gasping chromis

[mattmku]

I moved my green chromis to a QT yesterday. This morning I woke up to the fish sitting on the bottom gasping, rapidly finning and hiding behind rocks in the same place for hours. his fins also appeared to be dark. I have a powerhead providing plenty of surface movemend and since this morning i've added two airstones. I also added a cycling supplement to bring down any ammonia or nitrite that may be present. Since doing this his fins seems to be back to normal color but he is still gasping and rapidly finning. Is there anything else i can do? will he recover?

also, could this just a a sign of stress from the move?

What was the chromis moved for, are any meds being used and what are the water parameters?

Sounds like either the QT was not cycled properly first or you have a pH problem. In either case a water change with well aged/aerated SW will help immensely. I would suggest making up enough SW for a few water changes just to be prepared.

Cheers
Steve

[Brad]

Yes, that sure sounds like ammonia to me...and that the QT cannot support life (not yet cycled). Water changes, big and often...immediately.

Unless the fish is in there for some very serious, life threatening, problem I would return him to the main tank before you loose him.

[austinsdad]

Ammonia could be the problem as the others said. Was the QT already cycled, or done with the cycling supplement you mentioned? Maybe it's not working and the ammonia is causing the gasping.

Let us know that the ammonia readings are before the first water change. I'll bet they're up. Gonna have to keep track of the parameters.