Jewel Breathing hard

[MikeVance]

I've have a Jewel in my tank with an oscar and a few Africans (Yellow Labs...) It seems he is breathing kind of heavy, I checked his gills (visual) and there were no parasites to be found. This may be normal as I see him rarely in my tank as he is always in the plants and caves. He seems full of energy, eats, locks jaws and wrestles with the labs. I just noticed his mouth "gasping" but again it may be that jewels do this?

 

[Miles]

Check to make sure your oxygen levels are optimal.. Look at the surface of your water from underneath, and make sure there is no 'oil slick' look to it.. Also, make sure your water parameters are in check.

I would also think about adding salt, as Ich usually attacks the soft gill tissues first and a good forwarning sign is heavy breathing.. If it's a new fish or you recently added new fish, I would make the assumption towards something like that.. Hopefully nothing worse like a parasite.

Also, if you have alot of other beastly fish they could be using up all the O2, making the jewels little gills have to work twice as hard to pull in O2. Like I said, just make sure your O2 levels are good and you have lots of surface turbulance..