Discus Gasping At Surface Of Water-- Help!

[clarinuto]

I have a 37 gallon Topfin tank that has been running for a long time with no problems what so ever. About four days ago, I decided to add 2 more cory cats with my Discus/ Cory cat tank. The corys were housed with mollies at the pet shop. All seemed healthy and the pet shop has been reputable up to this point.

I came home, floated the fish, added them and stress zyme/coat to the tank. All seemed to be doing well. 24 hours later, I arrive home from work and my discus are gasping at the surface of the water. I knew immediately something had to be wrong. Started trying to research what was happening. Pulled out the testing kit and nitrite/nitrate/ammonia were all at 0 with nitrite just showing a tad of color. PH was 6.8-- Water was fairly soft, etc. Immediately pulled out Corys assuming they had to have something from the pet store and began to treat in a small hospital tank. In a separate hospital tank, removed discus and began to treat. Discus were no longer gasping for air and seemed to be doing better. Have been monitoring larger tank.

NO FISH are in the 37 gallon, but the water is cloudy... no clue why (I've tested the water and levels are still normal), I added carbon... we'll see if that makes a difference when I get home this evening... and when I tried transferring back just the one discus because I didn't think keeping them in the smaller hospital tank for a long time would be beneficial after doing a 50% water change in the 37 gallon and removing the infected fish... within a half hour, the discus was gasping at the top. What is going on??

I am so worried.

Tank totals 3 discus around 3 inches in diameter and 4 corycats.

Someone help me!!!

 

[fluttermoth]

What kind of filter do you have on the 37 gallon tank, clarinuto?

I'm guessing that you've got a bacterial bloom that is removing oxygen from the water. Try doing some much bigger water changes (dechlorinated, of course )

What are you treating the fish with? If they're not showing any symptoms, apart from the gasping, I'd be tempted to rely on keeping the water as perfect as possible and not using any medications just yet.

Hope this helps

 

[WILDER]

If you removed all fish from the main tank the filter bacteria would start to die off.

What test kit are you using?

How many fish and which type do you have in the 37 gallon tank.

How long did you climatise the new fish for.

Gasping can be lack of aeration, bad water quality, ph shock, parasites, bacterial, toxins.

Do any fish have a white film on there bodies, or a greyish white film on there bodies.
Do the fish look pale or darker in colour.
What do the fish gills look like.
Any signs of darting, erratic swimming, flicking and rubbing,
Do any fish turn upside down.
Is there plenty of aeration in the tank.

 

[clarinuto]

Thanks both of you. Here's more info:

Filters:
Top Fin Power Filter 40 with Cartridge
Marineland Penguine Biowheel 150

Treating Fish With:
Melafix has been used.
--I have Pimafix on hand if necessary.

Testing Kit:
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit

Number of Fish:
3 discus
4 cory cat

I let the cory cats float for a good 15 minutes

No film on bodies, color is okay, gills seem healthy
one of the cory cats were upside down for a bit

One of the discus did seem to be holding it's fin in toward its body a lot, thus I thought infection.

I believe there is plenty of aeration, with the two filters it seems water is circulating very well.

 

[WILDER]

What's the ph of the store where you got the fish from.

I would advise testing the bag water in ph and temp. This way you know how long to climatise the new fish for.
15 minutes sounds to fast to me.

Water change and increase aeration.

Will get you some info on ph shock symtoms.

pH 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. <br />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.<br /><br />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