• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

Fish at the top of the tank

69cichlids

Members
So I came home today from working a 14 hour shift and find that the tanks I did a water changes on yesterday, the fish are at the top gulping air? I have air stones in both tanks making lots of bubbles. I don't have anything to check water, and fish stores around me are closed, any thoughts or suggestions? It looks like I'm going to lose a large electric yellow. O I forgot, I was thinking on doing another water change but the wife said something about the city was flushing the water system...not sure what that will do if anything to the fish...

Sent from my SCH-I500 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

fischfan13

Banned
Drop the temps...cooler water will add more O2.
Can you add a HOB to the tank and drop the water level a bit...this will add more O2.
Can you add more dechlor? Give the tank another dose.
Does your dechlor also remove Chloramine?

Has anyone sprayed anything near the tank...air freshner, cleanser of some sort? If so then you will have to do water changes to get the toxins out of the tank.
 

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
Possible nitrite/ammonia spike? If the water is safe, I'd change half (no cleaning) with cooler water that has extra dechlor added.

Sent from my DROIDX
 

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Is the water cloudy?

DC does a week-long flush with chlorine, usually in March-April, don't know about other areas, and uses chloramine the rest of the year. Good advice above, (change water, cool water, better mixing, extra de-chlor, additional filtration). A power head at the surface will also help mixing at the air/water interface and increase O2 absorption in the water.

Unless there's something inherently negative about the way you do water changes that either kills your denitrifying bacteria or stirs up a lot of undigested waste into the water column (that temporarily "overwhelms" the bacteria) smart money is on a 50%+ (cool) water change.

Luck.
 
+1 on eveyone's advice!

Fairfax County in VA does this every spring to the point that you can smell the chlorine coming out of the tap!

Arlene
 
Over the years I've had a few nitrite spikes after a water change for reasons that I was never able to determine. The major visual symptom was fish gasping at the top of the tank. From my lessons learned from this (including one complete tank wipe), I:

always have a bottle of Dr. Tim's on hand to add to in an emergency
always have a sponge filter going that can be moved to a tank with a sudden loss of bacterial colony
always have water testing kits -- especially nitrite -- on hand. (No excuse, really, not to have these. A full set of API is like $30 and lasts forever)

It's also handy to have another tank you can quickly set up to move fish into to reduce stocking in a tank that is having a nitrite spike. With my tank wipe,the only fish that made it was a yellow lab I'd been trying to catch. I took him out and put him in a 10 gallon overnight and he was the only survivor.

good luck
 

69cichlids

Members
thank you all for the advise, shortly after i posted this I passed out and woke up a few hours later for work. I had moved the spray bars on my filters to point up and move the top of the water more. I didn't do anything else and came back from work today and only lost a batch of electric yellow fry. I'm thinking it might be what i add to the water after I do a water change...its by kordon amquel plus ammonia detoxifier. It removes nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, chlorine, and chloramines...after reading the small print on the back it says it will moderately reduce oxygen levels.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Please go get some test kits so that you can determine exactly what is going on in your tanks. Guessing is not healthy for your fish!
 

Shane

Members
Sounds like you had a minor case of chloramine poisoning. Are you sure you did not forget to add the conditioner (something I have done several times myself)?
Take a look at the below links.
-Shane


http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm

http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/ ... oners.aspx



"Chloramine passes through the gills of fish and enters the blood stream. There, it reacts with hemoglobin, forming methemoglobin. In studies of some fish exposed to 1 ppm-Cl of monochloramine, then about 30% of the hemoglobin is converted into methemoglobin. The fish then suffer from anoxia (low oxygen in their tissues) because they have lost some of their hemoglobin, which is responsible for carrying oxygen in the blood. In my experience fish exposed to chloramine suffer immediate and often severe reactions from darting, to gasping, to immediate shock and death! This is NOT the general reaction to exposure to chlorine, as fish generally do not show symptom to exposure to chlorine in normal tap water doses unless exposure is prolonged (& most de-chlorinators remove chlorine instantly/within seconds)."
http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/20 ... r-for.html
 

Malawimania

Members
I had this problem in a overstocked 120 gallon aquarium, after losing a few fish I did some research. Water movment is very importiant. I have recently added two powerheads, one at the surface of the water, and another towards the mid region of the tank. The fish are very happy now that the water is well oxygenated. I never see them at the top of the Tank anymore. It's always smart to keep your spray bar towards the surface of your tank, if you can add a powerhead into the mix I'd suggest that as well.

-Steve
 

rob3rtphan

Members
Cichlids likes a little current to. I to have dealt with this problem. Sucks. Just lower ur water a lil or have alot of movement on the surface.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Top