Curious what exactly it means, of anything, when one fish is breathing very hard and the others are not. Everyone else is swimming around and look great while one fish is still swimming, but is breathing really hard. This happens often, this fish pumps its gills like crazy when everyone else is just hanging out being cool. Anything to this?
breathing rate
- Thread starter irishfan
- Start date
that's funny that you say that cause my bichir has been breathing hard sometimes but all my other fish seem fine.
It could mean stress or the onset of ich. Also maybe not enough 02 in the tank. Do you have an airstone in there? Some fish such as plecos will "pant" but not if the breathing is really labored. What kind of fish we talking here? tank size? other fish that are in there?
Its my chocolate cichlid. Shes an aggressive fish, always chasing anyone who gets near and constantly beating on the larger male severum, but shes always sitting there panting up a storm. Its been hours since my post and shes still doing it. Have had her for over a year, in my long established tank, no ones sick, have two HOBs running that definitley agitate the water enough. Male severum is much larger and hes normal, she just always huffs and puffs all day
Thats about the same thing thats still happening to my bichir. Both of mine are breathing like that now, I doubt there stressed and i have a bunch of air stones in the tank. I think they should be fine though.
If only one fish is doing this, could be stress, or the fish could have just been chasing another and then stopped to "catch" it's breath. If all the fish are doing it, it's a serious problem and normally means there is little o2 in the water. It's what you get when your filters shut off over night and your over stocked! Happened to me years ago...
since you say it happens often, that makes it even more puzzling . . . if it came one all of a sudden, I'd think it was a sign of discomfort or illness, but if it's a regular occurence - - and for only one fish - - it's harder to say if it mean much of anything . . .
it might be related to that aggressiveness you noted . . . my aggro fish tend to breathe heavier than the passive ones
it might be related to that aggressiveness you noted . . . my aggro fish tend to breathe heavier than the passive ones