Gasping fishes on surface!!

[jiatao]

Hello all seniors,

i have no idea why, but all new fishes i introduce into my aquarium will all be gasping for air at the surface no matter what fish is it. the same batch of fishes introduced into my dad's aquarium has no such issue in his tank which is also chilled to 25 degrees, mine is chilled to 26..

Is there a possibility of over planting of plants? because the only difference in my dad's and my tank is that my tank is more densely planted than his.

lost a lot of fishes already, ah!!! even when i use the method of mixing in some of my aquarium water first also the same!! pls help!!

Thanks in advance!

[ranmasatome]

Are you injecting co2??

[jiatao]

ya, i am injecting CO2 at around 3-4bps..

my dad is also injecting CO2, but i'm not sure about the rate though..

my tank is a 3 footer.. is it a problem?

[michael lai]

How big is your tank? Amount of fish and fauna? Co2 on 24 hours? Is the tank waters on medication now? Is it a matured or new tank? Some of the hobbyists supplement oxygen at night also.....

[jiatao]

hmm, my tank is around 177 litres, 3 footer..

amt of fishes i not too sure, but mostly consist of tetras, maybe around 70?

relatively densely planted with plants, but my CO2 is not on 24 hrs, it is only switched on together with my lights, which adds up to around 9 hrs everyday lor..

it is not on any medication and it's quite a mature tank already.. it's been around for maybe a year or so..

[michael lai]

Hmmm...is there any froth at the surface of the water? Maybe lower the co2 injection too to 1-2 bps. If there is froth,change 50% water and observe again but co2 has to be lowered. You can try aeration at night to substain your setup first if the condition does not get better after lowering the Co2.( just out of curiosity, you are using a bubble counter right? and also the substrate you are using would be useful in identifying the problem)

[bettasrcool_01]

What about PH?

[valice]

I do have that observation in my tank as well.
One reason I can think of it that the fishes are not acclimatised long enough with the high level of CO2 in your tank water compared with the water in the bag.

And I suspect that your dad's tank has lesser CO2 ppm than yours. The next time you introduce fishes to your tank, you will probably need a longer time to introduce the tank water to them.

Try also the drip method. Ensure that nearly 80% of the water in the bag/container containing the new fishes are from your tank before releasing the fishes into your tank. (That is if you ignore quarantining altogether lar.)

bettasrcool,
I am not sure if pH will cause gasping.

[jiatao]

thanks bros for the advice!

hmm, there are no froth on the surface leh, but that may be due to my surface skimmer. What does froth on the water surface mean?

i just lowered my CO2 to 2bps. I'm using those cup like diffuser for my CO2 lor, then that one can see how many bubbles come out per second rite? I count using that leh..

my substrate is just the normal sand from the lfs, and it's been long since i last measured my pH because the device for measuring pH is at my dad's office. I will ask him to bring back asap.

I have no idea why only my tank is like that leh, all the setup are almost identical leh.. hmm.. funny..

[jiatao]

I do have that observation in my tank as well.
One reason I can think of it that the fishes are not acclimatised long enough with the high level of CO2 in your tank water compared with the water in the bag.

And I suspect that your dad's tank has lesser CO2 ppm than yours. The next time you introduce fishes to your tank, you will probably need a longer time to introduce the tank water to them.

Try also the drip method. Ensure that nearly 80% of the water in the bag/container containing the new fishes are from your tank before releasing the fishes into your tank. (That is if you ignore quarantining altogether lar.)

bettasrcool,
I am not sure if pH will cause gasping.

oh oh!! I am not alone!! my dad's tank is an 8 footer and he uses two co2 cylinder, one at each side. haha, ok ok, i go find out his ppm, but i also got suspect is because of this, because although he uses two cylinders, his tank is much bigger, so maybe the level of CO2 is lower than mine..

[bryan]

CO2 level maybe too high, lower it until the fish goes back down. You might still have a problem with the lights out period if you want to maintain this level. You can run an airpump on timer during this time.Remember at night the fish and plants are both taking in O2.

[Quixotic]

Is there any surface movement? Try to generate some movement of the water surface to facilitate gas exchange.

[michael lai]

Hi Jiatao,
Froth at the surface is a indication of bad water quality, as for the substrate if you use too fine a substrate sometimes your substrate compacts and starts to foul the water if your filtration is not strong enough. Which will account for the fish gasping if everything else is in order. Ok, now let's observe for 2-3 days before we do anything else since you have already lowered the Co2 injection.
Try getting a bubble counter as it is more accurate in despicting bubble counts. ( there are no shortcuts here )

[celticfish]

jiatao,
i think the "bubbles" you are counting are oversized ones...
the ones in the the CO2 diffusor are much bigger than the ones from bubble counters.

[bettasrcool_01]

bettasrcool,
I am not sure if pH will cause gasping.

Well, it could have been a possibility. I am new at this.

[jiatao]

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

Oh, i didn't know that the bubbles in the diffusers are not the ones we have been talking about! hahaha, okok, i think i need to get a bubble counter.

after lowering the CO2 level, the tetras went down into the water the next day, my last batch of tetras took like 2 days with some casualties. maybe it's really the CO2 level.

as for surface movement, i do not have surface movement because i thought having constant surface movement will sort of remove the CO2 that i'm injecting into the water? is that the case?

then if i put an air pump on during my lights out timing, will it cause the CO2 in the water to be removed from my water? then the CO2 injected not wasted ah?

[Quixotic]

as for surface movement, i do not have surface movement because i thought having constant surface movement will sort of remove the CO2 that i'm injecting into the water? is that the case?

Yes, surface movement will cause some loss of CO2, but the fact that your fish is gasping for air could also mean low O2. Some moderate surface movement will prevent the O2 level from getting too low. You can always add more CO2 to account for the CO2 loss.

Since you have adjusted your CO2 and the fishes seem fine, then it probably isn't necessary. But I would still recommend some surface movement in case of O2 depletion especially during the night.

For now, maybe just monitor and see how it goes.

[jiatao]

icic, okok, i think i try to position the spray bar juz about the water surface to generate abit of surface movement..

if not, then really muz add air pump liao. hahaha..

thanks all bros for your help and advice! now i think can monitor and see whether the next batch of fish will also be like tat or not..