Scuba Sam Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 I am posting this on behalf of a friend. He wonders why his discus is gulping so fast. His tank has been set up for about three months, and his discus was sent up about six weeks ago. He does daily water changes. The fish looks in good condition, it is just breathing fast/gulping. He was pretty confident that his water was in good condition from all the changes. I grabbed a sample for a test and we found the following: pH 6.0 or less Nitrate 5.0 mg/L Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0.5 mg/L Temp is about 28 degrees. The Ammonia reading is a surprise to him, and no doubt is causing problems - what do we do? Tank mates - a school of neon tetras, three zebra danios, and five corydoras. The tank is planted, with good plant growth, and well aerated with a Aqua One CF1000. Any suggestions welcomed please. Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 what size tank how many discus ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuba Sam Posted March 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 what size tank how many discus ? Its about 180 litres, has one discus - there were two but the less dominant one only lasted about a couple of weeks after it arrived on the courier. At the price they are it was a bit upsetting - keen to avoid the same thing happening to this one. Still looks a great colour, feeding from his hand, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 is it a gulping or a coughing? does it only gulp when eating food, or is the gulping always present? has it changed colour or behaviour? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 As the tank is well aerated the most common problems indicated by heavy breathing symptoms are gill flukes and gill damage. Gill flukes are indicated by the gill covers extended and the discus breathing heavily at the top of the aquarium. This would be caused if the discus came from an environment free of flukes and was placed in an infected aquarium. I would attribute this particular case to the high ammonia levels in the aquarium and recent travel causing damage to the gills. If this is the case it's most likely permanent but may hardly be noticable when the water parameters are correct but the fish will start gasping any time a water change is needed. For the time being, have your friend work on getting those ammonia levels down to 0. Check the bacteria to make sure everything is cycled properly and look around for dead fish or left over food or wood rotting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuba Sam Posted March 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 is it a gulping or a coughing? does it only gulp when eating food, or is the gulping always present? has it changed colour or behaviour? Hi Jolliolli, it is always gulping with no change in behaviour or colour - therefore gulping not coughing we think. Thanks for your comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuba Sam Posted March 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 I would attribute this particular case to the high ammonia levels in the aquarium and recent travel causing damage to the gills. If this is the case it's most likely permanent but may hardly be noticable when the water parameters are correct but the fish will start gasping any time a water change is needed. For the time being, have your friend work on getting those ammonia levels down to 0. Check the bacteria to make sure everything is cycled properly and look around for dead fish or left over food or wood rotting. Thanks for your comments - this makes lots of sense. I think we have finally hit on the reason for the problem - my friend called in at home today and it turns out when the first discus died he cleaned out the tank and filter tubes thoroughly, and turned off the filter for 24 hours. When he started it back up, the filter smelt foul at first. I'm picking that the bacteria died in the filter from no circulation, and he blew a large crop of dead bacteria into the tank when he restarted the filter - is this likely? This would explain the smell, and the resultant ammonia levels. This is our plan at the mo: Add Stress Zyme as per instructions Reduce feeding quantities Continue with water changes Use lower pH water for the water changes to drive the ammonia level down Keep temp up at 28-29 degrees to reduce ammonia toxic effects Any other suggestions? (there was rotting wood in prior to the first discus dying, but this was removed at the same time as the first discus died, prior to the filter clean out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 hey scuba sam, sounds like you're on to it, just keep up with the water changes and sounds like ti should come right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 That makes a lot of sense, you can skip the slow process of setting up a cycle with stress zyme by adding heaps of bacteria from another healthy filter by squeezing the media into the water. Just try and do it near the filter intake rather than in your fishes face Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuba Sam Posted March 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Thanks for your help - I will pass on the info. Great to get some answers. Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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