Heavy Breathing

[jdmjunkiemonkie]

pH isnt high, my pH is at 8.2 san gabriel valley water for you. i always keep my cichlas at 87-89 all day.

is your fish dark in color? i had a friend whose cichla was in a tank and when they ate they got worms in their intestines and was breathing hard and turning dark like they were stressed. he couldnt save him and both of his cichla's died.

 

[ado124]

My pH is upwards of 8.2 as well. For those of you with cichla in 82* and less, how big are your fish? I've found my larger cichla are more tolerant than my 4" and under guys of lower temperatures.

 

[SpeshulEd]

is your fish dark in color? i had a friend whose cichla was in a tank and when they ate they got worms in their intestines and was breathing hard and turning dark like they were stressed. he couldnt save him and both of his cichla's died.

I think this is the problem. Like I said, he was fine, then when I fed him the other night, he started doing this as I was feeding him. Thats when he lost his appetite. He's also kind of dark and blotchy looking and still breathing hard.

 

[I<3fish]

I think this is the problem. Like I said, he was fine, then when I fed him the other night, he started doing this as I was feeding him. Thats when he lost his appetite. He's also kind of dark and blotchy looking and still breathing hard.

Usually the cure for things like this is raising the temp to 88, like we keep telling you and to add salt. Cichla are in no way sluggish when it is this warm. But don't forget to add oxygen.

 

[jimmie1974]

my PH is at 7.0 and water temp is at 82, I have Rapps Rio Meta Orino's, they've gone from 1 1/2" to 4" in the past 2 months, I also have 1 that is 6". When I did have the water at 87+, I had nothing but problems, algae blooms, and the fish seemed to have lost there appetite alittle. At 82 I'm going through 100 rosies every 2 days. If he is hiding alot, like it was said, the orinos could be chasing him when your not present.

 

[SpeshulEd]

I lost him last thursday. I was on the phone with my boss and watched him give out while I was on the phone.

The 4 orino's were still ok. I set up a feeder and went camping this weekend. When I got home, I had an orino breathing hard. He was dead today when I got home from work. It looks like the other ones are starting to go now.

I seriously don't know what I'm doing. It's not ick, there are no white spots. I fluctuate the temp up and then down, nothing really seems to help. I'm back at 84 right now.

The pleco in the tank is fine. The pbass are all dying. I think whatever interest I still have in these fish is fading fast. I don't know what else to do. I've never been in this situation before.

 

[gacericardo]

Lower your water level so there is as much oxygen as possible. you have got to get more oxygen in there

 

[408smokin]

i had just run into the same exact problem with my pbass breathing hard and usually stay at top. They were scratching them self on the bottom, but they didn't have any ick. I'm thinking you are having similar problem. For me, I use melifix for the last two day and they are pretty much back to normal. try that!

 

[SpeshulEd]

Next time I'm out, I'm going to get some of that. I'm now down to two orinos. I now understand why they're so expensive to get them when they're older.

Last night I did a water change and found a clump of old beefheart under a rock. I'm not sure how long it had been there, but it was stinky. My nitrates were fine, but I wonder if that still wasn't causing some of the problem. I'm going to be pissed at myself if it was the problem, but it'll be nice to know what the problem was.

The last two seem to be doing just fine. However, they were all doing just fine until they started dying off one by one.