All of the fish are gasping for air...

[Nippy Fish]

A friend's 55 gallon tank had the strangest thing happen. Suddenly, without warning, all of her fish were at the surface gasping for air. All of them, all different kinds of fish. The only thing she had done was change the water, add Prime, and add a bacterial product. She's done the same routine numerous times before. She was having ammonia/nitrite problems at the time, noteworthy problems, but not toxic. Sorry, I don't have the numbers. What could cause this? She changed about 50% of the water immediately and that corrected the problem.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Joker741]

She was having ammonia/nitrite problems at the time, noteworthy problems, but not toxic.

Those are both very toxic to fish and they are probably gasping because thier gills are being burned by the ammonia.

 

[mgamer20o0]

any ammonia is harmful. its more like do you want to die slow or fast. depending on the levels she might want to do another one and keep a eye on the tank.

 

[Nippy Fish]

I don't think it was the ammonia/nitrite because it had been higher before and over time she'd brought it down significantly. What was left was low, especially comparison. I've seen her ammonia/nitrite off the charts high in that tank (she's not the best fishkeeper) and I've never seen such a thing before or since this one episode. I'd love to be able to waggle my finger at her and say that it was the ammonia/nitrite, but it doesn't make sense given the tank's history. Any other ideas?

 

[mgamer20o0]

my car start why?..... starter is out.... nope.... spark plugs not working.... nope... battery dead.... nope.... sure that convo can go on for a long time.

this is the same thing. the only info you gave was the ammonia which could very well be the cause. with out any info no one can say for sure what it is.

 

[Mystery]

Also the fish gasp long after the damage stars, when they are disturbed and have reached levels of significant gill damage. The ammonia might have been worse before, but the fish are worse now. I would suggest water changes and oxygenation, stat....

 

[Nippy Fish]

But it had to be something that caused a sudden oxygen depletion because all of the various species started gasping at the same time. If it were ammonia/nitrite, they would have had various tolerances and started gasping at different times, right?

 

[Mystery]

Gasping can be from damage to gills, not due to water oxygen levels.

 

[TheNamelessPoet]

does she have c02 injected? I am asking because thi is in the plantedd section and none brought it up... maybe the c02 finally built up to high and the pwc lowered it?
Mabye its addding to the problem? just throwing it out there as a suggestions could be a dumb one but you never know... im new

 

[jsoong]

One other possibility: Did she temp match the water? Perhaps the change water was overheated & has no O2? <And gills damaged by ammonia cannot handle even a little O2 drop.>

 

[rive1404]

I've heard methylene blue helps alleviate symptoms of ammonia/nitrite burn.