Heavy Breathing / Blue Ram, Cory Cat

[swungspeedz]

Ok, I bought 1 ram and two cory cats. Before i put them in the tank I did a water change and added stress coat. I let them sit on top of the water for 10 minutes, poured them into a bucket and scooped them out into the tank. I added 1 tsp of aquarium salt to help the heavy breathing, today I woke up and the cory cat was dead.... the ram and the other cory cat are still heavily breathing, I did another 25% water change today. Added stress coat and he seem like he and the cory cat still have heavy breathing. What should I do about this? Please help ASAP

 

[techen]

Do a water test, Tell us what it says.
 
Sounds like a uncycled tank.

 

[swungspeedz]

I have had this tank up for 4 months, 
 
PH 6.9
N2 0
N3 0
 
Would the stress coat or salt cause this?

 

[Lillefishy]

I think the problem is they weren't acclimatised properly, just floating the bag to equalise the temperature isn't enough, you need to take some water out of the bag & add a bit of your tank water & keep repeating over a period of 40-60 minutes to allow the fish to adjust to the different water.
Corys in particular you need to be careful with as they produce hormones when stressed & they can literally keel over & die in the bag or soon after release.
Test your water & do a water change if necessary, don't add salt the cory won't appreciate it

 

[swungspeedz]

I think the problem is they weren't acclimatised properly, just floating the bag to equalise the temperature isn't enough, you need to take some water out of the bag & add a bit of your tank water & keep repeating over a period of 40-60 minutes to allow the fish to adjust to the different water.
Corys in particular you need to be careful with as they produce hormones when stressed & they can literally keel over & die in the bag or soon after release.
Test your water & do a water change if necessary, don't add salt the cory won't appreciate it

I did a another 25% water change today , should I do another one?

 

[nick.darke]

I'd do another water test first - Need to check for Ammonia (NH3), Nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3) as a minimum - If the tank has cycled correctly and you're on top of the maintenance regime, you should have zero ammonia and nitrite and just a trace of nitrate. If the ammonia or nitrite levels are up then another water change would be the correct approach
 
Lillefishy's point is spot on - 10 mins floating in the bag probably wouldn't be enough to equalise the temperature let alone any differences between the water in your tank and the LFS. My approach is to float the bag for about an hour adding a bit of tank water every 10 minutes or so before introducing the fish to the tank. Obviously the lights should be off during this process and for a while afterwards too (I leave it at least another couple of hours) - incidentally my LFS will add a drop of stress coat to the bag water if I ask them.
 
The only time I've had to break the above rule was when the fish were getting extremely distressed in the bag.
 
Can I ask about your pouring them into a bucket? Choice of words perhaps but I prefer to net them out of the bag or if that's not possible then tip the opening of the bag under the water and let the fish make their own way out.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Yes, it is possible for additives to affect oxygen levels in a tank. This is especially true when multiple chemicals are being added.
 
Here is information from research into this subject:

 
Many water conditioners are commercially available, but some are formulated only to dechlorinate water and/or bind heavy metals. Water additives that form a protective “slime layer” will contain a polymer (often PVP or carboxymethyl cellulose [CMC]) or colloid (Table 4.1). Some additives contain aloe extract from leaves of the Aloe vera plant. Manufacturers of these products claim that the Aloe vera extract promotes healing of damaged tissue. One potential drawback to water additives that contain Aloe vera extract or CMC is the addition of organic waste load that can reduce the water quality and oxygen levels in a closed system. This may not be an issue, depending on the density of fish, length of time fish are held, and oxygen content of the water. However, the effects of these substances on gill tissue are unclear. Other common ingredients of water conditioners include dechlorinating agents such as sodium thiosulfate and 35 asorbic acid, chelating (metal binding) agents such as ethylenedianinetetra acetic acid (EDTA), and buffering agents such as tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane that restore acid–base balance.
 
It is unadvisable to use water additives that contain Aloe vera extract or CMC in closed holding systems due to the potential for these additional organic wastes to reduce water quality and oxygen levels. However, these organic materials likely do not have a negative effect on water quality or oxygen levels in open, flow-through holding or transport systems. Because no studies have directly compared multiple water conditioners, additional research is needed to determine which additive best protects the mucus layer of fish under different conditions.

from http/137.161.203.100/environment/docs/afep/system/2009-SurgicalProtocol_LiteratureReview.pdf#page=45
 
As for acclimating, research indicates that when parameters are truly different, it can take a week before fish acclimate to new levels. However, this research is able to track the internal biology and chemistry in a fish. It shows when and what physiological changes happen. Some people acclimated for some time while other get the temoperatures close and then plop-and- drop, which is what you did. i also do things this way most of the time. My experience is in most cases whichever method is used, if the fish do not die people claim that method is the right way.
 
If your test results are accurate, and you have no ammonia (which you did not report), then cycling issues should not be the problem. However, you did not indicate the size of the tank or the stocking before you added the new fish. Nor did you provide info about what else is in the tank. All of this helps.
 
Finally, many fish die in this sort of situation because they were not healthy and well fed when you got them. Weak or sick fish do not handle parameter changes and the stress of being caught, bagged etc. very well. So in some cases it is nothing the fish keeper has done that cause problems. If one's other fish already in the tank are doing find, this is often a good sign that one's tank conditions are not to blame when new fish die.
 
I also wonder if your assessment that the fish are breathing heavily was accurate. Normally, fish having trouble getting oxygen will be at the surface gasping. And if there is an oxygen deficit or other cause of oxygen deprivation in a tank, all the fish tend to suffer, not just recent additions.