Rapid breathing from most fish in tank

[Thraeka]

Hi all,

My tank is being ravaged by a sickness and I cannot figure it out.

Tank info: 20 gallons, 1 blue german ram, 3 julli cory, nerite snail, DI/RO water with equilibrium, Fluval 106, 26.1 C temp, 6 months old, few java fern, one anubias, weeping moss, and one rock decoration from petsmart, 7 pH, all 0ppm from ammonia, nitrate, nitrite.

Timeline:
3 weeks ago: Notice fin rot on one cory. Figured due to stress bc ram has been aggressive as of late. 5 gallon water change -> melafix treatment. Add small patch of weeping moss to tank at same time.

2.5 weeks ago: Start noticing labored, faster breathing from fish. Not sure if was happening before and did not notice or if it started after.

2 weeks: Fish still have labored breathing. 5 gallon change -> Prazipro treatment. Flukes have been an issue in my tank once before.

1 week: Fish still rapidly breathing. 5 gallon water change -> second prazipro treatment.

Past few days: 2 of the cories and the blue ram all still rapidly breathing. The last cory (who originally had fin rot) is not, but I am noticing his barb wearing down.

They are still eating, but are becoming more skittish. I am afraid if I do not figure it out soon, my tank will be wiped out. Any help figuring out root cause would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Barry Tetra]

Try 75% Daily water change, add aquarium salt to the tank. Others will help you if they online @Colin_T @Byron

 

[FallenPepper]

Increase air in tank as well but that's the general fix for most health issues

 

[utahfish]

Rapid breathing is usually a sign of lack of oxygen. Creating more water agitation will provide more oxygen via airstone, power head ect. Also adding more plants will help. Swords are great aerators as are fast growers like anacharis ,hornwort. Also alot of medications can decrease available oxygen in tanks, im not sure why seems odd but yeah.
Good luck!

 

[Thraeka]

Thanks for the responses. I've had these fish for a few months and they did not have any breathing issues before which leads me to believe it is something else than oxygenation.

I will do a few water changed in hopes they will get better. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Essjay]

3 fish and 1 snail in a 20 gallon tank shouldn't have oxygen issues unless you've added a lot of chemicals and the water is every warm (which it isn't). Both of these reduce the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water.


What filtration do you have on the tank? I can see tubes, but not what they are attached to.

 

[Thraeka]

Fluval 106

 

[Essjay]

That should provide enough water flow to oxygenate a 20 gallon tank. We need to look for another cause.


I notice that you've been doing 5 gallon water changes - is this your normal routine? Most of change at least 50% every week., and for our tank 5 gallons is 25%.
You've mentioned using melafix and prazipro - have you used anything else?

 

[Thraeka]

Usually its about 25% every two weeks, but since the issue started it's been about 25% every week.

I've used one treatment of melafix+primafix and two treatments of prazipro. 5 gallon chance between each treatment.

 

[Essjay]

The first thing I suggest is to increase water changes to 50% or more each week.


I notice that you use Equilibrium - I assume this is because you use RO? I have not used this product myself, but I have read a comment on it recently, where someone was using Equilibrium to add GH to RO

Seachem Equilibrium should not be used here. This is a plant-related product, and Seachem themselves do not recommend it for fish-only tanks. It too contains stuff that gets inside the fish for no good reason.

This may not be the cause of the rapid breathing but it will still be affecting the fish.

 

[Byron]

There are way too many chemicals going into this tank, and that is most likely the source of the respiration problems. Do one or two major partial water changes (60-70% each) to get rid of most of what is in the water. Do one today, and another tomorrow.

Equilibrium is not likely to cause rapid respiration in itself, but it is one more substance going in the water for no reason. Eveen if you have very soft water, the plants mentioned earlier should not need this, and the fish are soft water species so they do not need it.

Melafix...I nearly killed my tank of fish the one time I used this stuff, and it did affect the respiration. These "cure all" products rarely do anything beneficial, it is like taking aspirin to cure a cold. Except with fish all the substances added to the water get into their bloodstream making it even more difficult for them to carry out the essential life processes.

Prazipro...may be the best for specific issues, but it is not good to assume this or that disease and add treatments, it only stresses the fish even more which means they are less able to deal with the actual problem. And never combine different treatments without changing out most of the water, unless directed to for a specific issue by someone who knows.

Fin rot...this is often mentioned but rarely is it the issue. A photo of the fish showing the affected (if it is) fin would help. Split fins are common and not "disease," and whitish edged fins are more likely nipped fins.

Salt was mentioned...there is no reason here for salt, and it will make things worse for the fish.

Rapid respiration is almost always due to something in the water...whether it is chemicals, lack of oxygen, excess of CO2, high temperature, too many plants with insufficient water surface disturbance at night, inappropriate GH or swings in pH...etc. A significant water change should immediately be done along with tests for pH, temp, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. After all of this and depending upon the results of the tests, "treatment" may or may not be necessary. It is a failing we all share, of wanting to add something to the tank when we see something abnormal, but often (maybe most of the time) it only makes things worse for the fish. Clean water is what fish need.

 

[Thraeka]

Thanks for your answers. I am doing a large water change right now and will do another one tomorrow.

I get a lot of my advice from a LFS and he recommended Melafix. Now as I am looking more into the med itself and it seems like a poor solution. The more I think about it the more the idea of having too much chemicals in my tank seems likely.

As of right now two of my cories and one blue ram are breathing rapidly. One of the cories is not. Hopefully the water change helps.

I will update.Attach files

 

[Colin_T]

Byron is correct. If all or most of the fish start gasping at the surface, it's caused by poor water quality or something in the water poisoning the fish.

The best thing to do if the fish ever look unwell or act funny, is a big (75-90%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. Then clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks and increase aeration.

The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read.

What to do if your fish gets sick

If your fish ever looks sick or unwell, then the following steps might help. Test the Water and Clean the Tank. Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and write the results down in numbers. Check it for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) too if you can, but...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Thraeka]

I did a 10 gallon water change yesterday (20 gallon tank) and the fish are breathing better. I have not gotten a chance to do the next big water change, but I will within the next two days.

@Colin_T I took a look at the post you linked and it was really informative. I definately will put more effort into maintaining high quality water.

Thanks everybody for your help.