Tank Crash - Fish Breathing Heavy..

[Pinchy]

Hello all,

I require your help. I attempted to move my 55 gallon to my new house where i had an empty 75 gallon bowfront setup. I had premixed saltwater two days in advance (30 gallons) I have moved all of the water and LR into the new tank as i wanted to keep parameters as stable as possible. Before introducing the fish I waited for the temperature to match the holding tub the fish were in, then started the acclimmation process. I then added the fish and they were fine for the first night. The following morning i noticed the fish were respirating heavily (over 100x per minute) particularly my Yellow Tang / flame angel. The yellow tang has now passed away... This is the first SW fish i have had die since starting the hobby a year and a half ago. It is a very sad day. :cry: The yellow tail damsel, cardinal and sandsifter goby are attempting to eat, the others show minimal interest.

I am stumped as to why this happened. The only thing that i have changed is added a Fluval 304 with fresh filter media to remove the floating particles.

in the filter is Floss, Carbon, Bio Balls & GFO.

Parameters (tested when i introduced the fish two days ago & last night):

Ammonia: 0
PH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

The only thing else to mention is my sump / skimmer hasent been online the last few days as i need a few parts for it before i can get it running. There is a TON of surface agitation with the 304 and X3 Koralia K1's pointing up at the surface.

PLEASE HELP i do not want to lose anymore fish. Is there anything i can add to the tank in terms of additives?

Thank you for your time.

[apexifd]

You can try to add some Prime and maybe put in an air pump to increase oxygen level in the water.

[Pinchy]

Thanks, I will buy some prime tonight. Any other thoughts?

[reefwars]

i would think there is lack of oxygen if there is heavy breathing like that, take a powerhead and aim it at the top of the water so it ripples the surface.....get your skimmer online asap...sorry man:)

[daniella3d]

Skimmer etc offline, fish breathing heavy..probably lack of oxygen and the fish died. Was there any sand moved? There could have been some gas trapped and that was released.

If ammonia was 0 then it's the only thing I can think of. Are you sure your test kit for ammonia is good? because I am surprised that you did not have a mini cycle by doing this tank move. I would buy some Seachem Prime and treat the water for a week or two while the biofilter is establishing.

Can it be a mass of bacterias dying from the bioball?

Hope you don't keep your temperature too high because that will only make anything else worse, ammonia if present, lack of oxygen etc...


Hello all,

I require your help. I attempted to move my 55 gallon to my new house where i had an empty 75 gallon bowfront setup. I had premixed saltwater two days in advance (30 gallons) I have moved all of the water and LR into the new tank as i wanted to keep parameters as stable as possible. Before introducing the fish I waited for the temperature to match the holding tub the fish were in, then started the acclimmation process. I then added the fish and they were fine for the first night. The following morning i noticed the fish were respirating heavily (over 100x per minute) particularly my Yellow Tang / flame angel. The yellow tang has now passed away... This is the first SW fish i have had die since starting the hobby a year and a half ago. It is a very sad day. :cry: The yellow tail damsel, cardinal and sandsifter goby are attempting to eat, the others show minimal interest.

I am stumped as to why this happened. The only thing that i have changed is added a Fluval 304 with fresh filter media to remove the floating particles.

in the filter is Floss, Carbon, Bio Balls & GFO.

Parameters (tested when i introduced the fish two days ago & last night):

Ammonia: 0
PH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

The only thing else to mention is my sump / skimmer hasent been online the last few days as i need a few parts for it before i can get it running. There is a TON of surface agitation with the 304 and X3 Koralia K1's pointing up at the surface.

PLEASE HELP i do not want to lose anymore fish. Is there anything i can add to the tank in terms of additives?

Thank you for your time.

[pscott99]

run an airator stone or pump with pvc for bubbles

[Nano]

I remember being told that herbtana makes microbe lift, and something else(sorry the name has slipped my mind) but combined the 2 make an excellent stress coat for just such situations. also I agree with the above, do an airstone to help bring some more O2 into the water, I did this when my canister on my cichlid tank broke down, I had about 4 airstones in different places to help keep O2 in the water. no fish lost!

[ScubaSteve]

When you stir up the tank such as you have you can release a lot of trapped organics and nitrates, all of which will fuel a bacterial bloom which consumes oxygen. I think this might be your problem. Surface agitation doesn't mean much of you aren't getting o2-rich water down to the bottom. Get a powerhead down low and aim it up. Get an airstone in there to help aerate the water until your have a skimmer up.

[Seamazter]

Also there are cases where ich collects on the fishs gills, this causes them to have heavy labor when breathing.
Did you have a case of ich that went away lately?
Sometimes the ich is still in the gills.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

when the yellow tang dies, what color were the gills?

First and formost, did you move the sandbed? or use new?

Stability is your friend, for the next 7 days at least dose the tank with approx 1 capcull per 50 gal.

Heavy breathing is more than likely 2 things, a parasite in the gills, or low O2.

if it is O2, run a bubbler, and more flow.

Hope this helps.

Ken - BWA

[Wayne]

Wow lots of people all with the same answer :lol: Any new updates from the OP?

[reefwars]

Wow lots of people all with the same answer :lol: Any new updates from the OP?


if it helps any wayne knows fish cpr....what to soon?? crap lol;)

[Pinchy]

Wow thanks all for the response, what a great community you guys have here. Much appreciated! I have added two different additives to the tank Seachem for new tanks to reduce nitrates ect and another one that reduces ammonia. I tested my levels again tonight and was prepared to do another emergency water change however the parameters read as follows:

PH: 8.2
Nitrate: 10
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

I will continue to add the two above chemicals until everyone seems happy again.
Skimmer will not be operational until tomorrow as i need time for the silicone in the joints running from sump to display to seal.

Flame angel / cleaner shrimp and all other fish are now eating and appear to be breathing slower. The flame also came to welcome me at the front of the tank :)

All power heads are facing the surface in addition to the 304.

The sand bed was old and brought from a previous tank.
The rock was out of water for about 25 minutes while the display was setup.
The tangs gills were white when he died..
Ich (have had a slight issue with this however it has dissipated for well over a month)

Hopefully the tank is on the mend only time will tell.

Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

[Pinchy]

i should mention that ich was never present on my yellow tang and he was fat as ever. Fed nori/mysis/brine enriched with garlic/nls ect hands down the healthiest looking tang i have ever seen and probably the happiest fish in the tank.

[reefwars]

i should mention that ich was never present on my yellow tang and he was fat as ever. Fed nori/mysis/brine enriched with garlic/nls ect hands down the healthiest looking tang i have ever seen and probably the happiest fish in the tank.



tangs are swimmers, constantly moving thus using more oxygen than alot of other fish that combined with the stress of the move prob did him in;)