Oxygen

[Mathew1991]

Sorry yes I have done liquid tests and no ammonia or nitrite very very small amount or nitrate

 

[Essjay]

Good


Those two are always worth testing if the fish start behaving differently.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Ammonia can damage gills but nitrite does its harm not to the gills but to the blood.

Nitrite enters the bloodstream through the gills and turns the blood to a chocolate-brown color. Hemoglobin, which transports oxygen in the blood, combines with nitrite to form methemoglobin, which is incapable of oxygen transport. Brown blood cannot carry sufficient amounts of oxygen, and affected fish can suffocate despite adequate oxygen concentration in the water. This accounts for the gasping behavior often observed in fish with brown blood disease, even when oxygen levels are relatively high.”

This is why one needs to test their water when fish are gasping at the surface. We need to eliminate both ammonia and nitrite as the source of the problem.

One last note re nitrite. Once inside the fish it takes a day or two to work its way out. However, if there is still nitrite present in the water and entering the fish,it will still have problems. The only thing known to help would be methyline blue in terms of clearing nitrite from a fish. However, chloride will block the nitrite from doing its harm and plain salt is sodium chloride. So a small amount of salt can be used to deal with nitrite which should only be a sort term issue.

 

[Byron]

Ok thanks
I think filter outlet might of been to far town yesterday so there wasent much movement on the top of the water and the air stone is normally only on from 4-9pm with the light

You have this reversed. During the daylight, with live plants, you do not want excessive surface disturbance because it risks driving off CO2 which the plants need to photosynthesize. During darkness, the CO2 being produced 24/7 will build to provide sufficient for the next day, but you have to ensure there is adequate surface disturbance to prevent poisoning the fish from CO2, which is what the gasping at the surface suggests might be the issue here. Another balancing act.

 

[Mathew1991]

the plants I have in the tank are fake not real

 

[Byron]

the plants I have in the tank are fake not real

In that case, you should definitely keep the surface disturbance going all night, even more than durinng the day, but certainly not less.

In an aquarium with fish being fed, organics continually occur. These settle into the substrate, and in the filter (the brown gunk). Various species of bacteria (not the nitrifying ones here) break these down. In decomposing, CO2 and ammonia are produced, but the CO2 is the more important here because there is really nothing to use it comparable to the nitrifying bacteria using the ammonia. So it builds. Good surface disturbance will maintain oxygen in the water and CO2 will be driven out. It is easy for the CO2 to poison the fish if it is not being driven off.