Fish breathing heavy been battling illnesses in tank for about 4 months.

[JRivers2k]

I have been keeping tanks for 35 years I have never seen anything like this. I set up this 75 gallon in September. moved fish plants substrate from my 40 breeder. I had school of lemon tetras, few small plecos, sterbai and lazer cory cats electric blue acara and rainbow cichlids. Substrate is gravel and Quickrete playsand. Fish were flashing like they had ich many many water changes later and dead fish I thought things were finally ok.
Introduced some clown loaches and ich along with them. been battling various disease for months one thing after another Ich, bacteria and IP. Now all disease are gone but fish are after adding the Molly and batteling some other parasite all fish are breathing heavy. Water peramiters are perfect. temp is 78 degrees. Filtration is a marineland c-360. I do 25-30% water changes every 5 -7 days because after 4 days fish start breathing heavy. I do water change they are fine for a few days. My other tank is perfectly fine no issues at all.

Stock is
Electric Blue acara 4"
Royal acara 4"
1 Rumy nose tetra
3 rainbow fish
5 Lemon tetra
These were survivors from the ich and other diseases.

Added since
3 otto cats
Siamese algea eater
1 (F) Bushy nose pleco
3 (F) Molly
6 Cory Cats
4 GBR
More plants

I am at my wits end I cant figure out what is going on.

 

[JRivers2k]

PS my other tank is a 20 long with M and F Apisto Macmasteri and 4 juvenile L333. Absolutely nothing wrong with that tank. Same water same temp. Substrate is aragonite I have some grass plants not sure what it is called. Pic is my profile pic. Water parameters are the same as the 75 gallon.

 

[Andy Sager]

I have been keeping tanks for 35 years I have never seen anything like this. I set up this 75 gallon in September. moved fish plants substrate from my 40 breeder. I had school of lemon tetras, few small plecos, sterbai and lazer cory cats electric blue acara and rainbow cichlids. Substrate is gravel and Quickrete playsand. Fish were flashing like they had ich many many water changes later and dead fish I thought things were finally ok.
Introduced some clown loaches and ich along with them. been battling various disease for months one thing after another Ich, bacteria and IP. Now all disease are gone but fish are after adding the Molly and batteling some other parasite all fish are breathing heavy. Water peramiters are perfect. temp is 78 degrees. Filtration is a marineland c-360. I do 25-30% water changes every 5 -7 days because after 4 days fish start breathing heavy. I do water change they are fine for a few days. My other tank is perfectly fine no issues at all.

Stock is
Electric Blue acara 4"
Royal acara 4"
1 Rumy nose tetra
3 rainbow fish
5 Lemon tetra
These were survivors from the ich and other diseases.

Added since
3 otto cats
Siamese algea eater
1 (F) Bushy nose pleco
3 (F) Molly
6 Cory Cats
4 GBR
More plants

I am at my wits end I cant figure out what is going on. View attachment 391697View attachment 391698View attachment 391699View attachment 391700

As I mentioned in your first post, I'm another old timer so I can offer you this advice: You can't think of today's fish as yesteryear's fish. They are not the same. Most fish today are farmed and can be carriers of a lot of different and some new diseases and viruses. It is now suggested that all fish from anywhere go through a quarantine period of 60-90 days before adding to your main tank because of that. There are even some parasites that have a 110-120 day lifecycle but thankfully, they are rare in the hobby.

As for the Clown loaches and Ick, 78 is a bit cool for them despite what the internet says. They do better in temps in the low to mid 80s. For the future, I would not mix them in with what you already have as those fish like temps in the 76-80 degree range.

As for the fish breathing heavy after a few days past water changes, it sound like either something in the tank is leeching something unpleasant ( maybe a stone or the wood or plant fertilizers if you are using them?) or there is not enough surface breakage to oxygenate the water so by day 3, the fish have depleted the available oxygen in the water and the plants are not supplying enough to supplement it. I can't tell by your picture whether the ripples are on the background or a reflection but the filter return is well under the surface and if that's an air stone resting on it, it needs to be at the bottom of the tank to circulate the water from the bottom to the top so it can be oxygenated. ( The old " exchange of gases".) The surface is where the most oxygen is. Poor water quality at the bottom of the tank could explain your fish's disease issues. You might want to try to take water samples from the top level and just above the substrate and compare them. You'll see just how well circulated the water is actually getting.

Hope this helps.

 

[JRivers2k]

Thanks for the advice what you say makes a lot of sense. I use a canister filter so no surface agitation. I just added an air stone to break water surface this afternoon to see if that works. If it does help I might get something to moves the surface water. The air pump is loud. I used to quarentine but currently using my quarentine tank for breeding. I know rookie mistake. You are right fish are getting more sickly lately.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks for the advice what you say makes a lot of sense. I use a canister filter so no surface agitation. I just added an air stone to break water surface this afternoon to see if that works. If it does help I might get something to moves the surface water. The air pump is loud. I used to quarentine but currently using my quarentine tank for breeding. I know rookie mistake. You are right fish are getting more sickly lately.

Even with a canister filter, you can set the return up to flow across the surface so you don't need the air stone. I would make a spray bar to go across the width of the tank so that every part of the surface was getting agitated. You set the bar up just above the water line and have the holes aimed maybe 15 or 20 degrees down towards the water and it creates a rolling effect in the water that really helps keep things circulating. But even if you want to use the air stone, it needs to be at the bottom if you want the lower layers of the water column.

As for the loud air pump, are you using a gang valve? If you are, the way to check for back pressure is to remove the airline from the pump and see if the pump gets quieter. If it does, that means you have too much back pressure causing the noise so you need to open a second valve to release the back pressure into the air which will also quiet the air pump.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

" You might want to try to take water samples from the top level and just above the substrate and compare them. You'll see just how well circulated the water is actually getting."
Andy If something is wrong what difference would you expect to see?

 

[JRivers2k]

I think water is circulating well because of the large filter but it wasn't agitating the surface. However adding the air stone yesterday worked to agitate the water surface. I pointed the output of the filter up and that is working even better. Fish arent breathing hard now. I think tomorrow I will swap out the air stone for a spray bar I think that will take care of the issue. Thanks everyone.

 

[Andy Sager]

" You might want to try to take water samples from the top level and just above the substrate and compare them. You'll see just how well circulated the water is actually getting."
Andy If something is wrong what difference would you expect to see?

I suspected low oxygen and the OP has borne that out. That was the issue. Keeping an air stone bubbling at the surface only oxygenates the surface water. This is why you want the stones at the bottom so that the bubbles pull the bottom water to the surface replacing it with top water that sinks down due to the circular motion of the water.