Breathing Question ?

[seranko]

Hey guys, Can somebody explain me why a fish is going to the surface and trying to breath ??? or why is breathing really fast in the bottom of the tank ??? (I'm taking about discus)

Water conditions PH 6.6, no ammonia, no nitrite, < 10% nitrate, GH 3 and KH 2, temp 84 F.....

Thanks,

Seranko

 

[Fruitbat]

seranko...

You don't say what kind of filtration you have on the tank. The obvious explanation (though not necessarily the correct one) would be that there isn't enough dissolved oxygen in the tank. Remember that the higher the temperature of the water, the less dissolved oxygen there is.

Your ammonia level rules out ammonia toxicity as a cause.

 

[seranko]

My filter is Fluval 404....

 

[tkos]

Normally high nitrites are the problem as they compete with the oxygen in the fish's gills.

I can't imagine that 84F is too hot, though it is on the warm side. Many tanks get that hot in the summer. And Discus like their temp that hot.

These are super picky fish. I would try and do a water change and see if this helps.

 

[zman]

did you ever get this resolved? besides the 404, do you have any aeration going on - power head, air stone, bubbler, anything?
sounds a lot like a problem I had with a lack of DO. 50 g tank with a good canister filter, but the filter didn't disturb the water surface much. as I found out, while most oxygen is getting dissolved / exchanged at the surface of the water, some sort of bubbler / water circulator is needed to keep the surface broken up, keep the air right above the water non-stagnant, and to move the water around to the surface. after adding a cheap bubble maker from another tank, all was good in just a couple of hours.

 

[grimlock3000]

I am with zman. The issue definitely sounds like low oxygen levels which can happen if a cansiter is setup to not stir up the surface much. Hope everything worked our seranko.