Overnighted Red Texas took 2 days to arrive

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eyespot

eyespot

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 17, 2007
195
104
76
Williamstown, MA
Have you tested your water?
No
If I did not test my water...
  1. ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.
Do you do water changes?
Yes
What percentage of water do you change?
71-80%
How frequently do you change your water?
Every week
If I do not change my water...
  1. ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.
My 4 inch Red Texas took an extra day to arrive (totally my fault. The wrong zip code was in the autofill on my Pay Pal and I didn't catch it) and I'm a little worried. He physically looks fine (no ammonia burn on eyes, fins and scales look good aside from color being washed out)) but he looks like he's struggling a little to swim and he's still breathing heavily after an hour in the tank. I'm sure the oxygen levels got low in the bag but Is that behavior just due to the stress? He's got a well-filtrated 125 gallon to himself right now to recuperate and recover but I was wondering if I should be worried. I did a massive water change on the tank 2 days ago and all of my water parameters are good. The tank is 78 degrees.I also added some extra Stress Coat after I acclimated him and put him in the tank.
 
Would wait and watch. Reduce stress. Cont to provide clean water.
 
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Make sure the water colum is highly oxygenated. If you can point outputs to the surface to add more agitation, add another airpump if you can.
 
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kno4te said:
Would wait and watch. Reduce stress. Cont to provide clean water.
Click to expand...
I usually do water changes about every 5 days. I was going to hold off on doing another one for a couple of days because I figured a big water change so soon would stress him out further.
 
Jexnell said:
Make sure the water colum is highly oxygenated. If you can point outputs to the surface to add more agitation, add another airpump if you can.
Click to expand...
I have two airstones going at the moment which agitate the water pretty well but unfortunately I don't have an extra pump. I also have an fX6, aquaclear 110 and Emperor 280 providing filtration.
 
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He seems to be gradually coming around. He's getting some color, breathing a little easier and he's checking out his surrounding. I don't know if he's completely out of the woods but I'm feeling hopeful no long term damage was done and my screw up didn't cost him his life. I was really expecting the worst when I opened up that box. Thanks for the advice and input! Fingers crossed.
 
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He probably has low blood pH from CO2 exposure. The gills exchange sodium for protons and chloride for bicarbonate to regulate blood pH so they will hyperventilate even if O2 isn't the issue.

In these cases, I usually suggest the addition of aquarium salt to improve the effectiveness of the aforementioned mechanisms.
 
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