help

[bubbles12003]

my fish are at the top and gasping for air. i did a water change, tested my water for amonia, nitrit, nitrate, and ph. everything is is right on. i don't know what's wrong. could it be stress from adding a bunch of new fish?

 

[bubbles12003]

my new fish are doing great, it's only a few of my older fish that are doing that, my silver dollars are swimming almost upside down. i there anything els i can do so they don't die?

 

[Bloo]

This should really be in the emergency section - not pictures.
However, could you please give us your exact readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
How many fish (and what) did you add ?
How many gallons is your tank?
When did you start noticing the problems ?

I recommend a 30% water change to start off with - but please give us your readings of the tank water as it currently stands - before a water change.

 

[bubbles12003]

i tested my water before and after water change. my ph is 7.0, my amonia is 0.1, nitrit and nitrate are lower than 0.25. my tank is a 55 gallon with an external filter for 100gallon.(i some what have overstoked my tank) i recently(2days ago) added 9 gouramis and a betta. the fish showed no signes of this until late last night. i have done a 25% water change when i noticed the problem. my tank has 3 tetras,3 platies, 3 corys, 1 catfish, 1 pleco, 11 gouramis, 2 sharks, 1 killi fish, 2 silver dollars, 1 barb, 1 paradise fish, 2 swordtails, 1 rainbow fish, 1 betta and 1 frog. i know it's overstocked but i always had lots of fish and never this problem before.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Well, there should be 0 nitrite and ammonia. How much aeration is there? Hanging near the top is a sign of bad water, do a few small water changes.

 

[bubbles12003]

i'll add another small areation filter thing and do another water change. hopefully there will be no loss of fish. thanks for everyone's help.

 

[bubbles12003]

did another water change, checked my filter media and i think i fixed my prolem. my fish are no longer at the top. they are in the middle, still panting a bit but seems to be doing better.

 

[Bloo]

Is that a new-ish tank by any chance ? As in a few months old ? Just asking, because it's rather odd to have almost non existent nitrates on such a heavily stocked tank. Something's not right and I would have expected your nitrates to be somewhere between 20 and 40 (which is normal). Is your tanks still cycling ?
It certainly sounds like it

Either that or it's going through a mini cycle as you added way too many fish at once

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

anyway, that silver catfish shark thing is brackish, so thats probably why its dying in your freshwater tank. It's probably from adding those bunch of gouromis in one day, how long have you been cycling? Also, the 3 spot gouromis will probably start fighting with your others.

 

[bubbles12003]

i've had my tank up and running with fish for more than 2years now. everything is perfect now, all my fish are doing great. my columbian catfish is a brackish water fish when it starts getting bigger. it's doing great now.

 

[Snailguy101]

So it's all good?

 

[bubbles12003]

everything is perfect i think it was just stress of adding a pile of new fish. i won't be doing that again