Help!

[alex1rob]

Hi guys

I am currently cycling a tank and have had 5 fish in the tank since Sunday. Two platys and three swordtails. I have a few plants in the tank as well as some bogwood. I am using the filter that came with the tank I think its called aquaart. I do not have an air stone. I am using tetra easybalance and aquasafe water treatments. The tank had been running for 2 weeks before adding the fish on Sunday, and I had the water tested before getting the fish.

I am due to go away this evening and not return until Sunday evening but have arranged for a friend to come over tomorrow and do a 25% water change and feed. I just did a 25% water change and have been doing them once every 2 days. When I came home from work this evening I noticed one of the platys was staying at the surface sucking air through his gills. I thought that it was possible poor water quality or lack of oxygenation and so changed 25% of the water. After doing so it appeared that all the fish were staying at the surface, which has worried me. I have been thinking that its possibly chloramine, but I don't really live in a city area (hertfordshire - england). 1 hour after changing the water the rest of the fish are now swimming around normally for a few minutes and then returning to the surface. The one platy is still at the surface and not moving. I also noticed that they occasionally scratch against the plants, but this I have only noticed happen twice in watching the fish for a few hours.

Thanks

Tank size: 60L
tank temp: 25C

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Scratching (very occasionally), Gasping for air at surface.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 25% every two days

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: tetra aquasafe and easybalance

Tank inhabitants: 2 platys 3 swordtails

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): whole tank is new (2 weeks) fish have been in since sunday

Exposure to chemicals: not that I am aware of

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[Colin_T]

Did you dechlorinate the water before adding it to the tank? It is best to make the water up, with the dechlorinator, mix it up and allow it to stand for a little while before using it in the tank.
Do you use a fish only bucket for the water changes?
Chances are the Water Corporation simply added more chlorine to the supply and this is what has caused the fish to gasp. Adding some more conditioner to the tank should help as will increasing surface turbulence. This can be done by aiming the outlet of the filter towards the surface.

When you go away I would suggest not letting your friend feed the fish. The fish will be fine without food but if he/ she puts too much food in, the ammonia levels will skyrocket and potentially kill everything in the tank. You would be better off just getting them to check on the fish, maybe do an ammonia test on the water if they know how, and possibly do a partial water change if needed. You could even make up a couple of buckets of water and say take out one bucket of water on this day and pour this bucket of clean water into the tank to replace it.

The fish scratching could be an irritation from the water/ extra chlorine, or it could be the start of whitespot. Monitor the fish for any signs of little white dots on their body or fins.

 

[alex1rob]

Hi thanks for the advice. Well when I came back I found all but one of the fish resting on the bottom of the tank, I obviously panicked, and did a 50% water change, and de-clorinated before adding. They are a bit more lively now but are sucking air at the top of the tank now. As far as physical signs, they seem to look fine, although there is one fish with about an inch long poo is that normal? Only the the male swordtail seems to be interested in eating.

I am picking up the water test kit tomorrow and have saved a bit of the water to do a water test to see what condition its in. I am planning on doing a smaller water change tomorrow regardless.

Does it sound like poor water quality?

Thanks

 

[drobbyb]

Gasping for air after a dechlorinated water change? This should not be unless your dechlorinator isn't working properly or there are chloramines present (this only applies if your dechlorinator dosen't have something to neutralize chloramines). Maybe your water company adds more chlorine than your dechlorinator can remove?

 

[Colin_T]

Poor water quality can cause fish to sit on the bottom and not do anything.

A long poo hanging off the fish isn't a real problem unless it is clear or white. Then it could be an internal problem, but if it is brown then it is fine and will fall off eventually. Chances are the fish ate a lot of food yesterday, hence the big poo today.

If the fish are gasping after you do a water change you need to make the water up 24 hours before you use it and aerate the heck out of it during this time. You can also try double or triple dosing the water with the dechlorinator. Make sure you mix the water thoroughly after adding dechlorinator so it has the opportunity to come into contact with all the chlorine in the water.
If that doesn't work then a chemical of some sort is getting into the tank via the water or bucket.

