Hey guys,

My fish are acting strange. I've got 12 Mbunas and 2 Syndontis cats. They all look like they're "gasping for air" and have been much less active than normal. Also, the food I gave them this morning which is usually gone within a few minutes was still in the tank when I got home from work 8 hours later. They're nibbling at it tonight, but not at the fervor they usually eat at. Normally when I come up to the tank they all swim as fast as they can towards me, begging for food. Today they barely noticed me and chose instead to hide in the rocks.

I replaced my two hang-on-back filters (a top fin and a penguin bio wheel, both rated around 300-350gph) with a Rena Filstar XP3 (350gph) on thursday. I put the bio-wheels from the Penguin into the middle cartridge in the Rena for bio-filtration as it didn't come with any bio media.

I then proceeded to do a 15-20% water change. The next day (friday) I noticed the water was cloudy, which has happened before after doing water changes so I figured it would go away in a couple days like it had before.

Also on friday I added some more rocks and took out a couple fake plants. I also repositioned the heater because it was no longer being hidden by one of the plants I removed, so I moved it under the filter spray-bar. I've had the tank set at 78 degrees ever since I initially set it up (May '06) which is at the lower end of the range, so i decided to raise it to 80. (Cichlid-Forum.com suggests 78-82 degrees).

I noticed the odd behavior first last night and observed it again this morning and afternoon. I just tested the water for nitrates and it came out to be between 0.3 mg/l and 0.8 mg/l, which normally is at 0. I also tested the ph which came out to be 6, but has always been around 7 or 8 right out of the tap.

Any idea what is going on? What do you guys suggest I do?

Thanks for any advice!

Seth

Need to look at your other stats in ammonia and nitrite.
Laboured breathing can be a number of things from poor water quality, toxins in the water, parasites, to bacterial infections, even not enough aeration in the tank.
Hiding away is definately a sign there something wrong.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing against objects.
Check the gill area for pale gill with excess mucas on them, or red and inflamed looking.
Check the body for spots or fungus, etc.
Added new filters did you seed them, as the tank could of gone into a mini cycle.

Cloudy water can be a sign of a mini cycle bacterial bloom.

This post has been edited by Wilder: Dec 10 2006, 01:03 AM

Thanks for the response!

I took the filters from my other established tanks and threw them into one of my HOB filters. The nitrate levels are down and the fish are acting normal again. Whew!

Good news then.