Heavy/Labored Breathing

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Aqualoon

Aqualoon

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 8, 2009
1,787
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Minnesota
I didn't want to take over the other person's thread so I wanted to make my own.

This all started back March - old thread can be found here.

Basically, after a large water change I noticed heavy breathing in all my stock. What it came down to is that because there was (well still is) flooding in my area that the water company up'd their dosage of chemicals they put in the tap water and not knowing that I put the normal amount of prime in my tank like I did every other water change. Lost 1 fish because of this - beautiful male Green Terror.

Fast forward to today - ever since that large water change I have still noticed my fish breathing heavily. There are no other signs of symptoms of anything else. Water parameters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and at/less then 5ppm of nitrate. Appetite and behavior (besides the heavy breathing) are normal.

I have 2 (soon to be 3) Rena XP3 filters on the tank (tank is a 150g), both canisters I have the outlet breaking the surface, I have a power head on each side of the tank causing surface agitation and I have an air stone in the tank that stays on 100% of the time - even during water changes.

The tank temperature is sitting at 82F right now (yay summer!) and will stay at this temp until fall where it will go down to 78F.

Now when this first happened back in March the fish I lost showed abnormal signs before his demise in terms of his behavior. This is not the case here, there are no physical abnormalities (no fin clamping, white spots, etc.) or any change in behavior and there has been noticeable growth in all fish and colors are all normal. Also since this happened back in March I have been triple dosing my tank with Prime on all water changes.

So it's not from a lack of oxygen as I believe I have that covered, I don't believe it's gill flukes as there are no other similar symptoms that would accompany gill flukes so I'm not entirely sure what to do or what to stop doing?

I don't think it could be because of the temperature, which since march has been between 78-82F.
 
Hello; No real clue as to the cause of the problem other than a possible long term effect of the chemicals you mentioned. To get a bit more information, perhaps you could add a new fish and check for any differences. If the new fish starts doing the same thing, you could rerasonably suspect a current problem.
 
No matter how much water movement you have, the warm water is not physically capable of holding the same amount of O2 as cooler water, so you may notice them breathing a little more. My tanks get hot in the warmer months too, and I notice slightly harder breathing than in the winter. Is it possible your fish behavior just happened to start at the same time it got warm? I can't see your fish, so I don't know how hard they are breathing. The behavior I'm describing in my fish is not gulping for air like they can't breathe, it's just more obvious that they are breathing, nothing so extreme that I get worried about it.
 
the increase in chemicals by your water supply wouldn't, shouldn't be the cause. this is because of they have to increase dosage of the chemicals to maintain water quality standards but the residuals should stay about the same so adding your normal amount of prime would have been fine.
 
^ unless there is an increase in other stuff in the water which Prime doesn't cover
 
Sometimes that high chlorine or chloramines over time a damage a fish respatory system. But before thinking that has happened try smaller water changes and see if they improve.
 
It could just be me over reacting after the first initial 50% water change and seeing that happen. Since then I've been doing 10 - 20% water changes and haven't lost another fish - prior to losing that male GT I haven't lost a single fish in over 5 years.

I'll get a video of them tonight and post it up here, wouldn't mind getting other opinions on if this is just normal for the temperature increase and I'm just being extra paranoid or something.
 
i would try adding an airstone or 2, oxygen levels drop in warmer temps and breaking the surface with your cannisters may not be enough
 
albyoscar said:
i would try adding an airstone or 2, oxygen levels drop in warmer temps and breaking the surface with your cannisters may not be enough
Click to expand...

Aqualoon said:
I have 2 (soon to be 3) Rena XP3 filters on the tank (tank is a 150g), both canisters I have the outlet breaking the surface, I have a power head on each side of the tank causing surface agitation and I have an air stone in the tank that stays on 100% of the time - even during water changes.
Click to expand...

See above :)
 
If you are quite sure you have adequate agitation, I suspect nitrite poisoning. How are your 3Ns?
 
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