need help with africans

[kvulcan]

I have a 180 gallon tank and I have been gone for approx 2 weeks. During this time my wife has been taking care of the fish. When I got home the other night I noticed the fish seemed to be "gasping for air". They aren't as active as normal and didn't eat. They are mostly at the top of the tank and just opening and closing their mouths very rapidly. I did a 50 gallon water change but still nothing is changed. any suggestions?

 

[JWright]

Test the water, it sounds like an ammonia toxicity problem.

It'd be hard to give you more specific advice without know your ammonia, nirtite, and nitrate levels though.

 

[kvulcan]

I'll test it and post the results
thanks

 

[kvulcan]

I just finished testing the water. Here's my results...

Nitrate (NO2)--.25
high range PH--7.8
amonia--.25

anything here seem out of whack?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Yeah kinda. The Ammonia and Nitrates should be 0. Do some W/Cs and see what they are after that.

 

[kvulcan]

I did another 90 gallon water change and the amonia is still .25. what could cause this. I also found 1 dead fish too. Im fairly new at this stuff so Im really lost here.
Thanks

 

[Purple]

The dead fish could have been responsible for the ammonia readings, they can gum up a tank as they rot - but if the fish was fresh when you found it, then disregard the above.

Some meds (anti-bacterial in particular) can produce a behavioural change, usualy quietning down a busy tank.

Might be a good time to tear the filter apart as well and look in there.

Ammonia of .25 is kinda mini-cycle territory - how long has your tank been running, and has anything new (fish or otherwise) gone into the tank recently ?

 

[kvulcan]

The dead fish was very fresh. The tank has been up and running 8 months now. I did add a freshwater eel about 2 months ago that I kind of inherited from a friend. Thats the only change that the tank has had in about 5 months. nothing new at all, not even rocks.

 

[TaffyFish]

apart from the dead fish, the (small) ammonia spike might have been caused by some overfeeding - is it possible that the wife was a bit over-enthusiastic?

I would add some aquarium or marine salt and an (extra?) airstone to help get them through.

 

[kvulcan]

It is completely reasonable to assume that my lovely wife did a little bit of over feeding. I will put an air stone in tonight. How much salt should I add to it. What exactly does the salt do to the aquarium?
Dan

 

[steve535]

how was the temp of the water from the change?2 deg, either way will stress out most fish.that could have added to the problem.

 

[LisaD38]

Parasitic Infection

I just had the same problem with my chiclids. I was told that they had Velvet which is a Parasitic Infection. This was caused by over feeding while I was away.
I treated my tank with Maracide made by Mardel. This has curred my tank and my fish are no longer gasping for air at the top of the tank and they are eating again. I hope this helps. Lisa

 

[Purple]

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/treatment/a/saltiinfresh.htm