Fishing Hanging Out At Top

[360º]

ok so i have a 75 gallon tank with a bunch of peacock cichlids. (this is not a cichlid specific question)

all of my larger fish seem to be all hanging out near the top of the tank but they're not gasping out for air. they're just near the top (5 of them)


the rest of my cichlids that are all about 1-2" are all happily swimming in the rocks at the bottom and around the plants .

any idea? i have a large airstone running day and night, i have a aquaclear 110 filter also providing oxygen, and 3 small live plants.

any ideas?

ammonia:0 Nitrite: 0.3

 

[iDream]

nitrites=BAD, somethings wrong in your tank, or you read that wrong

i personally dont know what to do except a PWC to get those trites down though

 

[BigJim]

Do at least a 75% PWC to get that nitrite level down. How long has this tank been running and did you cycle it?

 

[mfdrookie516]

I have no idea why they are hanging out at the top, but I have noticed that the bigger fish in my 150g are always swimming in the top half of the tank, the smaller ones stay down towards the bottom and in the rocks (except at feeding time)... Maybe its just an african thing?

I agree that you need to get your nitrites figured out. You've either tested wrong, added too many fish at once recently, or have some issues in your bio-filter that need straightened out. Big water change is definitely a good idea

 

[360º]

ok but 0.3 ppm is not even that much, it shouldnt really effect them.

and why would the larger ones only be affected? i have smaller cichlids and even fully grown julidochromis transcriptus that are perfectly fine and swimming around the bottom

 

[360º]

i just checked the nitrite again and it seems to be going down

 

[BigJim]

Nitrite is toxic in small quantities. Even more so than ammonia. That's why cycling is so critical to your fish's health.

Sometimes certain fish are affected more than others by the same conditions. In the winter when snow covers the ice on a pond and creates a low-oxygen condition, big fish usually succumb more quickly than small fish. Big bass are common victims, but little bass and sunfish rarely die from it. Northern pike almost never die from low oxygen levels and they're often larger than bass. It all depends on the fish.

 

[360º]

so what i did to cycle was.... bought new filters and set them up on my old (already established) 30 gallon tank for about 2 weeks

then when i filled up my 75 gallon, i transfered the large filters and all added all of the old filter media from old filters to them.

its been running for about 2 weeks with no problems and now all of the sudden showing nitrite?

i also transfered all the rocks and decore from my old tank.... (i added new stuff too)

i just figured it would seed very quickly and the cycle wouldnt take to long

oh i just did a water change, we'll see if anything improves

 

[BigJim]

Two weeks probably isn't long enough to seed the filters well, so if you've added fish recently, your tank could see a spike.

 

[360º]

ok i figured it out..... i noticed the fish have white spots all over. thought it was ich, but its actually velvet

 

[i3k]

I was gonna say check for ich as it gets in the gills...but velvet also gets in the gills...how do you plan on treating your cichlids?

 

[360º]

raising the temp. and added a little bit of salt