Fish breathing heavy?

[sdcosta]

I have a 70 gallon tank set up as a QT its been running for a couple of months now. Current fish in it are 3 very small yellow coris wrasses, a small rabbitfish, 3 small barlett anthias and a small maroon clown. They have been in the QT for 12 days, have been eating general cure in the food and under prazi treatment as the wrasses had white poop.

This morning the tank was cloudy and all the fish seem to be breathing heavily, would not eat, but still swimming around not sitting at the bottom. I checked ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates 20. Did a 20% water change and added a carbon reactor to help clear up the water. Its only been a couple of hours but the fish still are acting the same. There is also a power head aimed at the surface of the water to add in more agitation.

Is there anything else I can do? Im really stumped. I did not add in any more prazi after the water change and Im sure there are no chemicals that could have gotten into the water.

 

[4FordFamily]

I have a 70 gallon tank set up as a QT its been running for a couple of months now. Current fish in it are 3 very small yellow coris wrasses, a small rabbitfish, 3 small barlett anthias and a small maroon clown. They have been in the QT for 12 days, have been eating general cure in the food and under prazi treatment as the wrasses had white poop.

This morning the tank was cloudy and all the fish seem to be breathing heavily, would not eat, but still swimming around not sitting at the bottom. I checked ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates 20. Did a 20% water change and added a carbon reactor to help clear up the water. Its only been a couple of hours but the fish still are acting the same. There is also a power head aimed at the surface of the water to add in more agitation.

Is there anything else I can do? Im really stumped. I did not add in any more prazi after the water change and Im sure there are no chemicals that could have gotten into the water.

Any other chemicals in the water?

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Do the largest water change you can ensure the temp is what it should be to match. These are no joke and take fish out quickly.

 

[HotRocks]

I'd also add as much oxygenation as possible. Additional airstone, powerhead aimed upward. Bacterial blooms consume oxygen like you wouldn't believe. Critical, I can't stress this enough.

 

[sdcosta]

Any other chemicals in the water?

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Do the largest water change you can ensure the temp is what it should be to match. These are no joke and take fish out quickly.

No other chemicals in the water, I have water ready just in case. Would another 20% be okay or would that be too stressful.

 

[ccombs]

A second 20% water change will be fine if you take the time to try to match parameters as best as you can.

 

[sdcosta]

Since it seems to be mainly bacterial, is there a way to avoid this again in the future? Would more frequent water changes help?

 

[4FordFamily]

Since it seems to be mainly bacterial, is there a way to avoid this again in the future? Would more frequent water changes help?

Mixing meds can cause it. And no I’d do a 95% water change or more. Spectrogram seems to help with blooms but it is an antibiotic. It seems to kill algae, too. It can be used with metro and prazi, we do it all the time.

 

[sdcosta]

Mixing meds can cause it. And no I’d do a 95% water change or more. Spectrogram seems to help with blooms but it is an antibiotic. It seems to kill algae, too. It can be used with metro and prazi, we do it all the time.

I'll do a large water change and look into acquiring spectrogram. Thank you for the help. I also added in a secondary power head to help out.

 

[4FordFamily]

I'll do a large water change and look into acquiring spectrogram. Thank you for the help. I also added in a secondary power head to help out.

Good idea. Does the water smell very foul, like light skimmate?

 

[sdcosta]

Good idea. Does the water smell very foul, like light skimmate?

It had a slight smell when doing the water change but I didn't really pay much attention to it. Is this also an indicator of a bacterial bloom?

 

[4FordFamily]

It had a slight smell when doing the water change but I didn't really pay much attention to it. Is this also an indicator of a bacterial bloom?

Yes

 

[Big G]

You could run a UV unit. The Green Killing Machine worked pretty good on my coral QT when I could not get rid of a nasty bacterial/algae bloom.

 

[sdcosta]

This morning the fish are no longer gasping, it seems the large water change and increased surface agitation did the trick (for now). Now to just make sure it doesn't happen again

 

[Big G]

Fantastic news!