FISH DYING AND BREATHING HEAVY

[daniella3d]

The fish in that thread had a major ich attack, so maybe they were stressed out by the change in the flow in the aquarium and they got ich. Ich will attack the gills of the fish first so before there is even white spots on the fish their gills are covered with parasites, thus the heavy breathing.

I do not beleive that the problem in that thread was caused by the new pump, rather it was caused by the ich attacking the gills of the fish.

Probably the person putting a new pump stressed the fish out while doing a more extensive maintenance and work in the aquarium than usual, and since that person had ich present in the aquarium, it simply took the opportunity and spead on the fish.

I put 2 koralia evolution 1050 in my aquarium and never even washed them. No sign of any problem with my fish...but my fish don't have ich so they don't get sick at the slightest stress.

Originally Posted by reefcat

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...reathing+heavy

[reefcat]

well ive never had ich in here before, man im so confused, it could be anything at this point i just hope the damage has been done and i can ride it out.

[Nate]

I'd put money on you having an issue with a protein film on top of the tank. This prevents oxygen exchange and tends to happen in mature systems running a cannister filter (205) and no skimmer ( or a cruddy skimmer)

It's not the powerheads.

Take both powerheads and point them at the surface of the water, from About 3 inches under the surface to agitate the waters surface and break surface tension .

3 hours later, when normal oxygen levels are reached and maintained, fish will act normal

[daniella3d]

+ 1 on that. No skimmer and a greasy fil at the surface is probably pushing it. At first I was shutting down my skimmer at night because I thought it would help my fish to sleep better because it is a bit noisy in the water when the skimmer is running, but after seing my fish breath very fast in the morning I resumed running the skimmer 24/7. I have not seen my fish do that since then.

Originally Posted by Nate

I'd put money on you having an issue with a protein film on top of the tank. This prevents oxygen exchange and tends to happen in mature systems running a cannister filter (205) and no skimmer ( or a cruddy skimmer)

It's not the powerheads.

Take both powerheads and point them at the surface of the water, from About 3 inches under the surface to agitate the waters surface and break surface tension .

3 hours later, when normal oxygen levels are reached and maintained, fish will act normal

[reefcat]

im just wondering why they all started breathing heavy when I introduced the powerheads, thats why i am hesitant to put them back in.

[kien]

Originally Posted by reefcat

im just wondering why they all started breathing heavy when I introduced the powerheads, thats why i am hesitant to put them back in.

It could be an unfortunate coincidence. The fish death may have happened even if you had not added the powerheads. If death by powerheads was a common thing there would be a lot more threads and discussions about it. I've searched and can't find anything (other than the thread you linked) about death by powerhead. Well, aside from the usual fish swimming into powerheads and getting chopped up.

Film on the surface of the water is definitely not a good thing though.

[kien]

Actually, if we go with Nate's suggestion about poor oxygen exchange (which I would agree with btw) this could explain the heavy breathing and death. It could be that your fish were just barely getting by with the poor oxygen level in the tank. Then one day you add a powerhead which introduces more flow which forces the fish to swim more which causes them to breath heavier consuming more precious oxygen which is already lacking in the tank and releasing deadly CO2 and suddenly you have a series of unfortunate events