Fish gasping for breath

[Oli]

Hi guys… recently I’ve noticed all my fish have been what looks like gasping for breath.

I should state that the tank is massively overstocked (this was only supposed to be temporary for a couple days, however now is going to have to stay this was til next week )

I am aware that this is likely a sign of oxygen deprivation but the thing is, none of the fish are lingering near the surface/filter. They are all eating fine, swimming actively, and going about there normal business.

Are they going to be okay until next week when the tank becomes a lot less stocked?

I’ve attached a video to have a look, thanks.

 

[Guyb93]

If you have surface movement I doubt it’s oxygen , I’d test for ammonia ASAP and do water changes regardless , over sticking shouldn’t cause gasping there must be an issue with the water

 

[Deleted member 149562]

What are your water chemistry results since that would be the first step towards finding out what is going on, especially in an overstocking case

 

[gilpi]

Why would you think it's overstocked? What size tank and how many fish? Nice angels! If they were gasping for oxygen they would be on top, hard to tell from a short clip, could be stress?

 

[Colin_T]

All the fish in the video were breathing heavily.

If you think there is an issue or the fish look like they are breathing more rapidly than normal, test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the problem is identified. You can also increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine'/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If you have a carbon dioxide (CO2) unit on the tank to encourage plant growth, turn that off and see if it helps.

 

[gilpi]

Tough to help with so little or no information.

 

[Oli]

Tough to help with so little or no information.

Why even bother posting a response like this

 

[gilpi]

Why even bother posting a response like this

Because many of us would love to help you but guessing doesn't really help. More information (tank size, number of fish, parameters, filter etc) would help us give you a more precise answer, don't you agree?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I would look to two things as being possible. The first is stress. Overstocking can stress fish and that will cause rapid breathing. The other would be nitrite which should be tested. Also make sure the water temp. is not too warm. These are the most likely causes but by no means represent them all. And yes there is a lack of info from which one might determine what, if anything, is wrong.

When you say overstocking, I would be more concerned that fish which might belong in different parameters might be an issue. Any number of infections or parasites could be the cause of breathing issues as well.

Not knowing more detailed information maakes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine with any degree of certainty what might be wrong. Parameters, cycling status, how much the bio-load was increased all can give clues as does knowing what and how many fish are involved. Often a lot of what happens in diagnosing is that the first step is to eliminate the most obvious things and that usually points one in the next direction in which to look.

 

[Oli]

Thanks for everyone’s responses. Parameters were all fine and everything seemed perfect. Since rehoming the fish I needed to, everything had rapidly calmed down. I can only assume this behaviour was down to stress/overstocking, thankfully everything is back to being good