Cichlids Gasping At Water Surface

[wrighty1968]

Hi ya all
im new to this forum and would like to ask experienced cichlid owners why my fish seem to be gasping at the top of the water surface approx 30mins after feeding, i have done all my testing for Ph, amonia and nitrate levels, and everything appears fine. i have a six hundred litre tank with approx 20 fish in it including many rocks with fine gravel. I have two exturnal filters both capable of 300 litres per hour which are in good running order. Any suggestions?
Wrighty

 

[diademhill]

Hi ya all
im new to this forum and would like to ask experienced cichlid owners why my fish seem to be gasping at the top of the water surface approx 30mins after feeding, i have done all my testing for Ph, amonia and nitrate levels, and everything appears fine. i have a six hundred litre tank with approx 20 fish in it including many rocks with fine gravel. I have two exturnal filters both capable of 300 litres per hour which are in good running order. Any suggestions?
Wrighty

This may not be relevent in your case but I recently saw this with some rescued Oscars - one even fainted after feeding. We worked out that the long term poor conditions ( six Oscars in a three foot tank for eight years and the fish were only about seven inches) had damaged their gills so when they threw food particles over the gills their oxygen uptake was diminished.
If your fish had experienced a nitrite spike recently this could explain the behaviour.
20 fish in 600 litre? What are they?

 

[wrighty1968]

Hi ya all
im new to this forum and would like to ask experienced cichlid owners why my fish seem to be gasping at the top of the water surface approx 30mins after feeding, i have done all my testing for Ph, amonia and nitrate levels, and everything appears fine. i have a six hundred litre tank with approx 20 fish in it including many rocks with fine gravel. I have two exturnal filters both capable of 300 litres per hour which are in good running order. Any suggestions?
Wrighty

This may not be relevent in your case but I recently saw this with some rescued Oscars - one even fainted after feeding. We worked out that the long term poor conditions ( six Oscars in a three foot tank for eight years and the fish were only about seven inches) had damaged their gills so when they threw food particles over the gills their oxygen uptake was diminished.
If your fish had experienced a nitrite spike recently this could explain the behaviour.
20 fish in 600 litre? What are they?

hi ya thanks for the rely
i have 2 severems 2 red tale sharks, 2 blue zebras 6 catfish, a blue lobster and 7 biggish cichlids around 6 inches, not sure of their names, got them with the tank.