fish gasping for life

[90reefkepr]

i just recently transfered some fish from my 90 gallon tank to a 29 gallon hospital tank. they are now breathing very heavily and i dont know why? i tested the water and everything came out fine.
...What do you think is wrong?

 

[solonfairy]

was the 29g hospital tank cycled? .... ph, temp, and salinity the same as the previous tank?

 

[yosemite sam]

A few questions for ya that may help. Why did you move the fish to the hospital tank? How long has that tank been set up, and what filters/etc. are you running with it? Is there medicine in the hospital tank, and if so, how much? And list the water parameters you tested and their results for us.

 

[iluvmetang]

That is completely normal every time i move a fish into a hospital tank they do that 1.Did you acclimate them? 2. did you put them directly into the tank? (so many fish die unnesary death because of this) i will look it up in the mean time :happyfish

 

[90reefkepr]

I allowed the tank to filter only for a few days because almost 70% of the water in the hospital tank came from my 90 so i figured it already had a large amount of bacteria.
i have a fluval 204
penguin power head 1140
50 watt heater upgraded tomorrow to a 100watt
24 watt flouresent upgraded to a 65 watt bf tomorrow
NH3=0
NO2=0
NO3=25
PH=8.1
Kh=120
Temp=78
Salinity=1.024

 

[90reefkepr]

there is also no medication in the water at the time

 

[kimkissyfish]

Again,
WHY DID YOU put them in QT in the first place?? and what kinds of fish are they?
I'm wondering too
Kim

 

[90reefkepr]

o sorry i put them in because they had ich both white and black.
there are tangs, dwarf angels, chalk basslets, and a royal gramma.

 

[90reefkepr]

i also aclimated the fish for 2 hrs using the drip method

 

[90reefkepr]

Can some one answer

 

[90reefkepr]

the yellow tangs are breathing anout 3x per second

 

[yosemite sam]

How many fish are in the tank?

 

[90reefkepr]

7

 

[yosemite sam]

Are they large fish? When the fish were in the display tank and showed signs of ich, did they do anything odd, such as 'surf' in front of power heads, or scratch their gill areas against rocks? I'm thinking this could be an O2 problem. Do you have an oxygen test kit?

 

[90reefkepr]

no o2 test kit. dont know where to get one.
i know they have ich. i see it and they show signs of it.
they are not too large renging from 1-3 inches.
answer soon plz

 

[yosemite sam]

You should be able to pick up an O2 test kit at an LFS. Several companies such as salifert make them.

 

[sweetreef]

they could be stressed making them breath like that..

 

[ophiura]

IMO, using water from a cycled tank will do little to prevent a cycle in the new tank. The bacteria colonize surfaces - live rock, live sand, bioballs, biowheels...little, IMO, is in the water itself. Not enough, IMO, to prevent an ammonia issue in such a small tank with a sudden huge increase in bioload. I would watch the water quality in the hospital very quickly.
If there are a lot of fish, it is better, IMO, to set up a large hospital tank or multiple small one's. A hospital system may already seem stressful and to take a lot of stressed sick fish (which is why they have ick) and put them into even smaller quarters is a potential problem.
How old was your original tank? When did you get these fish? What specifically are they?

 

[kimkissyfish]

yOU JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU KEEP A VERY watchful eye on the QT tank. I have had to make a QT in an emergency.. frequent h20 changes to keep it from cycling. Are you doing HYPO or MEDS?
7 fish in a small QT will cause them to be MORE upset and possibly die.

Can you get your hands on a cheap BIGGER tank from the want ad or something? Maybe have 2 set up somewhere next to each other so you can rig lights above if you want to. DOesnt have to be fancy, just put them on the floor in a room if you have to....
Ya, I had ich over 3 years ago.. UGH, I had to keep my tank empty for over 3 weeks, thats the life cycle of ich...
Sorry to hear about your ichy fishies. =(
Kim