fish breathing fast!!!

[russkiimiha]

hi, i have 5 tiger barbs and 2 odessa barbs. latly they have been breahting reallly fast, like gasping for more air, they r still pretty active but have been eating less alot less, i checked my water only thing was my ph was low, so i dropped in some ph up. i have no live plants in it, and no air rocks. 5 gallon tank btw

[Damon]

Sounds like CO2 poisoning. 5 Tiger barbs need 30 gallons or more. They have used all the oxygen up and replaced it with Co2. They need to be moved ASAP. Adding an airstone will help a little if you cant move them or take them back right away.

[russkiimiha]

30 gallons??? the fish r not even 2 inches big, one of the barbs used to live in a jar at my friends house, i was told 1 barb per gallon.

is there anything ican add, i loked at my airfilter just now and its not doing such a hot job i just got it chnaged too

[TANKER]

The 1 fish per gallon is a generalization made by the lfs to sell more fish. While true of more sedentary fish in the 1" range this does not hold true for larger and or more active fish. A barb if I recall is in the 2" range and is a very active fish both in waste production and in physical exertion. These fish should be housed in the 1 fish per 5 gal range to allow them movement as well as adequate waste buffering. Personally I wouldn't keep barbs in anything less than a 20L and then only 4 at that.
Keep in mind that the 1" per gallon rule is really based on larger tanks which allow for fish movement and doesn't take into account smaller tanks where fish have no running room. In my opinion anything under 10 gal isn't fit for much other than maybe a betta.
Just my opinion.

[margo]

I remember when I had a tank, every time I changed the water, the fish would breath faster, as if gulping up the fresh oxygen.

[TheOldSalt]

Okay, rapid breathing.
Poisoning, low oxygen, high CO2, gill parasites, high temperature, or any combination of these things can be the cause.

How long has this tank been running?
Has the temperature increased lately?
Are the fish showing any other signs of dis-ease?
Are any of the fish new additions?
When did you drop in the pH up, and is that when the trouble started?
Did the pH go up?

In a low pH tank, you could have had a buildup of ammonium without any symptoms. This ammonium is relatively harmless, but as the pH went up, it got converted to ammonia, which is considerably more toxic.

My advice is to change a gallon of water and add an airstone, not only for more oxygen but to dissipate some heat if heat is a problem. Do NOT drop the temperature suddenly.

[russkiimiha]

How long has this tank been running?
-6 months now
Has the temperature increased lately?
-Nope steady 72-76
Are the fish showing any other signs of dis-ease?
-not that i can tell
Are any of the fish new additions?
-Got these fish i dunno atleast 3 months ago
When did you drop in the pH up, and is that when the trouble started?
-Dropped it in yesterday, i took my water to get it tested yesterday and it showed low ph
-Did the pH go up?
yes it did

bout the airstone iahve onei took it out, before i took it out they were fine, iguess ill put it back in now


im planning on upgrading my tank to 20 gallons real soon

[Alin10123]

Do you haev any live plants in there? The live plants will soak up the CO2 and will let out some oxygen at night for the fish.

[russkiimiha]

that i do not have

[MyraVan]

Originally Posted by Alin10123

Do you haev any live plants in there? The live plants will soak up the CO2 and will let out some oxygen at night for the fish.

Actually, live plants will soak up CO2 and let out oxygen during the day, but will consume oxygen and let out CO2 at night, just like the fish do.

[Ownager2004]

Isn't gasping for air the primary symptom of nitrite poisoning? High nitrite levels cause nitrite to enter the fish's system and keep hemoglobin from transporting oxygen efficiently.

[russkiimiha]

no my nitrate level is fine...... i put in my airstone about 2 hrs ago, it acutally did alot of good they r now breathing slower now

[Lexus]

One thing no one mentioned is to NEVER EVER use ph up or down, those chemicals are harsh on fish not to mention the ph will only go up for awhile then drop which will cause more stress. It is better to try and keep your fish in the PH level you have, if not raise it using a natural source so it stays stable all the time.

[russkiimiha]

fish r back to breathing normal and eating good

[blakeoe]

what is a natural source to raise or lower ph?

[TANKER]

The easiest ways to raise or power PH that I can think of:
To raise PH add some form of calsium carbonate to your tank. Either crushed coral, sea shells, or anything similar. A good way to increase your Kh and Dh is with baking soda. This will give you a much higher and therefor much more stable buffer which will keep your PH from fluctuating and maybe even crashing. Use caution tho, a small amount of baking soda goes a very long way.
To lower PH you can add driftwood, peatmoss to your filter, or a chemical resin bag designed to soften water. If your Dh and Kh are low enough you can use white vinegar to lower your PH as well. Vinegar or any other acid will work to lower PH provided that your buffer is low enough for them to overcome it, otherwise you will bounce and recoil to your default when the buffer reasserts itself.
Of course, both of these assume that you are doing regular water changes and routine maintanace on your tank.

[Damon]

Stay away from the Ion exchange pillows. They are a double edged sword. They may lower your PH, but will increase the sodium in your tank, thus increasing your TDS. In the long term, this can be more harmful to the tank.

[blakeoe]

Cool i did not know that. Can the peat moss be regular old gardening type ofr should it be a certain kind? Is there any preporations i should do to it before puting it in the filter?

[TANKER]

Plain old gardening variety is fine. Put it in an old nylon stocking and place that in your filter. Rinse the peat first of course to, but other than that nothing special to it. A side note, this will stain your water a nice mellow tea color. To remove this simply add carbon to your filter.

[blakeoe]

Cool im going to try it a.s.a.p Thanks guys!