Labored Breathing after large WC?

[twilight zone]

You should alway add water that is warmer. Also if the tap water have chloramine instead of chlorine, you should use a water conditioner that have an ammonia remover because chloramine is ammonia based as oppose to the chlorine which is not. Most tap water are chloramine based because it does a better job of disinfecting the water. Another thing is that if there was a higher than normal level of ammonia in the tank before changing the water, changing so much water which will normally raises the PH causes the ammonia to become deadly to the fish. Good Luck.

 

[Burko]

"The micro bubbles aren't on the surface of the tank, but in the water itself. I can see them in the light very easily."

This happens to me at times, particularly when its a big change and a lot of hot tap water is used.

But I have no idea exactly where the chemistry is going wrong. I suggest you change no more water and let it settle down.

 

[Aqualoon]

You should alway add water that is warmer. Also if the tap water have chloramine instead of chlorine, you should use a water conditioner that have an ammonia remover because chloramine is ammonia based as oppose to the chlorine which is not. Most tap water are chloramine based because it does a better job of disinfecting the water. Another thing is that if there was a higher than normal level of ammonia in the tank before changing the water, changing so much water which will normally raises the PH causes the ammonia to become deadly to the fish. Good Luck.

I use Prime, have since I started the hobby 3 some years ago, have never had any bad experiences from it not performing.

I guess I'll just let everything sit and settle...last big water change for me, gonna stick with my 20-30% changes, never had any issues with those. Just hard seeing them struggle and not being able to do a darn thing about it.

 

[aclockworkorange]

I set up a 100 gallon for my dad over Christmas down in california. He is having the exec same problem. I haven't quite figured it out yet either, and as I am not there to do any tests, it's more frustrating.

 

[Aqualoon]

I set up a 100 gallon for my dad over Christmas down in california. He is having the exec same problem. I haven't quite figured it out yet either, and as I am not there to do any tests, it's more frustrating.

Well, all my tests are dead on, nitrates rarely go over 20ppm because I do several smaller water changes a week.

This morning and it's the same thing - didn't lose any fish over night so I'm happy but I want to get this figured out.

There are now no more micro bubbles in the water, the adjustments to the power heads and just letting everything settle for a few hours took them right out.

This is what was happening before I added two power heads and an airstone, there is plenty of surface agitation now.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

what about pH and KH

 

[Aqualoon]

what about pH and KH

I'll test those when I get home, pH has always been 8.0-8.2 in my tank - I can keep this stable without issue, I only test pH once a week and I don't like to use any of the pH Up/Down stuff to adjust pH. I know that seems high for CA/SA cichlids but we have really hard water up here. But knowing this I only get tank bred fish and don't do anything WC. When I kept mbuna I did dabble in the WC fish cause my hard water was perfect for them.

Doing some google searches I came across this thread, and one person's response was as follows...

There are several possibilities. We will need more information to narrow it down.

Do you have well water or city water? What was the pH of your aquarium, and what is it out of the tap? Did you reach in your aquarium after using any lotions, or washing your hands with soap?

My best guess would be that the city (if you had city water) used something to cleanse the system....such as a higher dose of chloramine. Either that, or you stirred up a stagnant spot in the aquarium---releasing toxins.

Here's what I would do ASAP regardless of what the cause is.

1) Make daily water changes---but keep them under 20 percent. Add prime, and make sure that the temperature and pH are very close to the aquarium's.

2) Add activated carbon, to bind up any toxins.

3) Increase the aeration of your tank ---your fish are gasping, they aren't getting enough oxygen.

I do have city water, and I'm wondering if they added anything to flush out the system yesterday? I live in MN and the weather is just starting to get warmer so maybe they did something?

1.) As I mentioned in the OP I do 20-30% WC's 4-5 times a week so doing daily 20% is no problem. If it is because of something added to the city's this will help. I will get readings of my tap water tonight before I start doing any WC's though.

2.) I actually have two packets of Bio Chem Zorb on hand that I haven't used, I'll take a long lunch break and go toss those in my filters.

3.) I don't know how to add any more honestly, I have two XP3's with their spray bars pointed towards the surface, two power heads one on each side of the tank and then an air stone. I guess I could add random air stones throughout the tank?

 

[Aqualoon]

Sorry for the double post, I'm unable to edit so that's why.

Been doing some searching and the only conclusion I can come up with is that it has to be from the source - tap water. Either they added something to flush the system out from winter or they did something to change the pH.

Frustrating...will test my tap water when I go home to add some active carbon to my filters.

 

[Dis]

I have a very similar problem, I do weekly water changes around 15% and after I replace the water the fish begin to gasp. I found out that my ph in the tank is really low around 6 and the ph of the water I am adding is around 7.5.

Im having a hard time figuring out why my ph in the tank is so low. I have cleaned my filter foam, turned off my co2, and vacuumed the gravel. Any other suggestions?

 

[Aqualoon]

CO2 will lower your pH, so the water in your tank is 6 because of it then when you do your WC's and fill it up with water from your tap (which you mentioned is right around 7.5pH) it's causing the fish to gasp like that.

You should always try to keep the temperature and pH the same when you're doing your changes, meaning if your have a tank pH of 7.5 and a temp of 78F then you want your replacement water to be as close as your tank water as possible.