 

[LauraFrog]

It's pretty incredible what these fish will actually cop, I had fish displaying these symptoms (clamped fins, hanging on the surface or resting on the bottom) due to a contaminant from pesticide runoff in the water. They survived for a week until I could get them some clean water and I ended up forking out for bottled water for a while until the supply came good. The water authorities are often loath to report incidents like water contamination because it looks bad and it is unlikely to harm anybody, but what won't bother us will kill fish.

Instead of straight dechlorinator try using an advanced water treatment. There are water treatments available that neutralise chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrogenous waste (fertiliser runoff) phosphates (fertiliser) heavy metals and all manner of other foul things that end up in the water. Also, Colin is right, mix the water well in advance and aerate very well. This will actually cause a lot of things to evaporate out of it.

Also, is the tank covered? If not, has anybody been spraying toilet deodoriser, hairspray, insect killer, aftershave, perfume etc, using automatic air fresheners or burning incense? You can still use these things if you have fish, but you must be sure to tightly cover all tanks, and buckets containing water that will go in the tanks. When the fish buckets and other containers are empty, store them upside down, and make sure nets etc are stored where vapour cannot settle on them. You should also set aside buckets and containers that you use ONLY for fish. Make sure everybody in your family knows not to use them for anything else. I once killed a whole drop of fry because my mother soaked clothes in stain remover IN MY FISH BUCKET. I couldn't smell the stuff in the bucket, I didn't notice it at all, but it was still enough to kill fish.

 

[alex1rob]

It's pretty incredible what these fish will actually cop, I had fish displaying these symptoms (clamped fins, hanging on the surface or resting on the bottom) due to a contaminant from pesticide runoff in the water. They survived for a week until I could get them some clean water and I ended up forking out for bottled water for a while until the supply came good. The water authorities are often loath to report incidents like water contamination because it looks bad and it is unlikely to harm anybody, but what won't bother us will kill fish.

Instead of straight dechlorinator try using an advanced water treatment. There are water treatments available that neutralise chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrogenous waste (fertiliser runoff) phosphates (fertiliser) heavy metals and all manner of other foul things that end up in the water. Also, Colin is right, mix the water well in advance and aerate very well. This will actually cause a lot of things to evaporate out of it.

Also, is the tank covered? If not, has anybody been spraying toilet deodoriser, hairspray, insect killer, aftershave, perfume etc, using automatic air fresheners or burning incense? You can still use these things if you have fish, but you must be sure to tightly cover all tanks, and buckets containing water that will go in the tanks. When the fish buckets and other containers are empty, store them upside down, and make sure nets etc are stored where vapour cannot settle on them. You should also set aside buckets and containers that you use ONLY for fish. Make sure everybody in your family knows not to use them for anything else. I once killed a whole drop of fry because my mother soaked clothes in stain remover IN MY FISH BUCKET. I couldn't smell the stuff in the bucket, I didn't notice it at all, but it was still enough to kill fish.

Thanks for that, the fish are doing very well at the moment and I would say are back to almost normal behavior. I tested the water but annoyingly it only tests for nitrite and nitrate not ammonia so I'm left a bit confused. I left some water in a spare tank for 24 hours and double dosed the water treatment, then replaced 15% of the water today, and the fish did not act strangely after. My readings after the water change were;

nitrate :between 20-40ppm
nitrate: 0
PH: ~8 but difficult to read
GH:180
KH:240

I then tested the water from when the fish were on the bottom of the tank and the readings were identical perhaps even less nitrate in this sample. Confused myself. Perhaps it was an ammonia spike.

I will keep you updated on any more problems. I might invest in a better test lab, that will be a bit easier to read than test strips.

Thanks guys

 

[Colin_T]

Don’t bother testing for nitrates until after the filter has finished cycling. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as well as nitrate and you will get an inaccurate reading.

If your KH is 240ppm then your GH should be at least that as well. GH is made up of KH and everything else dissolved in the water. A GH of 180 and a KH of 240 doesn't sound right.

If you have an ammonia test kits and it is reading 0 then the first part of the filter development cycle is complete. That is to say you have sufficient beneficial filter bacteria breaking down the ammonia that is being produced. It is converting it into nitrite. In a couple of weeks there should be enough good bacteria converting the nitrite into nitrate and then the nitrite will drop to 0. Once that happens the filters will have cycled.