My Clownfish are breathing very heavy

[justin96]

Having some problems with my tank with parameters out of whack. I transferred both of my clowns to a large measuring cup until I get the issues resolved. I used bottled spring water and matched the salinity from my tank. My parameters are decent for most part except ammonia which is a bit high. I don't think they are breathing heavy because of the ammonia though because this morning when I first poured water it was yellow which reads at 0 ppm. I keep oxygenating the water but doesnt seem to help. Temperature is at 80 degrees. I keep my tank at that temp and they did just fine. I'm not sure how to get them to stop breathing so heavy.

 

[Lavey29]

Has the tank been properly cycled before adding fish?

 

[TheReefDiary]

Having some problems with my tank with parameters out of whack. I transferred both of my clowns to a large measuring cup until I get the issues resolved. I used bottled spring water and matched the salinity from my tank. My parameters are decent for most part except ammonia which is a bit high. I don't think they are breathing heavy because of the ammonia though because this morning when I first poured water it was yellow which reads at 0 ppm. I keep oxygenating the water but doesnt seem to help. Temperature is at 80 degrees. I keep my tank at that temp and they did just fine. I'm not sure how to get them to stop breathing so heavy.

how old is the tank?

 

[justin96]

Has the tank been properly cycled before adding fish?

I had cycled the tank using Instant Ocean Bio Spira and was getting 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite. The temporary cup they are in is just salt water basically, but the parameters are decent. I'm not sure what the issue is. The water they are in now is much better than my tank was so I'd think they'd have relief

 

[justin96]

how old is the tank?

Tank is about 3 weeks. Fish have been in for 1 week. I was getting 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite. Used live sand, live rock and bio spira nitrifying bacteria.

 

[nick7948]

I would get some distilled water from the grocery store and use that instead. Spring water is risky because different companies use different minerals so while it may be OK, it also may be causing your issue. Distilled or RO would be best but distilled is easiest to obtain. Were they breathing heavy in your main tank? (assuming it wasn't spring water)

 

[TheReefDiary]

Tank is about 3 weeks. Fish have been in for 1 week. I was getting 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite. Used live sand, live rock and bio spira nitrifying bacteria.

you can dose more bacteria to the tank to see if it helps to lower the ammonia levels slightly, but thats not an instant fix. you can also get seachem amguard

 

[Lavey29]

Anytime I see a fish gasping, I always think 02 deprivation first so perhaps adding an airstone temporarily.

 

[justin96]

Anytime I see a fish gasping, I always think 02 deprivation first so perhaps adding an airstone temporarily.

Would this help more than just an air pump? I've been putting the pump in the large cup every hour or so for about 30 mins but doesn't seem to make a difference in their breathing.

 

[Lavey29]

Would this help more than just an air pump? I've been putting the pump in the large cup every hour or so for about 30 mins but doesn't seem to make a difference in their breathing.

As long as what you are doing is rippling the surface of the water good for gas exchange.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

Would this help more than just an air pump? I've been putting the pump in the large cup every hour or so for about 30 mins but doesn't seem to make a difference in their breathing.

They are not being done any favors with this method, they need a constant air supply, every hour is way too little. Salt water doesn’t hold oxygen well at all, especially at high temperatures. I would suggest getting them out of the measuring cup and back into the tank, add seachem Prime or Amguard to the tank to detoxify ammonia.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Having some problems with my tank with parameters out of whack. I transferred both of my clowns to a large measuring cup until I get the issues resolved. I used bottled spring water and matched the salinity from my tank. My parameters are decent for most part except ammonia which is a bit high. I don't think they are breathing heavy because of the ammonia though because this morning when I first poured water it was yellow which reads at 0 ppm. I keep oxygenating the water but doesnt seem to help. Temperature is at 80 degrees. I keep my tank at that temp and they did just fine. I'm not sure how to get them to stop breathing so heavy.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Fish can breath rapidly from a variety of reasons, and not all are related to water quality or dissolved oxygen. First off - are there any other animals in the tank? Snails, shrimp, crabs, etc.? If so and if they are doing well, that can be used as a diagnostic tool that points less at water issues and more to gill disease in the fish (since the invertebrates don't catch fish diseases). If you don't have any other animals in the tank it doesn't rule out gill disease here, just makes it harder to diagnose.

Holding the fish in the cup is not the best. Better would be to identify the water quality issues in the tank and correct them (ammonia detoxifiers, etc.). Adding aeration would be the only thing I see that might be an issue.

Ultimately, this is likely a gill disease and is possibly velvet (Amyloodinium). I hope not because treating that isn't going to be possible in the tank you have, and it kills fish very quickly, so you likely won't have time to set up a treatment tank.

Worst case scenario is you won't be able to save the clownfish. What I would do is let the tank run for a couple of weeks and then add some hardy invertebrates. If they do well, then add a few more and just run the tank with those animals for 60+ days. Then, you can try fish again. If possible, buy pre quarantined fish.

Good luck!

Jay