Co2 overdose?

[Rudles]

I noticed that my Cardinal Tetras are all hanging out at the surface possibly gasping for air. I turned off my co2 immediately. This was going on for possibly an hour at most. Will they be alright?

Update. I put an airstone in the tank immediately. Looks like everything is alright. They have moved back down in the water column and seem to be acting normally. 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Rudles

[Fish Folk]

On 6/20/2021 at 3:46 PM, Rudles said:

I noticed that my Cardinal Tetras are all hanging out at the surface possibly gasping for air. I turned off my co2 immediately. This was going on for possibly an hour at most. Will they be alright?

Update. I put an airstone in the tank immediately. Looks like everything is alright. They have moved back down in the water column and seem to be acting normally. 

Check your pH and GH. CO2 will wear down your water buffer, and cause pH to dive. I assume you turn your CO2 _off_ at night, correct? 

[Mmiller2001]

They will be fine. If you are worried, do a water change. That will remove CO2. 

When they start passing out, be alarmed. That's an emergency water change situation.

You are looking for a 1 to 1.5 pH drop from your degassed pH. Take a clean container, fill it some and set it on your counter for 24 to 48 hours. Then, pH that water. This will be your degassed pH. Then turn your CO2 on and pH the tank every hour. When you hit the 1.0 pH drop, you are close to 30ppm CO2. 

You also want to have excellent surface agitation and I highly recommend surface skimming. O2 and CO2 are independent of each other. You want to maximize O2 and CO2.

I have my CO2 come on 2 hours before lights on and 1 hour before lights off.

You can also record KH and pH and use a CO2 chart to determine CO2 levels.

 

[Rudles]

Yes, I turn my co2 off at night. 

[Rudles]

On 6/20/2021 at 12:54 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

They will be fine. If you are worried, do a water change. That will remove CO2. 

When they start passing out, be alarmed. That's an emergency water change situation.

You are looking for a 1 to 1.5 pH drop from your degassed pH. Take a clean container, fill it some and set it on your counter for 24 to 48 hours. Then, pH that water. This will be your degassed pH. Then turn your CO2 on and pH the tank every hour. When you hit the 1.0 pH drop, you are close to 30ppm CO2. 

You also want to have excellent surface agitation and I highly recommend surface skimming. O2 and CO2 are independent of each other. You want to maximize O2 and CO2.

I have my CO2 come on 2 hours before lights on and 1 hour before lights off.

You can also record KH and pH and use a CO2 chart to determine CO2 levels.

 

That will take a bit to digest. I just received my API Gh/Kh test kit from Amazon yesterday. My Tidal 55 has a built in surface skimmer.. Been working 12 hour shifts so I'm winding down today. 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Rudles

[lefty o]

if they are not currently dead, and you corrected the co2 overage, they will recover. pretty much any living creature that gets co2 poisoning, but not severe enough to die from it, may get sickly but over time will fully recover.

[Rudles]

Thank you  :)

[Mmiller2001]

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/choosing-co2-why

This was very helpful when I first started.

[Rudles]

Thank you  :)