Need help desperately!

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 21 Sep 2003, 09:26

I went away Friday evening, and came back Saturday evening, during which time all the animals were left home alone. No problems at all.

Save with my fish tanks. With 2 of them. On all three, the lights were left off for that time, but filtration and the like was usual. On Friday I did a 25% water change on both 20 gallon tanks, and a 50% on the 10.

Just now I noticed that in my 20 long and my 20 gallon, every single fish save the rasboras in the 20 long are gasping. They stay away from the surface, but their breathing is very labored.

I did a 25% water change on my 20 gallon just now, but all the fish still look bad, and are breathing heavily.

All my tanks are planted heavily with hornwort--my guess is that with the lights off, the hornwort took in O2...but if it took in all the oxygen, why would the fish start breathing harshly once the lights were turned back on?

Tanks stats:

20 Gallon: 2 bristlenose plecos, 2 mollies, 6 cories
20 Long: 2 bristlenose, 6 emerald eyed rasboras

In the 10 gallon, which is stocker, perhaps overstocked with pygmy cories and kuhli loaches, there has been no problem!

The 20 gallon has been receiving MelaFix treatment for an injured cory.

Water stats as of a few minutes ago, both tanks:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm
Cl: 0
pH: 8.2

Please help! I'm going to do more water changes in the morning, but I'm worried some might not last the night......lights are on the tanks right now.

Post by **Barbie** » 21 Sep 2003, 17:44

It sounds like you did all you could possibly do Taratron. You're correct, the plants uptake oxygen when the lights are off, and most people with planted tanks try to minimize surface disturbance, to keep from "losing" CO2. It takes the plants a little while to start photosynthesis after the lights are turned on. Hopefully that and the water change will have alleviated any problems for you.

You might check into a light timer for that tank. I use them on most of my planted tanks to make sure they get an even light cycle. Otherwise they get 10 hours most days, and 14 or more if I got busy and didnt' get home in time, hehe.

Hope that everything is better for them this morning

Barbie

doctorzeb · Post by **doctorzeb** » 21 Sep 2003, 18:55

Don't know waht to say apart from good luck!

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 21 Sep 2003, 19:10

if you have a spare airpump you can put that on for a week, or can you bring your power filter above the water line so it makes a splash. other than that good luck.

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 21 Sep 2003, 22:12

I did another 25% on each of the 20's this morning, and no fatalies.

Everyone seems okay, not breathing hard, and the light was on both tanks all night. I guess leaving the lights off for a day in a tank of hornwort was not my best idea to date....

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 22 Sep 2003, 03:37

everyone makes mistakes. ;) with no fatalities yours has been better than some of mine... one time my parents unlpugged a 20 gallon I had accidentally for a long weekend away... heh, I was up at college, they called me and told me they'd killed a bunch of my fish I wasn't real happy, but we all do stuff like that. Light timers are great... if you have multiple lights you can do all sorts of anal things like I make the light on the east side of the tank light up first just as the moonlight I have is going off and then the west comes on a few hours later, and then east goes off, west stays on for 2 more hours and goes off... just as the moon light is coming on. it's a whole uselessly anal system, but I thrive on stupid things like that. ;) if you want to spend $350 on one, there's one that you can program for a dozen or so bulbs that'll even factor in the odd overcast day once in a while... of course I'm running mine one $5 appliance timers... but...

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 22 Sep 2003, 08:53

UPDATE" the fish in the 20 gallon are breathing hard AGAIN....and this is with the lights on all day yesterday and today!

What should I do? I'm thinking of getting a bubble wand to operate at night....I'm sure the cories would love it....

Any advice?

Post by **Barbie** » 22 Sep 2003, 09:02

OK, time for a few more questions then. What filtration are you using on these tanks? Does it provide much in the way of surface disturbance? Are you supplementing CO2? All of those things can factor into the dissolved oxygen levels in the water, not to mention cause a fluctuation of the pH if your water is relatively soft.

The bubble wand idea would work, definitely, as long as its just lower oxygen levels causing the gasping behavior. A powerhead aimed at the waters surface would also.

Barbie

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 22 Sep 2003, 09:14

Filtration on the 20 gallon: AC200: no ammonia chips or carbon, two sponges. Hornwort and java moss.

No CO2 injection. My pH is fairly high.

What gets me is that the fish aren't at the surface gasping....the cories stay at the bottom of the tank, and the mollies around midsection.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 22 Sep 2003, 18:56

Whats the temperature of your tank?

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 22 Sep 2003, 20:20

82* F....hard to keep it lower in AZ heat. :S

Post by **Barbie** » 22 Sep 2003, 20:49

Are you just having trouble in the tank that you added melafix to? I had a friend kill most of a tank of java fern using melafix. Is it possible you have a larger than normal load of decaying plant matter in the tank? Is the ammonia level still 0 after the lights have been off a few hours? Sorry I'm not just coming up with an instant solution on this one. If it was me, I'd continue to do daily 25% water changes for a few days, just to make sure that there isn't something "off" in the water column. They can't hurt, and they can surely help at times.

Barbie

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 23 Sep 2003, 09:03

Lowered the heater's "set" temp to 78*......maybe it will stay around there.

Added a 4inch air stone tonight to help with aeration at night....the cories love the bubbles.

More updates to come.

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 24 Sep 2003, 09:24

UPDATE: the largest of my brothis cats died tonight.

He was the one injured by my male bristlenose last week or two....but he was doing fine till tonight.

Water test and change to come.....

Post by **Barbie** » 24 Sep 2003, 09:45

I'd definitely be doing daily water changes on that tank until you figure out what the problem is or the fish start acting better. Were there any other signs of problems before you lost this one?

Barbie

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 24 Sep 2003, 10:00

Nope....and he looked so heathly yesterday!

What gets me is that before he died, his eyes were sunken in a bit....any clue about that?

Need help desperately!

Need help desperately!

gasping fish.

taratron