Gasping Fish Help Pease

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Amethyst

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Having some issues with my tank and was hoping for advice. I'll provide as much info as possible!

Ok 4ft tank, 200l (60galls I think) been established for 4 years but not very well cared for by a lazy water changer
Ashamed to admit that I've not really progressed far from a beginner even though I've had this tank for 12 years, anyways I digress.....

Soooo decided that my new years resolution was to restock and really develop my hobby. I have some hearty fish that have survived (in a tank with Fontinalis and anubias that have been flourishing) - 6 neons, 4 harlequin raspboras and 1 silver tipped tetra. So i cleaned the gravel and did a 50% WC and over the last couple weeks I've bought 10 neons 4 raspboras, 2 tiny bristle nose cats and 2 small clown loaches. Oh and a random plant. I also bought some plant fertilizer, a fungal treatment because one neon looked like it had a bit of fin rot and some stress coat and treated the water. Then 2 days ago i got 2 female and 1 male dwarf gourami and another bristle nose. I came home to discover my tank had blown its seams - the glass bridge had collapsed and the thing was bowed. Argh!

So bought a new tank and spent 5 hours transferring everything over. I kept about 50% of the water and took the opportunity to clean the filter system (aqua one aquis 1050). Cleaned well in tank water but was conscious not to clean tooooo well. Separated the plants, relandscaped, added old water and topped up with treated tap water, checked parameters, caught and floated fish. All good until mid next day (saturday afternoon) I saw all fish gaping for air at the top and tank was a bit cloudy. Immediately did 30% Pwc, fish better. Tested for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates with only nitrates being high at 80ppm. Then this morning same thing, fish gasping at top, bristle noses darting to surface periodically, loaches with their noses out of the water. Another 40% Pwc and tested again, pH was a bit acidic so I adjusted otherwise 0 ammonia and nitrites, nitrates still high but not much I can do about it (tap water is reading the same level). Temp was a bit high at 26* so I adjusted my heater. All good again. Now (10pm) the fish are all gasping at surface again, all parameters are good, temp down to 24 and one harlequin casualty

At first I thought mini cycle but now I'm beginning to wonder if it's an O2 issue. I have added an old tiny pump which is blowing a few bubbles a second just to help agitate the water a bit (I'll buy an air stone tomorrow) but otherwise I'm at a loss. I've never had this issue before. Any advice appreciated!
 
I had this problem last week after I took my air pump out, I did a 50% water change and re added my pump with a 12" air curtain and havent had a problem since with gasping fish. :good:
 
What are you using to test with because this looks like ammonia poisoning. The fact that you just cleaned the filter and that water changes temporarily alleviate the problem reinforces that conclusion.

For now, continue to make regular water changes and double dose with dechlorinator, assuming it's one that also detoxifies ammonia (like Prime, for example). In fact if you do have a dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia, if you add it to the tank at a quantity sufficient for the whole tank volume you will, if it's ammonia poisoning, see an almost immediate change in the fish's behaviour.

You then have to hope that you've only temporarily set the filter back so that in a couple of days it will recover naturally.

And your comment about changing the pH is a bit worrying. Exactly how did you do this - what did you add?
 
Added a pH upper until pH was around 7.
I'll check hardness in the morning, couldn't get an accurate read today. I know the water here is on hard side though.

Using standard tests bought from local fish shop. I also tested on known samples to ensure tests aren't faulty.

Not sure if my decholrinator is also ammonia detoxifier. Will go check.

I thought the same thing about ammonia poisoning but every test comes back at 0ppm
 
Specifically which test kit are you using?

What was the pH before you upped the pH and what was the brand of pH upper? Over what time scale did you do this change?
 

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