why do my cichlids breath so hard?

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jagsandpits

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2012
1,421
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51
NewYork
all my water parameters are good 0 ammonia 0 nitrite in my 125, i once had a 9 inch jaguar cichlid who when i studied his gills they seemed to never move like he never had to work hard to breath even when he would swim rapidly, however i my little cichlids around 4 inches seem to always be breathing hard. is it just becasue they are small and have to work harder to breathe or is something wrong, the only thing that i think it could be is that im over priming during water changes, i use enough for 3 doses for a half water change, could this be the problem or is it just normal for small cichlids to do that? other than that theyre very healthy and are growing like weeds
 
Probably a dumb question, but do you have an air stone or something pushing air into the tank? Is the surface of the water have any movement? As for the Prime comment, WHY????????? Why are you dosing that much? I dont even use prime on small 25% water changes. I dont think that this is the reason, but would you like to constantly live in an environment with tons of chemicals in it?
 
nope, i realized i was doing too much, i just wanted to be safe but ill chill with that. and yea theres 2 air stones one on each side of the tank and two fluval 306 filters.i mean theyre not breathing reallly hard but it justseems wierd to me.
 
is this happening shortly after he water change? if so, it's most likely the fact that your over dosing on prime. Once prime takes care of the chorine, it'll then deplete the oxygen. use the recommended dosage.

What's the temp in the tank?


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beautiful Hartwegi...

I use prime for every change, even if it's a little. I don't know what sort of damage too much... whatever is in prime(what is in prime anyway?) can do to the fish, but I certainly know what chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals do. My tap water comes out smelling like soap. Wish I had a nice RODI unit like the fancy marine guys.
 
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