Breathing fast

[Titaniumtim]

Hi, maybe I'm just making something of nothing, but I thought I would ask. I feel like my guppies and Gourami are breathing faster than normal. All water parameters are good today, but yesterday my Nitrates were around 160ppm(as far as i could tell by the liquid color, without any natural light) I did a quick 30% wc last night as well as some poop-scooping, and got it down to around 25-30ppm. And dosed new water with a full tank dose of prime. Did another one a little while ago today(15%)Again dosed with prime. I didn't feed them this morning but gave them a little flake supper. I may have been overfeeding them I noticed last night my gourami was taking about 10-15 breaths at a time at the surface every couple trips up to the top, not just a quick breath like usual.She is breathing about 2 times a sec in the water, Guppies are breathing about 2-4 times a sec. Have some day old fry and i cant see them breathing but there flitting around. No one is resting or gasping. Should i be worried? Do i need a bubbler? My filter is going full and is agitating the water.I have about 7 planted plants and two floating plants(real) Water is (Ammo-0-.25) (Nitrite-0) (Nitrate 10-20) (Ph 7.4) Temp is 81-82.

 

[anteatergoanna]

How many fish and what size tank?

 

[Titaniumtim]

20 Gallon tank,Fluval C3 20-50 gallon filter
1 Gold Gourami
6 Guppies
3 Mollies
12 guppy fry(i know they need to get out, looking for home for them,)

 

[Caliban07]

Hmm I'm not sure whether your tank is overstocked or not. You should try Aqadvisor as a quick guide. Guppies are apparently produce a lot of waste for their size as most livebearers do. Particularly mollies. Also fry can add quite a bioload as I was surprisingly told.

Most common reasons for high nitrates are:

Overstocking
Over feeding
Inadequate water change frequency
Inadequate water change volume
Inadequate tank maintenance (filter clean and gravel vac)

Nitrates that high is considered poor water quality and it particularly stressful with rapid elevation.

Stress opens up fish to disease. I would not suspect a disease at this point but rather focus on keeping the above in check.

I doubt there is an O2 problem. As long as there is sufficient surface movement to allow transfer of gas and the temperature is suitable (not too high) then there should be plenty.

Focus on the above list and your problems should ease somewhat.

A happy fish is a healthy fish.

Good luck.

 

[Titaniumtim]

Yep, without the 12 or so fry im at 114% stocking, and i knew that going in that i would have to change and clean more.

"You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 131%.Help on Filtration capacity
Recommended water change schedule: 36% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 114%."

The fry were unexpected so soon. I am getting another tank to split up the baby-making but it wont be for a few weeks yet. I did not realize that the fry would be so messy. Thanks for pointing that out. My plan is to do 20-25% water changes with poop skimming every day or two. That should keep the water nice until i can get the other tank.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hello Titan...

You need to commit to an aggressive water change routine. Large, frequent water changes will take care of tank problems. The fish just need a lot of pure, treated tap water to flush out impurities.

Here's the deal: Tanks up to 20 gallons need half the water changed a couple of times a week. Tanks from 20 to 30 Gs need the 50 percent water change done once a week and the larger tanks, over 30 can generally go two weeks between 50 percent changes.

Keep the water pure and the fish and plants will take care of themselves.

B