Help, Breathing heavly.

[anthony27]

The skimmer I have now is a coral life 65 works amazing and hangs off the tank. I do have a nother problem thought. I bought a hawlkfish and a balsset and already have had a cromis for a week and a half. I dripped the fish for a hour and checked the levels of the tank before and after i added the fish. They ate fine and then i added some water from my r/di. The next morning i noticed the fish were not eating and in respiratory distress. They are breathing very fast and not moving that much. So last night i ran the ro and took out the origional filter pad i had and cleaned it off in the tank water i had tanken out in my bucket. The filter pad was clogged like you would not bleave and it is like i stated the origional pad that i got with the tank that the guy had. The tank has been running for a total of 3 weeks now and I have checked the levels over and over still everything is 0 ph is 8.2 and the temp is 76 and the salt is in the right area. I have the skimmer running and yes it did add some bubbles in the tank but not alot. I did notice that the biowheel was not moving that much when the pad was clogged so hence I thought that may be the problem. Any advice would be great ( and yes i know the hawlk is going to out grow the tank)

I did notice this started when i added the skimmer :irked::irked:

 

[KathyC]

Do you see any sort of 'film' on their eyes? Or anything on their fins out of the ordinary?
Where did you buy the fish from?
Is the temp usually 76 degrees? Do you have a heater in there?

You are running the new skimmer and a bio-wheel filter (for mechanical filtration I imagine)?
Any chance of a pic of the fish?

 

[anthony27]

The tank is always 76 degs and there is no film or anthing on the fish. When I bought them they were swimming around and fine. I do have some white bubbles on the tank , and I am guessing it is the skimmer. I did clean out the pad last night like I stated in the above post. I have the bio wheel for mech. filtration and for bio. I have no idea what is going on., I know the levels are between 0 and .25 for anommia and everything esle is zero so.:letitallo

 

[KathyC]

So you do have a heater in the tank?

How much rock is in the tank?

Sorry for all of the questions but trying to figure out what may be wrong with your fish.
Are they flashing (scratching themselves on the sand/rocks at all)?

Since you ammonia is up at .25, I'd suggest a good sized water change. and keep a close eye on the fish to see if any ich develops. That ammonia reading needs to be zero. Did the tank fully cycle before you added the fish?

 

[anthony27]

help

I have a fish only tank with 5 inch sand bed. I have the water from the guys tank that I bought it from and I changed out the cc that he had with live sand and i waited a week after that until i added a fish and checked all the levels. I waited another week and added these 2 fish I have now. I have no live rock in the tank and I have the origional filter pad that they guy had in his tank when he was running it. When I added the chromis it was fine and it was eating very well, this happened I noticed when I added the skimmer. I know the ro water is good so I dont have to worrie about that but I am looking to go to a fish store this weekend to check out some live stock and I do not want to add new fish to a dying tank. They are not scrapping against anthing they sit at the bottom and breath heavly. I noticed they were swimming around today well the chromis was and it was eating little but the other 2 fish were not. This is the problem I was having and still am.

 

[anthony27]

and yes i do hvae a heater in the tank and the water is constant 76. I have 2 fan ower heads in the tank and the water moves around very well so. I also checked his levels before buying the tank and made sure everyhitng was ok he had 2 clown fish living in the tank right before i took the water . He took them out in front of me and put them in his new tank.

 

[basiab]

Better chance for help if you provide info. You say that you check water but you did not give the numbers.
Start from the beginning. What was in the tank before you added fish and what the test results were and at what point in time did you add the fish and what were test results before and after. Without live rock you do not have much of a colony of bacteria to handle a bio load. Ammonia has to be zero if you expect fish to live. Adding 2 fish might have been too much since it is not a mature system. Getting stuff from the old tank helps the cycle but you still need to see that the cycle completed. And it still take time for your tank to establish itself.

 

[anthony27]

help

ok levels

Ph 8.2

nitrates 0

nitrites 0

anommia between 0 and .25

I have a 5 inch sand bed with live sand and some crushed coral.

I have a cormin that has been living in the tank for 2 weeks. I bought the tank on the 16th of december and did not change the filter pag or the bio wheel I also bought the tank with the water and the cc in it. I swapped out the cc and added the live sand and waited a week and a half to add one fish. I still have the origional pad in the tank, i bought the water with the tank as well. I checked his levels when I was buying the tank and his level were all 0 the water was running for 9 months. I have a coralife super skimmer 65 and 2 fan power heads. I do not have live rock and I check my levels every other day. I cleaned the filter pad out in the tank water not to damage the bacteria living in the pad cause the pad was clogged. The bio wheel was not turrining around like it should have do to the build up in the pad. I took some of the water out 2 gallons of water and replaced it wiht ro di water. Why are the fish breathing heavely?? The tank has been running over 3 weeks

 

[Josh]

What is the specific gravity?

Can you post a photo of the tank so we can get some idea of what the conditions look like?

 

[duke62]

stop adding livestock.what type of tester do u have.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Are you using old test kits?

 

[anthony27]

I went to get my water tested and I have excelent water, I bouht the fish from aqua hut and I have heard he doe snot have the best of fish. Now explain to me why I have a chromis live and a hawlk fish die on me. That makes no sence, they did the water test and all and I saw my levels. :shhh:

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Are you using a quarantine system before you add the fish to your system? How are you acclimating the fish? Was the fish breathing normally in the store? Was it eating as well?

What are your water parameters specifically?

 

[Killerdrgn]

chromis are a little more hardier than hawkfish and basslets.

 

[anthony27]

I drip the fish for aobut 30 minuts and then a fresh water bath and then the tank. The chromis is doing fine and the test kit is new. The levels are all zero and I do not have hardness of the water. I use a ro di and I check the water every other day. I had them check it last night and the water was good. I just added chemi pure into the tank so. The fish was swimming around in the store i did not see it eat at all, and I dripped the fish for about 35 minuts and added the fish in.

 

[duke62]

u are stressing the fish out with that freshwater bath.

 

[anthony27]

I thought it was to kill off any parsites that ar eont eh fish.

 

[duke62]

u need to have the same ph. temp to do that correctly but even that still stresses the fish out.if u ask anyone here they will say it does more harm than good

 

[anthony27]

wow, thanks for the advice.:birthday::splitspin

 

[Tito]

Sounds like your tank is going thru a cycle. You should not have any Ammonia. Soon I think you will find that your ammonia will read zero and your nitrite will climb.