Fish breathing heavy

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

This morning I noticed some of my fish were breathing heavy. I tested water and I had a little bit of nitrates/nitrites (25 and 1-2) and the rest of my parameters are all the same as normal. Gh 250, kh 0, chlorine 0, ammonia 0, ph 6.4

I did a 50% water change and tested again and had 0 nitrate/nitrite. That was about 8 hours ago. The heavy breathing has gotten worse affecting all of my fish (cichlids, barbs, a pleco and a striped Raphael cat) except for my bichir who looks and acts completely fine. One of the fish that looks the worse has red gills now too.

I did another water test just now, still showing 0’s. I’m wondering g if it’s maybe low oxygen, since the bichir is not affected, but I’m not sure how that would suddenly happen, and I am running air and a spray bar. Any thoughts? I just add salt seeing if that will help.

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

Also not sure about the Nitrites. My tank has been set up for over a year so I’m not sure why I’m seeing them all of a sudden. Does this mean the system has crashed?

[Scapexghost]

It was probably the nitrite. The damage is already done, so there isn't much that can be done, except to wait for then to recover. I would avoid feeding, as they would struggle to eat with damaged gils, so it wiuld just rot and cause more problems.

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

Well I believe I solved the Nitrites issue. Are shower had been backing up and a plumber came out today. The cap to the main water line access to the house had broken off and the pipe was filled with mud.

[Colu]

I would add an extra air stone and a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table for 5 gallon that will aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes @BlueLineAquaticsSC

[nabokovfan87]

Let us know if you see any improvement or are already running an airstone. Please check all of your filters and equipment to make sure they are functioning, especially temps.

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

@Colu I did add salt right away and @nabokovfan87 I am running air. Most of the fish look completely fine today, some of the ones that were doing the worst still have off color but are breathing good and gills look good. Water is consistently testing with 0 nitrites. The only thing left now is the algae bloom it gave me, which honestly may have helped with the nitrites.