Tropical Fish Panting (short Of Breath)?

[Arran]

On Sunday I upgraded my old Jewel Rio 125 to a Jewel Vision 180. I consulted my LFS and explained that the tank will be situated in the same place and they advised the following:

1) Bag up the fish
2) Empty all the existing tank water into buckets
3) Move the aquariums
4) Transfer the gravel and filter media over (same filter)
5) Replace the old tank water
6) Top up with dechlorinated (treated) fresh water
7) Leave for one hour to reach temperature
8) Re-introduce fish

Yesterday all seemed fine but this morning the fish seem to be panting/short of breath? I'm going to test the levels later this morning but wanted to know if anyone had any knowledge of what the problem could be and a resolution?

I obviously realise that this was not an ideal solution as the tank needs time to fully mature before fish are added but local LFS said all should be fine.

Many Thanks

Arran

 

[saz326]

Worst case scenareo the filter bacteria had died off while the media was being transferred. You should estimate that whenever doing anything with the filter you can lose a third of the bacteria (e.g cleaning the media). Chances are that the bacteria were either dried out or didn't get enough through-flow of water through the media - and were oxygen starved.

Do some tests to see how the ammonia/nitrIte and nitrAte are looking. Check pH while your at it.

Change 25% of the water initially while waiting for test results and lets go from there. New clean water will dilute nasties down a bit and add extra oxygen to the water.

Put an airline in the tank if you can until we know what the cause of the problem was.

edit: forgot to put - dont feed the fish!

 

[Arran]

Worst case scenareo the filter bacteria had died off while the media was being transferred. You should estimate that whenever doing anything with the filter you can lose a third of the bacteria (e.g cleaning the media). Chances are that the bacteria were either dried out or didn't get enough through-flow of water through the media - and were oxygen starved.

Do some tests to see how the ammonia/nitrIte and nitrAte are looking. Check pH while your at it.

Change 25% of the water initially while waiting for test results and lets go from there. New clean water will dilute nasties down a bit and add extra oxygen to the water.

Put an airline in the tank if you can until we know what the cause of the problem was.

edit: forgot to put - dont feed the fish!

Many Thanks for your reply.

I have completed a 25% water change today and I have just tested the water and got the following results:

High Range PH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm (MG/L)
Nitrite: 0ppm (MG/L)
Nitrate: 4.0ppm (MG/L)

Nitrate level looks high which may explain the shortness of breath? How do I bring this down? The PH of 7.4 also seems high?

 

[saz326]

Many Thanks for your reply.

I have completed a 25% water change today and I have just tested the water and got the following results:

High Range PH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm (MG/L)
Nitrite: 0ppm (MG/L)
Nitrate: 4.0ppm (MG/L)

Nitrate level looks high which may explain the shortness of breath? How do I bring this down? The PH of 7.4 also seems high?

Nitrate levels can be around 40ppm without any problems. so dont worry about them being 4.0ppm.... I am wondering why they arent higher tho. Good job on the water change.

Do you have a mid range pH test that you can run? High range is slightly on the edge of its capacity at around 7.4 so this may not be a truely representative value.

Ammonia and nitrite all look good tho. Hmm, interesting.

Were you able to put an airstone/line into the tank? How are they behaving today? Do you have CO2 running on the tank?

 

[Arran]

Many Thanks for your reply.

I have completed a 25% water change today and I have just tested the water and got the following results:

High Range PH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0ppm (MG/L)
Nitrite: 0ppm (MG/L)
Nitrate: 4.0ppm (MG/L)

Nitrate level looks high which may explain the shortness of breath? How do I bring this down? The PH of 7.4 also seems high?

Nitrate levels can be around 40ppm without any problems. so dont worry about them being 4.0ppm.... I am wondering why they arent higher tho. Good job on the water change.

Do you have a mid range pH test that you can run? High range is slightly on the edge of its capacity at around 7.4 so this may not be a truely representative value.

Ammonia and nitrite all look good tho. Hmm, interesting.

Were you able to put an airstone/line into the tank? How are they behaving today? Do you have CO2 running on the tank?

I ran a mid-range pH test yesterday to and it came up and the top end of the scale. I have an airstone running into the tank to.

This morning when I woke up they where all up and around the surface, even the tetras that normally stay midtank. I did another water change this morning and they seem to have settled down a bit.