# High breathing rates in fish



## gmaniac (Apr 8, 2004)

Hi all,

I just returned from the plantfest (awesome time), added some new plants and wood to my aquarium... also retroactively added some substrate (Fluorite) to one side of the aquarium (after rinsing throughly in tapwater but still very messy). All the cloudiness has settled and the water is clear

Not sure what is going on but the fish breathing rates are really high, they have been hanging out at the top a lot.... I did several water changes which helps, but everytime I turn on the CO2 (even for a very short time) , the breathing rates get very rapid again

ph -6.8 using milwakee controller
kh 9 

I know this puts my in a high CO2 zone (42.8 ppm) , but I've never had problems with this before, and I've had the pH as low as 6.6 without seeing this behaviour in the fish

very worried about this... any advice would be helpful

thanks

GM


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Just a thought, but maybe when you made so many changes to the tank it stressed the fish. That combined with the high C02 is probably really doing a number on them. Even though they withstood the high concentrations before, if they're anything like me when I get nervous the respiration rate goes up - they may not be able to compensate without more oxygen in the water.
If it were me, I'd try lowering your C02 levels at least for a while to see if it helps them.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I don't know what caused the initial problem, but the water from your water changes may not have a very high O2 content so adding your CO2 only makes the situation worse for the fish. You may need to stop (or slow) the CO2 until the plants have had a few hours under the lights and started producing O2. Maybe even add an airstone for the first few hours.


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## paul236313 (Jul 23, 2004)

when do water changes make sure you are not chlorine poisening your fish.. using stress coat to get the chlorine out of the water watch your nitrates anywhere 20ppm and higher brings on stress and co2 can stress them also


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Your fish may have gill flukes or chloramine poisoning.

Edward


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