Fish Breathing Fast

[jackel931]

Hello everyone,

I was just wondering if you know what it means if your fish are breathing at double the rate they normally do. I put melafix in the tank for four days in a row and that is the only thing that is different about it. The reason I put melafix in the tank is that the biggest guy in the tank is picking on the smaller ones and one of them got pretty beat up. Right now im doing a 30percent water change and I'm going to add some bubbles to the water to try to get more O2 in there (hoping maybe thats the problem). If anyone has any info that would be great!
Oh yeah the tank is a 120gal. Filstar cannister filter and the tankmates are 5 frontosas (measuring from 2.5-5 inches)

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

your going through an ammonia spike, ive just gone through one atm myself. started yesterday with a gourami dying so i went and bought a full test kit and bingo my ammonia and nitrite were up a lil bit, i did a 50% water change yesterday and added a load of prime and some stability. im just about to do a 25% water change now cause im missing anouther gourami which makes me think that possibly someone removed it while i was sleeping this morning.

get a full test kit and test your water, in the mean time id keep the water changed up and add prime where possible.

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

hows it going? did you check your ammonia?

hope your fish pull through fronnys are quit the expensive fish but deffinately a pleasure to watch !!!!. got 1 myself, had 2 but one commited suicide down the back of the tank while i was out one day

 

[jackel931]

Hey they are doing awesome now! it actually wasnt an ammonia spike it was lack of o2. I found out from my gf (im not here during the week) that the filter was jammed up the night before and wasnt circulating water. I did a 30percent water change and lifted the spout (the thing that shoots water back into the tank) of the filter out of the water so it makes bubbles and they are breathing great now. I actually had one jump out of my tank the second night i got them. very frustrating!!

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

ahh hehe yeah well you can imagine my frustration especially at 50$ a pop bloody things rnt cheap but they r hawt when they grow up!

 

[Colin_T]

It's good to hear the fish are doing better now

Whenever you treat a fish tank you should add some extra surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels in the tank. Melafix, like everything else used to treat fish, depletes some of the oxygen carrying capacity of the water. The extra aeration helps to alleviate these types of problems.