GBR Breathing Heavy

[NOLANANO]

My parameters:

temp: 82.5

PH: 7.5

ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 10

Everything was fine and then i did a 20% water change and now all 6 are breathing heavy. There was about 20 ppm of nitrate prior to the water change.

also weird and unsure if it’s related but I’ve had 4 Pygmy cories die within the last week and all 4 looked to have swim bladder issues as the starter to swim on their sides and be sluggish before dying. No other fish showed any signs of distress until the water change today.

should I be concerned or should I just turn the lights off and hope they feel better in the morning?

[Colu]

Rapid breathing can be caused by low levels of desolve oxygen I would add and extra air stone when you did a water change did you use a water dechlorinator like prime 

[NOLANANO]

I use amquel and NovAqua as a conditioner and I’ve done water changes before without issue.

I don’t have an air stone but why would that all of a sudden become an issue after this water change? In anything shouldn’t a water change add oxygen to the water?

I’ll run to the LFS and get an air pump and an air stone when they open in the morning.

[Colu]

Possiblity  different times of the year water company will flush the pipes so you could have under dosed your water dechlorinator  leading to the symptoms your seeing something else could be going such as parasitic infection or bacterial infection with the deaths of your Cory's have your added anything new to the tank recently that could have bought in disease such as plants new fish

[NOLANANO]

I added the rams about 3 weeks ago. The thing that’s strange to me though is that they all went from fine to breathing heavy within a couple hours directly after the water change. I’d think if it was a parasite it’d hit them one at a time, not all at once.

should I grab general cure just in case?

[NOLANANO]

I also just realized that the water company did say they were doing water tests 2 nights ago and shut off our water for a few hours.  That definitely could be the culprit. 
 

I added a second dose of conditioner to the tank so hopefully it will be enough to get everyone healthy again.

Edited December 4, 2022 by NOLANANO

[Colu]

On 12/4/2022 at 1:05 AM, NOLANANO said:

I added the rams about 3 weeks ago. The thing that’s strange to me though is that they all went from fine to breathing heavy within a couple hours directly after the water change. I’d think if it was a parasite it’d hit them one at a time, not all at once.

should I grab general cure just in case?

If you see any other symptoms such as hanging at the surface listlessness sunken belly spitting food out flashing then I would treat with general cure 

[NOLANANO]

Almost all my fish are at the surface gasping for air. Not just rams but rummynose tetra and endlers too.  I’m almost positive they all have chlorine poisoning. It all came on way too quickly to be a parasite or other illness. And Like I said before, the water company cut off our water a couple nights ago to run tests and do maintenance. So I’m fairly certain that the tap water I used to do my water change must have had a higher concentration of chlorine than usual and the standard dose of conditioner wasn’t enough.

hopefully I wake up tomorrow to healthy fish but it feels much more likely that I’ll be starting from scratch.

[NOLANANO]

morning update: every single fish except my pearl gouramis are breathing heavy and hanging out near the surface. I’m going to try to do a major water change and see if that helps.

I really think it’s something to do with the water so I’m not sure if this will help but I’m also fairly certain it’s not parasites or illness because it all happened way too fast.  Am I wrong for thinking that or is it possible that every fish started feeling the effects of an illness all at once?

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by NOLANANO

[NOLANANO]

Morning update 2: I did a 60% water change and everyone seems significantly improved almost immediately. A few fish are still breathing a little heavier than normal but they are swimming around normally and even foraging for food.

I’m a hodgepodge of emotions right now.  Obviously I’m absolutely elated that it looks like all my fish are gonna make it. I’m also mad at myself for not doing the water change last night and making my fish suffer longer than they needed to. 
 

And I’m confused about what caused the situation. Was it the water testing that was done by the water company a few days ago and I just flushed whatever from my pipes with the last water change? Did I accidentally contaminate my python with laundry detergent or something? my utility sink is in my laundry room but I try to be careful not to pour anything down that drain.

edit: I don’t think I’m out of the woods yet. The fish don’t seem as bad as last night but they are all still definitely breathing heavy and I can see red gills on at least one of the rummynose tetra. 
 

going to get an air stone when the LFS opens.

Edited December 4, 2022 by NOLANANO

[Colu]

With what your describing it's more than likely chorine or some other contaminate got into the tank I would test your tap water for chorine then do another water change

Edited December 4, 2022 by Colu

[NOLANANO]

On 12/4/2022 at 10:53 AM, Colu said:

With what your describing it's more than likely chorine or some other contaminate got into the tank I would test your tap water for chorine then do another water change

Ok I added an air stone and did another 40% water change with double the conditioner dose. This feels like my last last stand at the Alamo lol .

Edited December 4, 2022 by NOLANANO

[Colu]

On 12/4/2022 at 6:51 PM, NOLANANO said:

Ok I added an air stone and did another 40% water change with double the conditioner dose. This feels like my last last stand at the Alamo lol .

Hopefully extra water changes and double dose of water conditioner will do the trick

[NOLANANO]

All the fish are looking so much better. One or two are still breathing a bit heavier than normal but nothing like it was before.

Someone get @Coluone of those poster of the month care packages, he saved all my fish!

Edited December 5, 2022 by NOLANANO

[NOLANANO]

Two nights ago these fish were all on the brink of death but thanks to @Colu look at them now: