Struggling To Breath

[tierhause]

I woke this morning to find my fish all at the surface struggling for breath, even my shy pleco is making darts for the surface. Whats wrong?! I did a 25% water change on sunday and added the usual dose of tapsafe and cycle. I am just doing some water tests at the mo, the nitrite levels are at 0.1-0.25 mg/l will keep you updated on other tests as i do them. All help appreciated. I currently have an explosion of snails, could they be the cause? thanks!

 

[rdd1952]

Generally, fish at the surface is a sign that the oxygen has been depleted from the water. What is the temp of the water and are you using CO2 for plants. If you have an air pump/airstone, add that as soon as possible. If not, lower the water level a little so the output from the filter creates a little splash to aid oxidization.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Also, how many fish do you have and what size is your tank? If the tank is overstocked that might also be the reason for the lack of oxygen. What rdd1952 said about adding an airstone ASAP is very important. Fish can die very quickly if there isn't enough oxygen in the water. Even if you haven't got an airstone you can lead some airline from a pump into the tank and just let it bubble away.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Its easy to assume that because the fish are gasping there is an oxygen shortage, but nitrites and ammonia being present in the water as well as high temps can cause the fish to gasp amoungst other things.
Because you have nitrites present in your tank it is cycling, do you know much on cycling or how to cycle a tank? You should do a 30% water change whenever there is nitrites or ammonia present in the tank no matter how small the levels may be or when you last did a water change, these are very toxic stats in any level.

How do you go about other tank maintance on average and how often plus what is your tank temp?