Fish trying are gasping

[Sasha the breen]

My fish(except from the gouramis)are gasping under water asthough their trying to breathe,and they are trying to breathe the air above aswell.My LFS said that i should turn the lights off and do a water change,but now what do i do ??is it a disease?

 

[Melfice]

Is your Tank cycling? Can you test the water for ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates? It sounds like your Ammonia level might be too high. Also, what's your setup (Tank size, Fish count etc)

 

[HeatherSweetness]

Change some of the water asap and test the water parameters. Sounds like ammonia.

 

[G_Sharky]

I Agree get yourself a test kit and find out if you high levels of Ammonia and NitrIte, If they are just staying in the bottom and having rapid breaths then something is definitely wrong....

 

[Sasha the breen]

The guy at the lfs said nitrite but i know its still pretty bad, theyve all calmed down now,but i dont get its the 4th week,is it still cycling?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Did you ever go through a period of 0 amonia and 0 nitrIte? If not, then you are most likely still cycling. I think you should invest in a test kit for you, incluing amonia, nitrIte and nitrAte. Although they may seem expensive, you get lots of tests for your money.

If you cannot do that and have to use the lfs, be sure to get the readings for yourself. My lfs think that it's ok to have amonia and so would not even mention that I had any. What was the nitrIte reading?

 

[Sasha the breen]

i hate to say it but i have no way of testing my water,last time i did they said the water was fine(they take as a real dumba**)And i cant really afford a water test$10!!!!the charge,so i think all ill do it just do water changes over the next few days will that be ok?

 

[HeatherSweetness]

Water changes would be a good idea until you can afford your test kits.

 

[crazie.eddie]

I hate to say it but i have no way of testing my water,last time i did they said the water was fine

Did you test the water before you added the fish? If so, the water would show no ammonia or nitrites, becuase there are no fish. Even after the tank has cycled, I would have added fish slowly, about 10% of fish each week, until the tank is stocked.

Anyway, the gasping is normally a sign of high nitrites, which everyone agrees on. In any cases where there is high ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates, it is best to do a 15% (at the most) water change and lite gravel cleaning for the next few days until it is 0.

I agree, test kits can be expensive. You can always just bring your water to an LFS or LPS and have it tested for free. Though, in the long run, I don't see this beeing cheaper since you have to keep driving to your LFS/LPS everytime you want to get it tested. With the cost of gas prices nowadays, it would be cheaper to buy a test kit and stay at home while you test your water.

 

[Joviella]

just to agree with everyone.....i had this problem and it was caused by high nitrite levels. I did daily water changes and tested the water daily to check that i was solving the problem........happily enough didn't lose any fish.

 

[William]

You don't need all the test kits, just one for ammonia and nitrites, this will only set you back £5 or so, trust me its money well spent, as if you lose fish that'll probably more than the £5 anyway!!

Besides the stress and other problems...

 

[Sasha the breen]

My lfs sells a big one for £20,but i cant afford that yet

 

[William]

You don't need a big one, just get the individual Ammonia and NitrIte test kits... these are all you need...