Angel Gasping?

[xamy_valox]

I'm not sure how much of an emergency it is, but I have just been messing around with my tank, replacing things and generally moving about.
Now that I have sat to look at it I notice my Angel is spending an awful lot of time at the surface gasping? At least thats what it looks like it is doing. When it did come a bit further down it spat a lot of bits out.
But its spending ages at the top of the tank and not much actually swimming about, what should I do?

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank please.?
How many fish and which type?
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph?
Have you been using any chemicals near the tank?

Immediate water change and increase aeration.
Do the fish gills look pale, red inflamed, lilac?
Any signs of darting, erratic swimming, flicking and rubbing, turning upside side.

 

[xamy_valox]

I did a water change when I was messing with the tank, the water levels are fine, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, PH 7.6.
33 Gallon tank with
1 Angel
2 Pearl Gourami's
1 Platy
7 Harlequin Rasboras
6 Neons
8 Cory's

Gills maybe look a little red, but I'm not sure if they are normal and I'm just being paranoid? They aren't inflamed or noticeably sore looking anyway.
It seems to have stopped doing it now, less frequently anyway.
I have my filter positioned so that there is a constant ripple across the entire tank to ensure oxygenation.
As I was placing my wood back in, it did get a little stressed and dart under the heater on its side. Could the gulping be caused from stress? As I say, everything was fine before that. None of the other fish are exhibiting this behaviour apart from maybe the platy.
No other odd behaviour.

 

[WILDER]

I think I would just test your water again just to make sure.

 

[xamy_valox]

I did that test after you asked me. Those were the results of the tests.
Could it be due to stress? I just don't think it would be lack of oxygen as nothing changed in that department? And as I say, the water quality is fine, PH has just dropped a little as its normally around 7.8

 

[WILDER]

Sorry I thought you tested the water before messing around in the tank moving things.

How much has the PH dropped. It if was due to PH shock I would expect to see more fish showing symptoms of PH shock.

I would just keep a close eye on the fish for now.

Here some information for you on PH Shock.

H Shock

As its name suggests this condition occurs when a fish is introduced to quickly into a new environment which has a very different pH from the one it came from, when the pH is adjusted to quickly and the fish have little or no time to adjust themselves, or when the pH is to far outside the fishes normal range.

It is very important that any change in water chemistry is made slowly and fish should never be exposed to changes of pH greater than 0.5 of one unit on the pH scale in either direction.

Avoidance is by far the best solution because in most cases the symptoms don't appear until the second or third day by which time the damage has been done and the fish will probably die.

A fish suffering from this condition will show all the typical signs of shock -

Lying on the bottom and paying little or no attention to its surroundings and ignoring potential threats.
It may even lay on its side or go upside down completely.
There could be other signs to, related to Acidosis and Alkalosis
Excessive mucus production.
Rapid breathing.
Swollen abdomen. (Alkalosis only).
If the condition is allowed to go on for one or two days then the chances of a successful remedy are greatly reduced because a lot of damage will have taken place. If the symptoms are spotted early enough there are a couple of things that will help.

Begin to return the pH to the original pH in steps of 0.4 of one unit on the pH scale and allow 3 hrs in between the adjustments. Make these adjustments until the pH is returned to a safe and satisfactory level.
Treat the tank with a broad spectrum anti-Bacteria/Fungus compound to prevent secondary infections of the Skin and Gills.
Prevention is easy. A successful treatment isn't!
PH SHOCK LINK

http/puffernet.tri...acteriosis.html

 

[xamy_valox]

It dropped by around 0.2, so nothing too drastic. It always tends to when I do a water change though?
I'll keep an eye on things and hopefully it was just due to me messing with the tank and a couple of the fish not liking it. The Angel has become very territorial over its little corner now, so maybe they didn't like the move around?
I'll let you know if it continues or gets any worse.
Thanks for your help.

 

[WILDER]

Good Luck.
Maybe add some fresh filter floss to filter to remove fine particles.