Urg! Feel Like I'm Plaguing Every Forum On Here @.@

[Sesshis_grl]

Okay dokey so I have been adding fish to my 29G slowly and in groups for the past couple of weeks. Last week I added 2 dwarf flag cichlids, and they settled in and are perfect. I liked them so much that I went and got 1 more on monday, he was breathing hard and freaking out in store but I figure that was because they were moving around ornaments to find him. I got him home, acclimated him for an hour, and put him in. He's been in there for 3 days now. Day two he was clamping his tail fin only, sitting at down, and breathing hard. Now he is no longer clamping, eating with gusto, swimming around and in the front, and breathing has calmed down a bit but he is still breathing harder than normal. Now it looks like my other two flags might be breathing harder.

My question is could this just be stress? Or could it be parasites?

He has already been in there for a little while and has poo'd, so I'm sure whatever is wrong with him (if there is anything) has gotten into my tank. Should I treat whole tank for internal/external parasites? Saying this because it could be gill mites or flukes? There is nothing wrong with him externally except the heavy breathing, no signs of parasites. It might be due to an ammonia spike, but he was already acting this way before that. I had this apparently sometime this week and I'm not sure why as my water was fine before I added him and then the cardinals a day later, testing at A 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20ish, and it has been running for over a year. I'm doing daily partial water changes and hoping the bacteria catch up the the fish soon, idk what happened.

But should I return him? Treat the tank? I've never had any sucess with meds in tank so I'm scared to do it but can't ignore this weird behavior

help please

 

[demented pea]

Hi, have you ever tried "melafix"? its very good as first step in treating fish. Not too harsh.
Fish do get stresssed and react differently. Try something gentle before you get the big guns out.
What was the ph in the lfs compared to yours?

I hope he is ok

 

[primagen]

maybe your tank doesn't have enough water movement or dissolved oxygen? i think you should try adding in an airstone or lowering the water level before resorting to meds, assuming the fish are otherwise healthy besides the heavy breathing. got a pic or vid of the fish in question?

 

[Sesshis_grl]

I can get one, and I'll add later.

If its my tank, why was he doing it in the lfs tank too? And I think I have an airstone somewhere with tubing but what do you need for it to work? Do you have to buy a pump? I'm wary of any kind of meds including melafix because everytime I add them everyone just gets worse The fish store used treated city water (same as me) and we are both at a ph of 8

ok I heres a pic and that link should work for the video. The quality sucks, I'm sorry. And ignore my silly gourami who likes to get in all the pictures I also have a 6 in airstone, is that going to cause too much disturbance for a 29G? I think most of my fish are supposed to have peaceful waters.

Edit:: after 3 frustrating trips to the LFS I still don't have an airstone. I'll have one tomorrow. If this was the problem, and the airstone fixes it, when should I start seeing improvement? Also no one seems worried about parasites..so do you think hes okay?

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/sesshis_grl/?action=view&current=MOV00418.mp4

 

[Sesshis_grl]

I got an airstone today and hooked it up. It looks like a lot of disturbance but the fish seem to like it (i.e they are playing in the bubbles ) Are you supposed to soak the stone for a day before using? 2 different fish stores gave conflicting answers but its already running, the middle doesn't seem to be producing bubbles though. Gimpy seems to be doing better breathing wise and that was before the bubbler so I'm hoping he acts normal soon.

Does anyone think he looks weird or anything? If I need to return him I have to do it tomorrow, but i think he might be okay...

 

[This Old Spouse]

Honestly, he looks fine to me. Maybe it's the pink gravel that's freaking him out

Seriously, if he's eating and pooing and doing all the things that fish are supposed to do but just acting a little off, I wouldn't be too concerned just yet. He might just need to acclimate to his new home.

At what temp do you have your tank set?

 

[Caprichoso]

Is he breathing heavier on one side more than the other? I had this problem with my rams and other than the heavy breathing there were no other symptoms. I lost 2 male rams from this(from the same lfs) and finally went back to the lfs to see how their rams were doing because my water stats are excellent and I catered the tank specifically for rams. Well their rams were all breathing heavy too. They said the rams had gill flukes and started treating them with prazi. I'm kind of annoyed by this because I've never had fish will parasites before. What a tricksey little parasite because the rams acted and looked to be in perfect health at the lfs. 15 years of luck had to run out eventually I suppose, lol.

Good luck with your fish

 

[Sesshis_grl]

lol hey ya gotta love the hot pink

The temp is set at 78F/25C and no I don't believe the breathing was worse on one side, it was just bad in general.

I don't know. Since no one else is seeing glaring problems, and he has been progressively getting better I think I'm going to just knock on wood and keep him. I can hardly tell if he's breathing funny anymore and everyone else seems to be okay. Maybe he was part of the weaker bunch? because the other two I have are perfect, but the one left at the shop is doing what he used to do (clamped fins & heavy breathing)

Praying there is no parasite issues , Thanks everyone!

 

[Crazycat lady]

Honestly, he looks fine to me. Maybe it's the pink gravel that's freaking him out

I like the gravel!

 

[Sesshis_grl]

Thanks I've had so many colors that I can't remember what it was originally

 

[This Old Spouse]

Maybe the fish at the LFS are suffering from ammonia poisoning and your guy is snapping out of it in your good water.

 

[Sesshis_grl]

ha, ah that would make me so happy. I strive to get the perfect levels like you all have. Again he's doing a lot better, so that's good. His name will always be gimpy though, haha