I have a small tank with a three inch male blue phantom pleco two corys and tetras 4-5 hours ago I added some acurel ammonia reduceing pad to the filter wich also has cut eheim carbon pads and sponge and white tube media and fed fish maybe 3 hours ago and now most of my fish being a hatchetfish and all the bottom dwellers are breathing really heavy the plec is breathing hard with mouth open and fans self with fins every two minuts wat could prob be I added neutral regulator and stress zyme in hopes it will combat the prob whatever it is many tetras are all fine but don't want to lose the blue plec
pleco breathing heavy after filter pad need assistance
- Thread starter cudamaster13
- Start date
What size is your tank? what type of filter is it? Do you have a water test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH? What is your water temperature? Do you have an airstone going? Need to know a little more to find out what's wrong.
When you say most of your fish being a hatchetfish, do you mean they are all floating on top? If all the fish is up top and the pleco is breathing heavily, that suggests something's wrong with the water. Check for all of the above and if you don't already, get some air bubbles going first. Did you check if your filter is running fine with good flow coming out?
How long have you had the 3" blue phantom? Newly purchased blue phantom at that size are delicate to begin with, even with perfect water condition.
When you say most of your fish being a hatchetfish, do you mean they are all floating on top? If all the fish is up top and the pleco is breathing heavily, that suggests something's wrong with the water. Check for all of the above and if you don't already, get some air bubbles going first. Did you check if your filter is running fine with good flow coming out?
How long have you had the 3" blue phantom? Newly purchased blue phantom at that size are delicate to begin with, even with perfect water condition.
Once again, will need tank size and water parameters.
Since you just moved and setup the tank again, there's a good chance that your tank is going through a mini cycle. Ammonia and nitrite is probably already spiking, lowering the oxygen in the water only makes things worse. You probably don't need the carbon pad, if removing it will increase the flow rate of your filter, do it. If you don't have an airpump, we'll need to provide as much surface agitation as possible, to get more dissolved oxygen into the water. Increasing the flow rate of your hangon filter will help. Feed very lightly (if at all) for now. Don't do large water changes, since that'll only slow down the cycling process. Do very small but often water changes with dechlorinated water that's at the same temperature as your tank water to remove excess ammonia and nitrate for now, since your tank's already stocked.
Get a test kit, get a test kit, get a test kit, get a test kit, get a test kit..... GET A TEST KIT!
Since you just moved and setup the tank again, there's a good chance that your tank is going through a mini cycle. Ammonia and nitrite is probably already spiking, lowering the oxygen in the water only makes things worse. You probably don't need the carbon pad, if removing it will increase the flow rate of your filter, do it. If you don't have an airpump, we'll need to provide as much surface agitation as possible, to get more dissolved oxygen into the water. Increasing the flow rate of your hangon filter will help. Feed very lightly (if at all) for now. Don't do large water changes, since that'll only slow down the cycling process. Do very small but often water changes with dechlorinated water that's at the same temperature as your tank water to remove excess ammonia and nitrate for now, since your tank's already stocked.
Get a test kit, get a test kit, get a test kit, get a test kit, get a test kit..... GET A TEST KIT!
I hate to sound like a spelling/grammar nazi, but really had a hard time making sense of that with the lack of punctuation!
Things I would check for (seems how you didn't provide any useful info like water parameters or set up) is; temperature, nitrate/nitrite/ammonia, and oxygen levels. Do you have a spray bar from the filter, or air stone, or anything providing surface disturbance to aid in oxygen transfer?
Why did you add the ammonia removing pads? Was your tank cycled? How long has it been running? Did you actually have detectable ammonia or did you just put them in for the hell of it?
Why did you add "neutral regulator"? Did you check the pH of your water before hand? Do you know what the hardness is? Are you just throwing chemicals/products at your tank in the hopes that they will keep your fish healthy?
My biggest piece of advice would be to stop wasting money on gimmicks like pH regulator and ammonia removing pads (neither of which are ever really needed) and invest some money in test kits so you can actually tell what is going on with your water. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate pH are must-haves IMO, and if you're going to try alter your pH with anything (not store-bought chemicals!!) then GH/KH and TDS are necessary too.
Things I would check for (seems how you didn't provide any useful info like water parameters or set up) is; temperature, nitrate/nitrite/ammonia, and oxygen levels. Do you have a spray bar from the filter, or air stone, or anything providing surface disturbance to aid in oxygen transfer?
Why did you add the ammonia removing pads? Was your tank cycled? How long has it been running? Did you actually have detectable ammonia or did you just put them in for the hell of it?
Why did you add "neutral regulator"? Did you check the pH of your water before hand? Do you know what the hardness is? Are you just throwing chemicals/products at your tank in the hopes that they will keep your fish healthy?
My biggest piece of advice would be to stop wasting money on gimmicks like pH regulator and ammonia removing pads (neither of which are ever really needed) and invest some money in test kits so you can actually tell what is going on with your water. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate pH are must-haves IMO, and if you're going to try alter your pH with anything (not store-bought chemicals!!) then GH/KH and TDS are necessary too.
thanks for the help, added a very powerful aireator and removed pad and all is well. The filter I noticed was dirty so I believe low oxygen led to ammonia spike I got rid of the gunk and sludge that I didn't know had built up in it today, and I am not feeding and im adding stress zyme to tank will feed little tomorrow if pleco isn't stressed
Sounds like a very good plan! Dirty filters (especially sealed units like canisters) can cause all sorts of problems if they are shut off for a while then restarted. Regular cleaning and removal of physical waste will help keep your nitrates down, and could save your fish in the even of a power outage.
fish now starting to act normal. will do very tiny waterchange tomorrow and continue with stress zyme and powerhead aireator