why are my fish breathing hard?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
water is bad
screw ammonia it could be 0 check your nitrites to be honest.
and cichlids can live in 90 degree water
all my tanks are at 86 and i have no problems.
 
easiest and cheapest would be the test strips, not the most accurate but close enough
 
Also, do not forget the relationship between ammonia and pH. If you have ANY ammonia in the tank (zero is the only acceptable ammount as someone else mentioned) and you raise the pH (by adding salt) then you increase the toxicity of the ammonia. A trace ammount of ammonia at low pH becomes stressful at a higher pH.
 
You should know your water parameters reasonably well as they relate directly to how much you look after your tank: overfeeding, water/changes, etc.

Have to be honest and say there's something decently wrong with either your LFS choice or your tank, because you need some pretty stressed fish in bad water for them to have both a mouth fungus and ich. Other helpful information that you should give us:

- How long has the tank been running and what size is it? (volume and measurements)
- What filtration? (Gph/Lpg is most useful)
- What fish are in it? Which are affected and which aren't/they all are?

Are you using tap or tank water, are you using water conditioner, how long have your fish been sick, any information you can think of that will help us identify what a possible cause is would definitely help, the information you've given us so far is terrible.
 
It's been running for about 3 months and it's a 55 gallon which is only temporary for now. I have an aqua clear filter for a 30 and 50 gallon set up on either side of my tank and I have a male and female dovii along with a grammodes but they are all maybe 4 to 4 1/2 in. The female and male are no longer showing signs of ich but the male does have a white spot on his lip still that hasnt gone away but it doesn't seem to grow either. And every time I do a water change I use tap water but put in the water conditioner to take out the chlorine and provide the fish with their slime coat. The only two fish that have been sick were the two doviis but they are looking better now except the male with the white spot on his lip. When I was treating them for ich I did a 25% water change everyday for 4 days while adding Rid-Ich medicine. I also raised the temp and added aquarium salt just recently that seemed to help out my fish. My water is very healthy and I have been watching closely to how they are feeling. Hope this information isn't as terrible as my last.
 
How can you say if your water is very healthy when you don't have tests for nitrite or nitrate? You also said your ammonia level was good... was it zero? Upping the TDS (and potentially PH) from the salts and temperature with ammonia present is going to put additional stress on your fish.


And the white spot on your male dovii just may be a reoccurring wound from lip locking with the female or with the grammode.
 
I tested for the nitrite and nitrate levels and everything is fine...also the ammonia level is zero. My male hasn't lip locked with either the female or grammodes in over a month and a half. They aren't breathing hard anymore so I guess the advice I took worked.
 
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