All My Fish Look Sick!

[australia]

i have a 160litre 4 foot tank with 3 gold severums, 2 electric blues and 3 electric yellows, all of them were fine entill today i noticed they all look like they need more air, they are opening and closing there mouths constantly, whats wrong with them?

 

[PRW1988]

Are they gasping at the surface? if so that's normal. Opening and closing their mouths? if this isn't right at the surface it shouldn't be too much to worry about, most fish open and close their mouths repetedly.

 

[australia]

there not gasping at the surface, what does it mean when they are though?

 

[scooterchick]

When they;re gasping at the surface basically they're suffocating.

 

[cheesy feet]

Your tank is seriously overstocked (unless the fish are all very young) and the fish and hot temperatures have probably taken all the oxygen out the water.Add an air stone ASAP.I lost my two festivums from this Try doing the common tests to see if anything else is wrong.IE pH Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.

 

[australia]

Your tank is seriously overstocked (unless the fish are all very young) and the fish and hot temperatures have probably taken all the oxygen out the water.Add an air stone ASAP.I lost my two festivums from this Try doing the common tests to see if anything else is wrong.IE pH Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.

i only have 3 electric yellows at 4cm, 2 electric blues at 5cm, and 3 severum golds at around 7cm, My tank it 4 foot/160litre, they have plenty of air

i have now done the following tests:

Temp: 26/27C

Ph= 7.6

Ammonia= Nill

Hardness= 360ppm

Nitrite= Nill

Nitrate= 20ppm

the only thing i can think of is that i changed my filter from a wisper internal to a canister filter, would that affect my fish and tank?

 

[BigC]

Your water seems very hard and the pH slightly high. The filter change would have an effect though. Perform a 20% waterchange and see if that helps.
Regards
BigC

 

[australia]

Your water seems very hard and the pH slightly high. The filter change would have an effect though. Perform a 20% waterchange and see if that helps.
Regards
BigC

okay i thought the hardness and ph were good, what should i have them set to?

i done a 20% water change yesterday and today, they are still opening and closing there mouths, i hope for the best that they are good tomorrow

 

[BigC]

Just noticed you temps 81'F try bring that down to around 72-74'F (23'C)
pH around neutral if you can get it there slowly.
360ppm constitutes very hard water and you should conside trying to soften this a little.
If your fish were OK in this water originally then I would suggest its the heat. Reduce the heat from the Heater/Stat and keep doing 20% water changes over the next couple of days untill you get everything on an even keel again.
Also just as a precaution keep a visual on the fishes gill area to see if there is an infection present.
Regards
BigC

 

[-germ-]

Certainly sounds like hypoxia to me
Does your filter disturb the waters surface?
Try performing a water change with well disturbed and slightly cooler (than normal) water.
Also if you have a normal household fan set this blowing on the waters surface, as well as cooling the water a little it will help disturb the waters surface thus increasing potential oxygen uptake (or similar)....
Also....
When you say you changed filters did you also replace all the old filter pads with new ones? Thus removing all your nitrifying bacteria?
And....
The other common reason for gasping is poisoning (which you seem fine on) but you may have performed a water change recently, around the same time (before) of the test?
Any other physical symptoms? Particularily gill or body discolouration, maybe even keep an eye out for small parasitic attachments to the gills.....

 

[australia]

Certainly sounds like hypoxia to me
Does your filter disturb the waters surface?
Try performing a water change with well disturbed and slightly cooler (than normal) water.
Also if you have a normal household fan set this blowing on the waters surface, as well as cooling the water a little it will help disturb the waters surface thus increasing potential oxygen uptake (or similar)....
Also....
When you say you changed filters did you also replace all the old filter pads with new ones? Thus removing all your nitrifying bacteria?
And....
The other common reason for gasping is poisoning (which you seem fine on) but you may have performed a water change recently, around the same time (before) of the test?
Any other physical symptoms? Particularily gill or body discolouration, maybe even keep an eye out for small parasitic attachments to the gills.....

okay the filter does not disturb the waters surface, and when i changed my filter NO i didnt put any of the old filter media in their, i forgot

no physical symptoms and there gills look good

 

[-germ-]

You tank is going to have to go through a cycle then!
Get something; raise the filter and/or household fan/ and/or airstone to disturb the waters surface, at the moment, if your stats are correct ( )the cycle hasn't begun so the lack of oxygen (if it indeed is this) needs to be dealt with a.s.a.p.
Like i said if non of the above options are available to you, get water changing (may as well get used to it now with your cycle on its way), the water you add will be optimally oxygenated due to it going through your tap and bubbling away in your bucket (if indeed this is how you perform water changes), and keep it fairly cool, try and get the temp down to what BigC stated, i don't know suitable Cichlid temps.
I can't emphasise enough how much you need to get the water oxygenated quickly, a girl on this site about a month back lost an entire tanks worth of Yellow Labs due to Hypoxia.
Even if it turns out not to be hypoxia to not do so would be unneccessarily risky IMO.
Good luck

 

[-germ-]

Phew....
Just checked your tank profile, with mature media available from your other tanks you may be able to avoid a cycle.

 

[australia]

You tank is going to have to go through a cycle then!
Get something; raise the filter and/or household fan/ and/or airstone to disturb the waters surface, at the moment, if your stats are correct ( )the cycle hasn't begun so the lack of oxygen (if it indeed is this) needs to be dealt with a.s.a.p.
Like i said if non of the above options are available to you, get water changing (may as well get used to it now with your cycle on its way), the water you add will be optimally oxygenated due to it going through your tap and bubbling away in your bucket (if indeed this is how you perform water changes), and keep it fairly cool, try and get the temp down to what BigC stated, i don't know suitable Cichlid temps.
I can't emphasis how much you need to get the water oxygenated quickly, a girl about a month back lost an entire tanks worth of Yellow Labs due to Hypoxia.
Even if t turns out not to be hypoxia to not do so would be unneccessarily risky IMO.
Good luck

okay looks like im in a little trouble, i have a few ideas to get my tank cycled quick....i have heard of a live strain bacteria from Aqua One though i cant seem to find it anywhere apart from aqua one`s website and they dont sell it on there to the public and im also wondering if there are any chemicals/organics i can use to cycle my tank quick?

 

[australia]

Phew....
Just checked your tank profile, with mature media available from your other tanks you may be able to avoid a cycle.

yeah i wish i had them tanks up and running still i could of used some of their media , i am in the proccess of changing fish rooms

i have to change my profile too