Fish Gasping At The Surface!

[bobross]

Hey everybody,


Tank size:55 US gallons
pH: 7.8 - 8.0
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: up until 3 hours ago, 40 ppm - after a 40g water change, 10 ppm
It's normally around 0-5ppm but I've been slacking a little bit lately.
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 78

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Lethargy, Gasping at the surface, most of the fish are swimming 'weird'

Volume and Frequency of water changes: Usually, 15g one week, 20g the next week, repeat.

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: The standard media that comes with rena xp series canisters (foad pads, bio-balls, bio-rings

Tank inhabitants:1 severum, 2 blood parrots, 1 blue acara, 1 firemouth, 1 rainbow shark

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): 1 blue acara two months ago, off-brand canister filter added
two weeks ago

Exposure to chemicals: Stress Coat on every water change, that's it

Now that the template is out of the way, I can go on with my dilemma, here it goes...



The past couple of days, I've been noticing that my fish have all been gasping for air. They were overall acting normal other than the gasping. I didn't think to much of it. Well, today I tested my water to see that my nitrates were a little high. Normally, water stats are close to spot on, but since I've been a little busy lately, the nitrates were high.

I decided to change out about 40g of water. About an hour later, I noticed the water getting cloudy. I figured it was a bloom and it would settle by morning. ....

On my way to bed, I see my two blood parrots upside down at the surface gasping, heavily. I turn on the lights, only to see my firemouth and shark doing the same thing. My sev looks pissed because I woke him up, otherwise, he's the best looking of all right now.

After doing some reading, I decided to add a couple of air stones to the tank for right now.


The only thing I can think of is that my new filter didn't have enough bacteria built up and so that's what caused the cloudy water & bacteria bloom. Maybe I changed too much water at once, I don't know.

Now I know about the amount of fish and that it's probably overstocked. However, other than the acara added recently, the remaining fish have been best buddies for about a year now. I've got options lined up if they get too big.

For right now, I just want to hear some suggestions or similiar experiences that might help me fix this. I don't wanna sit on the pity pot here, but this has been the first 'mishap' I've had for about 6 months so it's freaking me out a little bit.

I think I provided enough info, if not, please ask.


Please, someone help me out,


BobRoss

 

[minxfishy]

You say you added a new filter, is this running with the original filter? Or did you transfer the old filter media into the new filter? You have added airstones which may or may not add some extra oxygen to the water, is your filter outlet angled at the surface to create enough movement to get oxygen into the water? If not, I suggest you move it to create more aeration.

Did you test the ph again after the w/c? Sometimes it can change alot especially after a large w/c either because the ph has dropped in the tank or your water supplier has changed their system, pipe works have been taking place somewhere in the area etc.

Did you temp match the water when re-filling, did you remember to dechlorinate it? Sounds like a silly question but have to ask.

 

[bobross]

Thanks for your response minxfishy,

Alright, an update on the dilemma.

I added a couple of air stones on the tank two days ago and this morning ( feb 1), all the fish seem to be okay. In fact, it seems like that situation never existed. So, for now, everything seems to be alright. Maybe I spoke to soon. But, should this happen again, I want to ask some questions to prevent it from happening. or what would have fixed it.


I've been running an xp1 and a large off brand internal filter(similiar to the jewel internals some of you have) on this tank for about eight months. I decided to switch out the internal for another canister. When doing that, I included the internal's media in the new canister. So both filters should be running mature media. Both spray bar outlets have been aimed at the surface since they've been installed.


I did not test the ph because, frankly, I didn't think it would've mattered. I will remember that for next time.

I always double up on stress coat because of the terrible water our area has. Also, I always try to temp match when doing water changes. You see, when I did that water change. I didn't just empty 40 gallons, and replace with it with 40 gallons. I take out 10g at a time, refill, repeat. It sounds stupid, but that's what works for me.

i just tested my ph and out of the tap is --- 8.0. the 55's tested at 7.8-8.0, so not much of a difference this time. I always thought that the ph in my tank should be pretty similiar to the ph out of my tap.
I don't have anything in the tank that would alter the ph too much. ( a couple pieces of drift wood and about 15 smaller rocks)

My nitrates are still at 10ppm, after a huge water change.
So what would've caused this? Im thinking that the new filter hasn't cycled completely. plus, i slacked on water changes for about two weeks.

But if my nitrates are still a little high, should I keep doing water changes until they go down? or do I wait until the filter has cycled? I'm a little scared to do water changes for the next week or so because I don't want this to happen again.

Thanks again, it was really nice to see a response,


BobRoss

 

[minxfishy]

Changing over the filter, even though you used all the mature media, could have had an impact, Ive just cloned a tank myself and even though I used all my media and placed it in the new filter, Im having nitrIte rising, even with adding more mature media from another tank, sometimes it happens and it could have affected the media slightly. However if they all now seem to be doing ok, then it was probably just a blip and has sorted itself out.

In actually doing 10g at a time, your not really doing a 40gallon change, because obviously some of the new water you put back in is being taken out again in the next 10g change (hope that makes sense), you would be best off doing a complete 30-40% change in one go, you can dose with the dechlor at the time of re-filling, just double dose as you are already doing, alot of fishkeepers, including myself, do it that way, as we replace water direct from a hose from the tap.

The ph is fine, I was just wondering if that could have caused a shock to them, but if its consistant then that wasnt it. Your nitrAtes arent that high, I have 20ppm from the tap, so 10ppm is perfectly fine.

Keep testing the water for the next few days and only if you see a spike in ammonia or nitrIte do a water change, otherwise return to weekly water changes and you should fine.

 

[bobross]

Right on, thanks again man!

A strange thing about all of this is that my nitrites haven't budged from zero this whole time. Actually, I haven't seen a change in them in about 6 months.

Your explanation on the water change makes sense totally. The only reason I did water changes that way was because my internal would shut off after the powerhead was out of water. So, to prevent that, I would only do 10g at a time. That way the filter didn't need to be shut off. Make sense? I guess I was still in that routine when I got this new canister.
So now that I have two canisters on here, I don't see any harm in doing 20 gallons at a time.


Here's a question for you then. In my situation, with the way I changed water at 10g at a time, that somehow caused my fish to go weird overnight. Well, if I changed out 20g, and then put 20 back in, how would that be different? I mean I understand your explanation of why Im not taking out and replacing as much water as I think I am. But what Im saying is if my weird way of water changes did this to my fish, what's saying that the normal way wouldn't? Again, does that make sense?

I don't know. Im gonna follow that suggestion and monitor water for the next few and see what happens. I still think I should wait a few days until another water change, but maybe thats the idea of repeating what happened thats making me think that way. Thanks again, much appreciated.


BobRoss

 

[minxfishy]

Oh I dont think that the way you were changing water has caused the problem at all, just saying it didnt make sense to me do the water change that way, although with an internal I guess it does, however I always turn off my internals as well when I do water changes, but maybe thats just me.

It could just have been one of those things, maybe more chlorine put in the tap water by the water company for instance that one day, it happens, sometimes they change the composition of the additives they put in and obviously wouldnt effect humans (or it wouldnt be safe) but they dont consider fishkeepers

I dont think you need to a w/c for a few days so long as the parameters stay stable like they are, then just do normal changes weekly or as often as you need to. Maybe the fish were just having a funny five minutes, so long as they are happy now, thats all that counts, you might never find a reason for it, exasperating I know, but these things happen sometimes