Gasping Without Airstone

[jonny]

Guys,

I have a problemwith my fish in my planted tank. If i do not run an airstone the fish will be gasping for air within a day but if i do run this is no good for my plants.

Help? I do not run co2 but do dose flourish excel. What am i doing wrong?

Thanks

Jon

 

[Maximumbob]

what fish do you have??? e.g. Labyrinth fish do this normally.

What are your other tank parameters? (ammonia nitrite pH etc)

What is your filtration system?

How much are you dosing excel? and how often.

Give us as much info as you can please...

 

[nry]

Yep, without your tank size, number/type of fish we cannot say.

Do you know the readings for ammonia and nitrIte?

 

[jonny]

Yep, without your tank size, number/type of fish we cannot say.

Do you know the readings for ammonia and nitrIte?

ammonia and nitrite are 0
tank is 200L

Fish:

3 Angels
7 lemon tetra
1 bristlenose
1 synodontis
1 elephant nose
2 severum
4 blue rams
5 small platies
5 rainbow fish (coming out soon)

following the calculator on thinkfish.com i am about half stocked which is where i keep it. `i have a eheim 2126 external filter .

thanks for your help

Jon

 

[nry]

It is certainly not a stock-related issue. I am guessing you don't do anything like change the entire contents of the filter every week or something?

Gasping can have a few causes, the air-stone may not directly be the issue, it could just be hiding a different symptom. Gill flukes, major pH swings are two of the issues I know can cause gasping. Your nitrIte is zero so it isn't that.

 

[jonny]

It is certainly not a stock-related issue. I am guessing you don't do anything like change the entire contents of the filter every week or something?

Gasping can have a few causes, the air-stone may not directly be the issue, it could just be hiding a different symptom. Gill flukes, major pH swings are two of the issues I know can cause gasping. Your nitrIte is zero so it isn't that.

No i don't mess with the filter i consider myself to be competent in fish keeping but no expert. I always look after the water.

is running an airstone at night an issue with planted tanks? I was wondering whether i should just do that.

 

[nry]

Airstones at night are fine, though it isn't getting to the root of the problem unfortunately.

 

[jonny]

Airstones at night are fine, though it isn't getting to the root of the problem unfortunately.

Ok, so where do i go from here?

I turned off the airstone before i went to bed but found them all at the top again in the morning. Once i turned it back on they were swimming around again as normal within 10 mins!

This is really frustrating!

On the other hand is running an airstone really a problem with a planted tank if you are dosing flourish excel? Can excel be driven off the same way as co2 by using air?

thanks again

jon

 

[Maximumbob]

This is really puzzling. I think the interim answer is to carry on with the airstone until we can figure out what is going on.

Running an airstone at night will drive off and CO2 and can possible cause a fluctuation in water pH. I dont think this will be an issue with excel though.

Off the top of my head ideas...

Is there anything on the surface of the tank water preventing gaseous exchange? I've seen some guys with an odd slime on the water surface.

What are the dimensions of your tank... is it a funny shape like a bowl or column?

How much and how often do you feed your fish? (decomposing substances are a carbon source)

An important question here... what's your tap water pH (leave it to stand overnight) and your tank pH. GH & KH would also be useful here too...

I'm off to read a book that might help...

 

[OIJ]

Is your substrate old? It might be that the substrate is simply dead as they call it. I had this experience once and i had to exchange the substrate.

 

[Maximumbob]

Is your substrate old? It might be that the substrate is simply dead as they call it. I had this experience once and i had to exchange the substrate.

that would fit into the decomposing substances bracket....

How old was your substrate when this happened?

 

[DiscusAngel]

lift your filter up so the outtake of the water break the surface this pushes oxygen into the water. this may help.

 

[OIJ]

Substrate was over two years old. Everything has been very fine since I changed it.