CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hey, maybe someone will be able to help me with a problem i'm having:
This morning, as I was eating breakfast, I noticed that all of my fish were breathing really hard. My catfish was swimming at the top of the tank, gasping for air. The filter is working fine (no different than in the past, and everything has been fine). This afternoon, when I came back from work, my catfish had passed away. Beside the fact that i'm ultra bummed, i'm intensely worried about my oscar and JD. They are both still gasping. What should I do? What is going on? Are my fish going to be ok?!?!?! Thanks in advance for any help you can give to me and my fish!

hmm...if you have enuff water circulation and oxygen in the water, then i dont know..maybe some sort of disease... is there anything unusual..markings, bleeding..or what not?

This is indicative of two things either not enough oxygen in the water OR ammonia poisoning and seeing how fast your catfish died I would wager you have a huge ammonia/nitrite problem that you will need to fix or the other fish will follow shortly where the catfish has already gone.

If you test for ammonia and nitrite and they both read 0 and you have plenty of air in the water then you will need to treat for gill parasites as that is the only other option as I see it.

How do I test for amonia/nitrate poisoning? What do I do about it? How do I solve the problem?

Get your self a test kit that tests amonnia,nitrites and nitrates.

The only way to keep it safe is to do regular water changes and dont overfeed.

This is an exellent quote I read on theoscarspot.com and it rings very true(By Amyjoe)

"Good filteraton wont make up for poor tank maintenance where as good tank maintenance will help with poor filteration"

In the mean time time pop in a block of ammonia neutrelizer b4 you loose more. But dont make using that stuff a habit either as it plays havoc with the working bacteria and should only be used in an emergancy.

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TONY The Proud Aussie

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oscar2001@cichlidfish.com or
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id do a water change as soon as posible andmaby put a air line in the water. and remember that cold water has more oxegen in it so if its really high in temp maby back it down a few degrees


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redwopman

So I was so worried about my fish that I skipped the first half of work to go out and get my water tested. Well, I had someone test it for me (I need to learn how to do that...), and it is fine. I got some medicine for gill disease... Hopefully that will help. I just did my normal water change a few days ago; the tank is crystal clear and the store said my ph and ammonia levels were fine. Should I go ahead and do a water change, or should I wait because of the medication? I really do appreciate all the help; thank you so much! This is my first oscar tank and i'm still learning...

If you just added the medication and you have done a water change recently(last 3-5 days) then let the medication be. If you do a water change you will have to redose the new water with an appropriate amount of new medication. If it's not ammonia then I suspect is has a something to do with the amount of oxygen in the tank.

Do you have an air stone of some kind in the tank? Also what kind of filter are you using? How many gallons per hour and all that? Also do you vacuum the gravel when you do water changes?

If you dont vacuum the gravel then detrius can collect in the gravel giving the bottom of your tank lethal levels of ammonia while the rest of the tank appears healthy. This might explain why the catfish died so quickly.

Adam

Well, I just got back from work, and my fish are all still alive: whew! They're still gasping though; guess I can't expect the meds to act that quickly. As for your questions: I don't have an air stone in the tank; should I get one? I've got a Whisper 30 filter on a 30 gallon tank. I've had the fish about six months; I just got a new job and can get them the tank they deserve now! :-) Also, I do vacuum the gravel out when I clean the tank.

I'm not firmiliar with the gph associated with your filter however, for a 30 gallon tank if it's rated at less then 210-300 GPH then it is probably not enough. And yes get an air stone it is amazing how much more relaxed the fish will be. I put one in when I noticed my oscars breathing hard and they stopped within an hour of it running in the tank. good luck and let us know how it turns out

Adam

Just a thought whats the temperature of the tank?
It should be about 78% if its too hot that will deplete the oxygen in the water.
DEFINATLY get an air stone in there asap. Sounds like it is an oxygen prob now.

You can get internal filters that suck in air but an air stone would be the cheap way out for the moment.

You know, I had this problem when I got my very first tank. I took the BAD advice of not getting any kind of real plants. For the longest time, I had a problem with ammonia in the tank and fish were dying on me with the same symptoms that you had mentioned. Anyway, I finally got some plants for that tank and the ammonia droped to zero and the fish were fine after that...

Well, they are doing better -- trying to convince me that they haven't eaten in years... :-) They're not as sluggish and ready to eat me out of house and home again. I will get an air stone tomorrow after work. Is there any specific kind I should look for? Any specific brand? How much should I expect to pay?

You know, i've tried to keep plants in my tank, but they play with the plants for a few minutes and then eat them. So, I haven't had too good of luck with keeping plants in the tank. I would love to have some real plants in there though. Is there a specific plant that will not be so readily devoured?

Oscars like air curtins, they love to swim in the bubbles.

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TONY The Proud Aussie

Visit The Oscar Cichlid Fan Club

Got an emergency? Email Me
oscar2001@cichlidfish.com or
oscar_cichlid_fan_club@AnAustralian.com

Visit My New Cichlid Info Site

My Cichlidfish.com Home page

Any air stone would work. Try to get a long one (at least 1/2 the length of your tank) DO not put live plants with your oscars. You would need another job just to keep plants in the tank.