that matter.

I don't think the nitrates are the problem. Andywg had some interesting info on nitrates that said most fish can happily go up to 200 before a problem.

This post has been edited by Fella: Mar 8 2008, 12:39 AM