Fish Gulping, Nitrate High, Help

[Zikofski]

Request Help

Tank size:
pH:7.4 to 7.8
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 1ppm (never seen this at 1ppm
nitrate: 40 to 80ppm
kH: N/A
gH: N/A
tank temp: 24

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behaviour):
Fish are gulping for air on the surface only seems to be my angels and torpedo barbs, corry's seem fine altho they do go up for air every now and then, and plec is fine

Volume and Frequency of water changes:
ususaly 50% weekly but yesterday added new fish, and slate into tank so did a 75% water change because it was cloudy ( i did wash the slate before hand)

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Media, Stock stuff in TetraTec 1200 plus my mature media from Fluval U3

Tank inhabitants:
20 Cory's
1 Plec
4 Angels
6 Torpedo Barb

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
The 20 Cory's I have just noticed one of my cores is upside down but still breathing on the floor ,
and Slate made into a cave for cory' and Plec

I did loose 2 Torpedos to me being stupid during water change yesterday

Exposure to chemicals:
API Stress Coat + for waterchange and fish added

Digital photo (include if possible):
Showing surface Water Movement

Cory's seem fine but there one Torpedo barb on the surface

My Torpedos and Angels

 

[Zikofski]

i am thinking on doing a 50% water change? only problem is i think its that fact i used hot water to do the water change, also i did put in some cucumber and courgette for my plec that did not eat it, also there are still a few bloodwors that i fed the rest of my fish yesterday someone please help

I am presuming the only thing i can do is a water cange again so i am going to do this 50% for now and see how things go from that

From observing my fish they do seem capable to swim around and go to the bottom just quickly go to the top

 

[Zikofski]

taken about 15% water out now and my torpedos are now fine i had left my filter on still and its like a water fall into the water, could this just be lack of oxygen in the water even tho i have water disturbance?

sorry another question can you ever put to much stress coat in?

 

[Shane Ward]

I think the slate could have been the problem, try taking it out and do more water changes and see if things improve, otherwise something could have been introduced when you added new fish.

Shane

 

[Zikofski]

Thnx for that, bait of miss spelling about this topic sorry its Nitrite hight not Nitrate and it wasn't 1ppm but actually beyond 5ppm i think now its around 3 to 5ppm has dropped I'm hoping my filter is just laying catch up, i did take the slate out during water changed moved everything around and did a deep clean of everything including messing up the sand to pick up anything that may have got trapped underneath, altho i have put the slate back in i don't think that is the problem, i did a little more reading up on nitrite so i recon my filter has gone #136### as i did add 20 fish that day and kinda over fed them over night so the nitrifying bacteria kinda stopped i guess with caused oxygen levels in the tank to plummet, fish are fine when i left them i live away for work but my GF takes over during the week i told her to keep a close eye and re test in morning, feed less and if nitrite dose not drop then do a water change my fingers are crossed

thank you shane for the help, and thnx to anyone that can give me more information into what could have happened

 

[Tizer]

do a 95% water change and get your fish well again, 3-5ppm is just stupid, highly toxic.

 

[Zikofski]

my gf is in the process of doing that and she saying the angels are belly up i told her to put hotter water in i think she dropped the tank temp abit, would change in temp cause fish to go belly up?

 

[Tizer]

my gf is in the process of doing that and she saying the angels are belly up i told her to put hotter water in i think she dropped the tank temp abit, would change in temp cause fish to go belly up?

It can cause some stress but i've never had fish die from doing a big water change, even if the temp does drop down to 19/20 degrees.

I tend to empty 200 litres of water from my tank (half of it), then refil with the hose (cold water) and add two 10 litre watering cans full of hot water from the hot tap during the process, mixing it will with the hose water. That normally balances it out at a good enough temperature.

Its the nitrite level causing your fish to suffer, nothing else, oxygen will be fine, its the Nitrite that prevents them from using the oxygen in the water.

Read this for a simple explanation (i wouldnt pay much attention to the salt option it describes, its not something i would do, partly because i've never done it but also because i know corys react badly to salt).

Also, dont feed them for a few days, if they cant breath, the last thing they will care about is food.

 

[Zikofski]

lost 2 more torpedos and i think 1 cory i hate not being there to do it my self stupid thing, ye temp is 19 i told my gf we got this yellow bucket, fill half with cold water and 2 full boiling kettles is enough to bring the temp to 26oc

 

[Tizer]

If they are on the surface and unwell/easy to catch, i would be tempted to fill up a bucket of fresh water and net the fish and plop them into it while you fanny around with the tanks water change.

 

[Zikofski]

okay angels she says are fine but i think we lost all the torpedos grr

none of them are swimming on the surface, one torpedo is upside down and not swimming and the other is fine apparently,

one angel is apparently doing wired stuff like flipping upside down and ye i don't know

 

[Tizer]

aww

Too much too quickly, lesson learnt the hard way, shame mate, feel for ya

Hopefully the corys will be alright, although i suspect you might get some losses at some point. Just shows that even big tanks can go downhill quickly too.

At least your missus is having a go, mine wouldnt even know where to start.

 

[Tizer]

By the way, i just noticed, do you not have any glass sliding lids on that tank?

 

[Zikofski]

er no i don't but i do have a lid ontop of the tank wooden one, ye i know sucks lol lesson is learned lol il leave it a few months before i even think about getting more lol, I'm also thinking about getting a wheele bin and filling it up the night before a water change stick a heater in it, de clorinate and use my filter to pump the water back in already warm to save as i did use like you said cold water from the tap outside on monday and that screwed up my first torpedos kiled them out right i think grr i love fish but they are so frustrating some times I'm sure it will be okay eventually

sorry thank you for your help and putting up with me

 

[Zikofski]

okay i would like to check and see what i can do, but did a 95% water change today as NitITE was way of the scale it went to 0 after water change all gd it is now slowly creeping back up its between 0 and 0.25 id say I'm ammonia is still 0 so i am worried that my filter cycle may have stalled? so what can i do to bost it gone cut down to 1 feeding away now in the evening, I'm guessing only thing i can do is a water change again tomo if its bad again?