Fish Floating With Rapid Gill Movement!

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LunaBug

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I am so mad right now it isn't funny. Everything with my tank was going smoothly. The Cory's adjusted well to the addition of a male Betta and the Betta had no issue having other fish with him. Yesterday my apartment complex did maintenance in the unit next door and it filled my unit with this acrid chemical smell. Other than giving me a migraine everything still seemed fine. The smell continued into today and when I came home from work I noticed one of my Cory's floating at the top of the tank and having rapid gill movement. There was a light foam around the edges of the water and the chemical smell seemed to have been absorbed into it. I quickly did a 33% water change and treated with API Stress Coat +. I then removed the betta and am monitoring the Cory's since both were having rapid breathing and seemed paler than normal. Any advice would be great since I have no clue what else to do. The water test showed a nitrite spike but I currently only have strips so I don't really know a number.
 
A bigger water change would help greatly, also it may be best to remove the foam.
 
Apart from that, I think it will just be a waiting game.
You may have to keep doing water changes though.
 
Opening some windows and turning some fans on may help to get rid of the smell and some of the chemicals.
 
Sounds like ammonia poisoning? Try doing water changes every day and observe the fish behavior
 
Oh man. thats a tough situation.
 
Does sound like its the chemicals that has been absorbed into the water and affecting your stocking.
 
As Blondie already mentioned, you may have to keep doing water changes, I would say everyday to keep the effects of the chemicals as low as possible.
 
A waiting game and fingers crossed! 
confused.gif

 
 
You're right, not funny at all whatsoever. 
Think if that happened in my block of flat there would be an event happening from me that would be told by generations to come and become an urban legend!
 
So far so good. The corys are breathing slower and are staying towards the bottom. Their color is improving so I'm hoping the worst is over. Narcissus the betta on the other hand is quite perturbed that I won't turn on the light or feed him. I'm going to try to keep them as calm as possible today and have them fast.
 
Sounds a good plan.
 
Glad things seem a bit better now.
 
Lets hope the worst is over, fingers crossed, and keep doing these water changes to be certain.
 
i was wondering on something similar but didn't ask incase i was over worrying.
my next tank will be a build on site and the smell from the glue used is extreemly strong. i was concerned about the air pumps pushing the "bad" air thro the water and harming my fish.
has anybody had other probs similar to this?
 
iona - hmm, is this aquarium glue or a general glue used for anything?
 
If its a general purpose glue, then for building a tank its the wrong stuff really, but as for the smell or chemical in the air from the glue, you might be best to err on the safe side and move things away from your main tank.
 
No need to take unnecessary risks really. Thats what I would do anyway, move the build stuff away from the tank.
 
yeah it's aquarium glue, i will be getting a professional tank builder in to do it.
the tank has to be built in place as it is too large to get thro the doors and too heavy to lift, even empty.
the small tropical tank could possibly be moved to the hall but my present goldie tank is again too heavy to be moved, it tane 3 of us to carry the empty tank alone into the house.
 
the only other thing i can think of is getting extentions for my air lines and having air pumps outside but if it rains this would not be a good idea :(
 
How long have you had this build going on and glue put on?
 
Are any of your stocking showing any symptoms of this?
iLke the OP first post, rapid breathing, at water surface, if you have shrimps, they would be the first to show signs all is not well with the water, going loco basically.
 
If no signs/symptoms, then might be ok, just keep a close eye on things and change water regularly to be safe perhaps.
Aquarium glue is ok but a unknown to me in regards to the fumes.
 
I would not put the air pumps outside by the way, as you said already, not a good idea.
 
it's not started yet, still getting things organized.
just when i seen this post and thought it was very close to my concern i would ask. semper paratuse lol :)
 
the glue stinks to high heaven and smells like vinegar.
 
i may extend the air lines far enough to put the air pumps in the garage as there is power points in there.
 
These tanks you have sounds massive! lol
 
Good luck with your project /s.
 
And thats a fine idea to put air pumps as far as possible and in garage, just in case.
 
i'd say the present goldie tank is a decent size but it's built in 10mm glass, which adds to the weight. the next one i would class as big lol :)
 
How are your fish doing LunaBug? 
 

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