Fish Gasping for air!

[Sebastian83]

Hi all,
This morning when I went to feed my fish I saw they were all breathing heavily (I immediately put a air pump in the tank to help the guys breath). This is the first time I have seen them this low on oxygen, and was wondering if anyone could help me figure out what may be the source of the problem.

Last night I installed a 36 watt Jebo UV filter to the tank (90 gal), could this cause a decrease in oxygen? I wouldn’t think that it would, but its the most recent change I have made.

My Tank is planted so I have a CO2 tank to insert CO2 gas into my tank, It is set to stop when the PH reaches ~6.2. This was installed about a month ago, and is inserted via a Reactor 1000 & Fluval 404. Could there all of sudden be too high % of C02 in the water? - could the UV light be help causing that?

Could it just be that now that I have so much more plant matter that during the night when both fish and plants are consuming 02 the levels are being depleted too rapidly? Also my temp is fairly high ~84F so Im sure this is attributing to the problem, I am planning to get some Discus to complete the Tank.
Right now I am thinking of running my air pump on a timer soon after the lights go out.

Any Ideas?

Tank Stats:
PH 6.2-6.3
Nitrate 20-30 ppm
Temp 83F-84F

Size: 90 gallon Planted Tank
10lb C02 Tank w/ Reactor 1000 & PH controller
36Watt UV Filter
Lighting: 260 Watts PCF
Filtration: Fluval 404 & Fluval 405
Fish:
5 Angels
7 Clown Loaches
7 Khuli Loaches
3 Burmese Loaches
2 YoYo Loaches
2 Royal Plecos
2 Gold Nugget Plecos

 

[tbonem91]

I would go with the air pump at night plan - would definitly help out.

 

[rich311k]

CO2 doesn't replace O2 in the water it is independant of it. Since your Co2 is on a PH controller that should not be the problem. The airstone is a good idea as you do have a fairly large fish load and are probably just running out of O2. As your plants grow more the problem will lesson.

 

[GlitcH]

I take it you have a lot of plants............and your stocked pretty well so I'd say the combination may be what is causing the problem. If so you should only notice it at night and early morning.

I run a air pump at night just in case. It can't hurt.

Where they gasping at the surface when you noticed?

Did turning on your air pump help the fish?

 

[GlitcH]

CO2 doesn't replace O2 in the water it is independant of it. Since your Co2 is on a PH controller that should not be the problem. The airstone is a good idea as you do have a fairly large fish load and are probably just running out of O2. As your plants grow more the problem will lesson.

As the plants grow it should lesson?

I would think that as they grow the problem would worsen.

But maybe I shouldn't think :?

 

[rich311k]

To me as they grow they will saturate the water even more with O2 and that will lessen the problem. Could be the other way around but I believe they produce more O2 due to photosynthesis than the O2 they cwill use due to respiration. Could be wrong Biology was a long time ago.

Sebastian are you seeing any pearling yet?

 

[Elmware2000]

Check for any signs of sickness. Things like ick can block their gills, so they will gasp for air at the surface because they are having such a hard time breathing.

 

[newfound77951]

the UV sterilizer could have caused a problem, too.....how green was the water before you put on the UV? If the UV killed off a significant biomass of algae or bacteria, as they decompose they will use up a lot of oxygen. Might not have been enough to cause the fish to gasp, but it's something to think about.

 

[mentallylost]

Have you checked your tanks temperature? It is possible that the UV sterilizer raised the temp to a level that is too high for your fish.

 

[Sebastian83]

I take it you have a lot of plants............and your stocked pretty well so I'd say the combination may be what is causing the problem. If so you should only notice it at night and early morning.

I run a air pump at night just in case. It can't hurt.

Where they gasping at the surface when you noticed?

Did turning on your air pump help the fish?

I am at work so I dont know for sure if it has helped, But I am sure they will be fine now with the airpump + plants.

And yes many of the fish were gasping at the surface, mainly the Angels and the Khulis who were resting on the plants near the surface. My other loaches were just breathing super fast. Also I think I should mention when I feed my fish in the morning before work the light has only been on for about 10 mins.

I lost an old Rainbow partially due to this, he was on his way out he was 6 yrs old and was already acting like he was done with life.

Anyways I am going to buy anothother timer and hook that up to an air pump.

 

[TwoHobbies]

I agree with the air pump at night, but the temp is also a little high, and I'd turn down the co2 a little, or cut back on the light for a little while. Khuli's at the top of the tank is not a good sign

 

[SCFatz]

As the water gets hotter it will hold less O2.With heat being turned up (was this a recent change?) and that population I would think thats the problem.

An air pump will help with gas exchange no doubt....is the tank open to the room or pretty sealed up?

But I wonder why not all day and night?Because of the co2?? (wondering outlloud really...can't imagine any other reason)

Also I would naturally assume that more plants mean more o2..thats how it works on land anyway

 

[rich311k]

The CO2 wouldn't effect the O2 levels. While the lights are on the plants produce O2. They are just not producing enough to last the whole night. That is why the airstone at night will solve the problem.

 

[SCFatz]

I see....is there a reason not to run it during the day though?Whats the harm if any? (not trying to hijack the thread I promise....just curious).

 

[rich311k]

If you run the pump during the day it will gas off the CO2 making it a useless effort to inject it.

 

[gfink]

You may have also changed the way your filter returns water after adding teh UV plumbing. Mine were gasping for air when my return was 1/2" lower than current position. Now it gently ripples the water surface. I do have to watch my level on water fills.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I had 3 roseline sharks that died from no O2 at night. The plants do take up quite a bit of O2 at night. So even if your running a ph controller, let it run 24/7, and then have an air bubbler come on at night. Plants give off O2 during the day, but they use O2 at night.

 

[Sebastian83]

Thanks for the input guys. When I got home today all the fish were breathing normally. I set it up now that I have my air pump run about 6 hours of night (2 hours after lights out and back off just before lights on).
This should solve the issue... plus I dont have to see the ugly airstone stuff anyways because of my plants are really taking over now.

Hobbs my tank temp is at between 83-84F because I will be adding some Discus soon, probably around 5-6. They will be the last additons to the tank. Good thing this happened before I bought them

 

[sherry]

I had a die off for the same reason, not enough o2 at night. .. I lost all of my hillstream loaches and my cacs. Never again. Our airstone is on a timer!!! 12 hours thru all the hours of dark.

 

[GlitcH]

Hobbs my tank temp is at between 83-84F because I will be adding some Discus soon, probably around 5-6. They will be the last additons to the tank. Good thing this happened before I bought them

I would be very cautious about adding those discus or any more fish at this point. You already have 28 good size fish in there.......if you add anymore I suggest adding one at a time and watching your parameters closely.