Pleco problem,heavy breathing

[wingate2581]

I have a 4.5" royal in a 29 growout. I noticed him breathing slightly heavy a few days ago. I treated the tank with Aquari-sol. My wife did a 50% water change last night. I came in this morning to see him breathing even heavier than before. There is a EBJD that is about 1.75" that was fine through the whole thing until this morning. now he's breathing heavy too. Colors are a little washed out. To be honest I dont know what my PH before the water change. I have an AC70 for filtration and do one to two 30% water changes a week in this tank. I have been noticing a white film collecting on the glass after WC's that I have been cleaning with the mag float. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Chromobotia]

The white film, does it look like a bunch of bubbles that hve collected on the surface of the water, typically in a corner of the tank? If it does, that indicates an ammonia spike. I assume that you do water changes with tap water. Does the tap water contain chlorine? Are you treating the water for that?

 

[Allan01230]

Is your water cloudy? The junk on the market that "INSTANTLY" clears cloudy water can cause this if overdosed. Could also be the unset of ick.

 

[wingate2581]

I treat my water with Stress coat. The water is not cloudy it is a white film on the glass. Nothing but the Aquari-sol and stress coat have been put in the water.

I just thought about this, I have sand in the tank. I wonder if we hit a "pocket" of buildup in the sand that created an ammonia spike?

 

[SanguineBane]

I admire your diligence in keeping a clean tank, but there is such a thing as too many water changes. 30% a week on a 29 is kind of okay (I only do a 25% change on my 55's and 30 every two weeks), but two 30% changes, which would be a 60% change a week, might be stressing them out a little too much. When you do that many water changes you strip the tank of all the healthy bacteria that the fish need. It is almost like putting them in a tank that hasn't been cycled. You need that stability that a good culture of bacteria maintains. It helps the fish fight off possible incoming infections as well as keeps their organs running properly.

I would say possibly try adding Stability, or another bottled and cultured bacteria to the water and laying off the water changes for a week.

 

[wingate2581]

Much appreciated info. I said one to two wc's a week, but usually that second one is just siphoning all the poop sitting on the sand that ends up taking about two or three gallons. You said to lay off the wc's for a week, what if it is an ammonia spike or something to that effect from crap in the sand?

 

[wingate2581]

So a quick update:

I put an airstone in incase of lack of oxygen. I added carbon with ammonia neutralizing chips in the filter and did a three gallon(10%) water change incase of ammonia spike. The EBJD has calmed down considerably and the pleco left the glass and went back to his driftwood home so I cannot see his breathing very well but I think I can see that it has calmed down a little also. I was just digging around under one of my tanks and found a new bottle of AmQuel plus. I got it with a new tank set up 3 weeks ago. It claims to remove nitrate,nitrite,ammonia and chlorine. I just added stress coat with the 10% wc. Does anyone use this Amquel+? Should I think about using it or let it ride out for now? Thanks for the help