Fish breathing heavy

[blairsmith]

I had a bit of an ammonia increase last night That I caught this morning. So I did a water change, about 20%. my water parameters are looking pretty good now but I have 2 electric blue acara one is hanging out at the surface and the other is acting normal. Most of the other fish are breathing more rapidly than normal. it does look like they are slowly starting to breathe slower.

About my tank: 120 Gallon Fluval 407 filter fairly heavily planted with CO2. been running 7 months

Could it take a bit of time for the fish to return to normal? it's been about 8 hours since I did the water change. Sorry if this is an obvious question, I have never had much of an issue with Ammonia. I am on well water that is quite hard

Current water parameters
PH 6.99 (Normally sits around 7.07)
NH3 0.019 mg/l (ppm)
Temp 77 deg F
Dissolved Oxygen 8.2

 

[Uberhoust]

Your ammonia value looks more accurate than what a test kit would give you, is the decimal place in the right location. In any case it shows something other than 0. If ammonia is the issue you will have to change more than 20% of the water. I personally would start with closer to a 50% or larger change now and likely another one the next day.

 

[blairsmith]

Your ammonia value looks more accurate than what a test kit would give you, is the decimal place in the right location. In any case it shows something other than 0. If ammonia is the issue you will have to change more than 20% of the water. I personally would start with closer to a 50% or larger change now and likely another one the next day.

Ok, thank you! The decimal is in the right spot. I will do an additional water change tonight and another 50% tomorrow. I use a Seneye to monitor my parameters and cross reference with test strips to verify accuracy. The picture I attached is what Seneye suggests (just to show what I was basing my reading on). It’s strange to me that the fish seemed fine before the water change. I’m worried I’m missing something additional but all other parameters look like they always have.

 

[Uberhoust]

I was kind of mixed up on the units, sorry about that. To get the ammonia down you will have to do big water changes. Something is not keeping up or you have something rotting in the tank.

 

[blairsmith]

I was kind of mixed up on the units, sorry about that. To get the ammonia down you will have to do big water changes. Something is not keeping up or you have something rotting in the tank.

No problem and thank you very much! I’ve done another water change as you recommended, added an air stone, turned off CO2 and removed leaves that were starting to die off. I found 2 of my fish died from this and were buried in the hair grass. Ammonia has dropped further again but is still not absolute 0. None of the fish are at the surface as of now and it looks like they’re breathing more normally. I don’t want to stress them anymore tonight if I can avoid it. I will monitor them tonight and do another water change tomorrow. Again, thank you

 

[Colin_T]

CO2 should be off at night or an airstone should be running at night so the fish don't suffocate.

Plants only use CO2 when there is bright light and use oxygen when it's dark. Having CO2 running at night is a waste.

 

[blairsmith]

CO2 should be off at night or an airstone should be running at night so the fish don't suffocate.

Plants only use CO2 when there is bright light and use oxygen when it's dark. Having CO2 running at night is a waste.

Thank you, I don’t run my CO2 all the time. I have it turn off at 7pm and on at 9am. I will add the air stones to a timer when the CO2 is off

 

[blairsmith]

I'm happy to say that my fish are very active, acting and breathing normal and were very hungry this morning. Water parameters are all back to normal. With losing the 2 fish I was worried I was headed towards a disaster.

 

[Essjay]

The ammonia level quoted is for free ammonia not total ammonia (which is what our testers measure). Free ammonia of up 0.02 is safe for a few days, though longer term it needs to be lower.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I'm happy to say that my fish are very active, acting and breathing normal and were very hungry this morning. Water parameters are all back to normal. With losing the 2 fish I was worried I was headed towards a disaster.

Invest in one of these, test "strips" aren't reliable

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