How to Increase Dissolved Oxygen?

[YSS]

I think my discus tank has low level of dissolved oxygen. All my fish in the tank breathes pretty rapidly. They always have. The temp in the summer is around 85 ~86 and now it's around 82. I have one airstone and three canister filters (Rena XP4, Fluval FX5, and 405) in the tank. Anyone has any good ideas of increasing dissolved oxygen level?

 

[iamzrad]

With those big canisters, I think the water flow is sufficient.
In my 125gal, I have a 2217, XP4, and two AC 110's with no air stones whatsoever. (Personally I don't like the look of them) but my water is constantly moving.

Maybe your filters are clogged up and not generating the water turnover as they should?

 

[longstocking]

Are you sure it's the DO? It would be a parasite on the gills which is causing heavy breathing. Many parasites in aquariums are harmless in small numbers. Have you tried Prazi?

 

[lonlangione]

You definately have enough filtration. The more waste material you have in your filters, the lower the DO will be. I would suggest you open up one of the filters and look at the filter media. If it is dark brown then the filter should be working OK. If it is a lighter brown and slimy or looks like snot, your filter is full of uneaten food. When I say waste material, I mean poop and uneaten foods etc. I am not refering to nitrobacter or good bacteria. If your DO is low then your good bacteria is low as well. How often do you clean the filters? With three filters on the tank I would sugest you clean one every two weeks. Never all three at the same time. How often do you do water changes? Older water can not convert surface oxygen. Oxygen is introduced into an aquarium in two ways, plants and surface agitation. The higher the temperature the lower the DO levels as well. If I had a discus tank, I would do a 50% water change on it every week, with RO water. Do the fish gasp for air at the surface at all? Do your fish "dart" suddenly in the water? Do they shake their heads? Do they dash to the gravel or rub up against driftwood or plants? If so then Sarah may be right. These are all indications of gill parasites. The best advice I have for you though would be to come to the February CCA meeting and talk to the discus god, Hans. Hope to see you there.

 

[YSS]

Thanks for the replies. I have used Jungle Parasite Clear a few times. Last time I used was at least 6 to 9 months ago. I have noticed that some of my fish did not do well during treatments and I have actually lost a few fish, so I stopped using it. I think JPC has prazi. Anyhow, a couple of my discus do dart around now and then, but very rarely (they used to do that a lot more often a couple of years ago and lost many). My water change routine varies, but suffice to say I do enough. Right now, it's 10 ~15% daily water changes. I clean my filters once every 3 to 4 months, so may be I should clean more often. My fish don't come up to the surface gasping for air, but I was thinking DO because all the fish seem to be breathing rapidly and I have a lot of fish in the tank:

- ~100 cardinals
- ~30 rummies
- ~20 bleeding hearts
- ~15 hatchets
- 10 medium to large sized clown loaches (4 ~ 6"+)
- 6 Geo. Altiferons (5 ~ 7")
- 12 medium to large discus
- and may be about 15 other small to medium sized miscellaneous fish

The breathing rate of my fish on average is about 2 per second and faster for the loaches.

 

[Tony]

I have a lot of fish in the tank:

- ~100 cardinals
- ~30 rummies
- ~20 bleeding hearts
- ~15 hatchets
- 10 medium to large sized clown loaches (4 ~ 6"+)
- 6 Geo. Altiferons (5 ~ 7")
- 12 medium to large discus
- and may be about 15 other small to medium sized miscellaneous fish

I would love to see this tank some day. Sounds absolutely unbelievable!

 

[lonlangione]

I am imagining how beautiful this tank is. The fish load you have listed should not be a big deal for a 265. With water changes, I tend to prefer one large water change over smaller more frequent changes. Many years ago a friend set up his fishroom and used a continuous drip system in the tanks for his water changes. His fish stopped breeding. I suggest he do a large water change on a tank of cichlids he had and two days later they spawned. A large water change gets rid of more bad water all at once than several small water changes.
One other question? Are the intakes to your canister filters close to the bottom of the tank or are they halfway from the top to the bottom? I have found that when the intake is high in the tank that when you feed the fish, you are also feeding the filter. With the intakes at the bottom, the food should be eaten before it get to the bottom. This is especially important with over the tank filters, especially with cartridges. The intake must be at the gravel level. If it is up higher, the food tends to get sucked into it. You can see it when you feed your fish. If you ever pull out a cartidge and it is slimy or snotty looking, it is uneaten food.

The new Parasite clear from Jungle has Praziquantel in it along with metronidazole. A lot of people turn their nose up at Jungle products but they really have great products.

Good luck and take a picture of this tank for us!!!!!

 

[YSS]

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, my tank has a lot of fish and it's big, but I don't think it looks that nice. Anyhow, back to my set up...

The tank is 30" high and I have the intakes as far down as possible, but they are not at the bottom of the tank. FX5 intake is pretty low, but the other two are may be two thirds way down the tank. Food don't get sucked in that much, so I think I am ok there.

The reason why I am doing small daily water changes is because when I do large water changes, some of my fish get stressed. My albino BN goes belly up and it looks like it's going to die, but it always ends up being ok the next day. So, for the time being I am going to stick with my daily water change routine. I will probably go every other day water changes soon. I have a regulary breeding pair of discus, so I guess they don't mind the daily water changes that much.

I cleaned my FX5 today. It was nasty. I need to clean it more often. At least once every two months or so.

I will take some pics of my tank and post, but I will have to clean the glass and do some work to make the tank look nicer. Hopefully, I can get to it soon.